"there is an irresistible temptation to embrace enthusiastically the same Democratic establishment that you opposed in the primaries."

Is Shapiro suggesting that Obama should ignore or piss off the Democratic Washington establishment?

Wow, that would be really smart. I'm sure he would get a lot more done that way.

I suppose that holding his tongue and waiting until January 2009 is probably a safer bet.

But if he doesn't do it then, I'll be looking for someone else who's actually up for it.

aka the Gentlemen Farmers of politics. Real good, at playing at it. In between looking after their investments. Occasionally, it almost looks like they're doing something.

You don't have to be a Marxist to figure out that something about having a seven-figure annual income and eight figures stacked up in the counting house has a tendency to markedly skew the perspective- whether you're with the Azules or the Colorados. You can learn that much just by paying attention, especially if you're granted occasional access to the Rarefied Realms.

Yeah- Constitutional rights, the freefall in wages, consumer credit late fees, mortgage loan scams, the moral abyss of legal torture- they'll take it seriously. Someday.

I've said it before- money isn't "the mother's milk of politics." It's the heroin of politics.

Perhaps the lull owes as much to political fatigue as anything else. The primaries were long, and probably left a lot of Democrats burned out. It's hot midsummer, but there's complicated, unnerving news coming from every direction (failing banks, plunging investments, war crimes by our political leaders, increased violence in Afghanistan, and on, and on.) People are worried about their jobs, their homes, their financial security. Perhaps, with the conventions still weeks off, people just want to look away for a while.

I'm a strong Obama supporter, but I'm in no mood to follow his every move right now. I'm not in any mood to get in a froth about McCain, either. Why start fighting it out now? True, Obama hasn't exactly been inspiring lately, but even if he were, it's too early to have a lasting impact. Better he cleans up what remains of the primary mess, puts the convention on track and gets in top fighting form for the fall.

In the meantime, let the electorate enjoy a summer break. It's the least politicians and the media could do.

I might as well add that I would have much preferred that Obama keep his promise to accept public financing- as well as his promise to oppose the revised FISA with telecom immunity. I think he really put water in his gas tank, with that. How much remains unclear. I still prefer him to McCain. Faint praise. (McCain is a fairly decent sort as politicians go, but he has absolutely no business being president. It's still an easy choice for me. So far.)

It's too late for Obama to rescind either of those decisions. But I think it's possible that no amount of extra money can make up for losing the opportunity to demonstrate to the American electorate that they were in the presence- for the first time in memory- of a presidential candidate who was determined to keep his word as a matter of principle, even when it worked to his material disadvantage.

I think Obama is going to win anyway. But the chance was there to win points with the public, especially on the conservative/Republican side, that have nothing to do with "compromise" or "triangulation." That's a dividend that...well, nothing to say about it now.

Maybe Obama thinks that at this point, simply the act of running is risky enough. I can't say that I disagree.

Great idea!

I was supposed to be on the road by now, forgetting all this onerosity...but my travel plans have hit yet another glitch, hopefully minor.

So here I have been, reverted to brooding. Seriousness.

Enough! It is break~time.

undercut The Constitution

get 50 million bucks or so for Denver from lobbyists

pander to the religionistas

load up those church buses

dash to Denver

keep the protesters in a corral

rah-rah stadium party

dash home singing "Everything is going to be all right ...."

back to ignoring and undercutting The Constitution and Progressive principles

Obama, Pelosi, Reid, ...

are far more dangerous than

McCain, Pelosi, Reid, ....

July 24th will be Obamafest in Berlin, for sure. Even if Angela Merkel, nudged by her close friends in the Bush administration, felt "bewildered" about Baracks intent to speak in front of the Brandenburger Tor™. A lot of people in germany hope that Obama will be the next president, and he will be welcomed next week like he already won the elections.

Ja, wir können!

The most important insight of the article concerns the misgivings about "the 'we are smarter than anyone else' style of his campaign."

The claim to "better judgment" is inherent in Obama's absence of substantial experience. His putative judgment is undercut by, for example, the Wright/Ayers/Phleger associations. But the element that most sours his sweetness is his recurrent condescensions. Not only attributing the religious beliefs of others to bitterness (and similar slips), but the breathtaking arrogance of assuming that he can simply redefine himself at will (on campaign finance, NAFTA, FISA, etc.) and the public will not notice or care.

Obama cannot relinquish condescension without losing the raison d'etre of his campaign. As election day approaches, this fatal flaw will inflate beyond control, swallowing its author.

Always has been, and probably always will be. They have led the Democrats to loss after loss even as the bulk of America agrees with the Democrats most extreme policy ideas - such as public healthcare.

They are the root of the perception of the Democrats as being spineless weasels and appeasers. They are the people who have taken the Democratic base and turned it towards protest voting.

And they are still listened to because well, the Democratic politician just isn't that bright.

You do have to wonder if he has any sense of just how much he has deflated the enthusiasm for his candidacy by his all-too-ordinary move to the center.

He can right the ship, of course. It's only July, the convention awaits, and then there are the debates wherein he will be contrasted with Republican nominee Imhotep.

But the shift in these past weeks was a misstep, and he needs to realize it.