I think this is a good idea; although I don't think we should expect Obama to do it.

Obama has never been a 'Policy' radical -- his stances do tend to be middle of the road. He claims, instead 'Process' radicalism, changing the way we do business in DC, and so on.

None of this is new, and those who saw him as the vessel to pour all the progressive hopes and dreams were doomed to letdown sooner or later.

Many Hillary supporters knew that they didn't agree with her on all issues, even big issues. The collective weathering of her support for Kyl-Lieberman was a good example of how her supporters supported the hardware despite the software bugs -- so to speak. I think most Obama supporters are similarly capable of disagreeing with him.

But the MoveOn message, in fact, the response of the blogs not to do a Crist-McCain -- change their views to match the candidate -- and rather try to hold the candidate responsible, is how the progressive blogosphere will really define itself as something much more meaningful that right wing talk radio or much of the evangelical movement -- that was willing to change or ignore their disagreements with the candidate. The candidate is just a human. The movement and the ideals are so much more.

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. Again, I expect disappointment. This FISA BS is kind of typical congressional 'pragmatism' at work, pragmatism that Bush-Rove used and abused to great effect.

 Cloture, filibuster, whatever....
  You mean to tell me that we can't find 40 Democratic Senators to filibuster this bill?

 Maybe the 2 parties are more alike than any of us want to admit.  I am a proud liberal Democrat, but my party is letting me and America down by going along with this biased bill.  What is the rush any way; another temporary bill, with a new bill in January by the new congress.

Obama switchboard must be overwhelmed. Tried 10 times and always got messages that "our volunteer operators are busy, try again soon."

Tried to leave a message at <BarackObama.com> following the "contact" link at the bottom of the page. Seems unlinkely that they will read or tally those messages soon enough to impact the discussion.

He won't show up -- strictly speaking, that is the same as voting for a filibuster.

I'd be pleasantly surprised if he does anything real.

Over what is an issue where concern is largely limited to left leaning blogs and talk radio...

I haven't had a single discussion or even heard a single comment on this issue from anyone outside those two arenas...

It simply isn't a huge concern for most people and Obama isn't gonna risk derailing his campaign plan to wade in...

Bad idea.

Thankfully he wouldn't do it.

"our gal" is idolatry?  Who knew?

Upon further reflection, I expect Obama to vote "Present"  on FISA cloture.  (And, no, not really...that would be criminally stupid, reinforcing one of the negative (if true) messages about him.)

The frustrating thing is, for whatever reason (and whether they know it or not) the Democratic Congress has forced Obama into a corner on this one.  The bill has passed the House and it is now high profile enough that were Obama to actually filibuster it, he would be painted as an obstructionist and a radical in the presidential campaign.  So I don't think he's going to do it.  He's probably going to take Option B instead, which is "disappoint your core supporters".  It's not pretty either way.

Which is why it was so important for House leadership to step up to the plate and hold their own.  I'm still wondering if we'll get a whiff of some real reason for this one day.

good for MoveOn. We have to hold our leaders to their words. Upholding the constitution and making a principled stand on civil liberties is what we expect of the president....unless we happen to Republicans and/or are happy with losing our civil liberties.

I am pissed this turd of a bill got to this place.  What the dems are doing is beyond me.  Obama must be looking forward to being pushed around by moveon during the campaign, I'm sure McCains assassins won't make anything of it..  This bill is heinous and should have been tarred from the beginning, then tabled til next year.  The only logical conclusion can be that Reid and Pelosi and co. wanted this thing passed.

A few days ago, the House passed a bill aimed at granting retroactive immunity to the Telecoms as well as expanding the wiretapping powers of the President in violation of the original form of FISA.

Instead of standing up to those monied interests, as he has said he would do, Barack Obama said he agreed with the FISA law and gave what could be described, at best, as a tepid condemnation of the immunity contained therein.

As an american concerned with the erosion of civil liberties under the current President, Obama's stance on this concerns me greatly. I have to date given $450 to the Obama campaign and have worked with friends and family to get them to contribute as well. I have volunteered for the first time in my political life as well, going door to door and spreading Barack Obama's message of hope and change.

No more.

Until Obama lives up to his promise to filibuster and block any bill which grants the Telecoms retroactive immunity, I simply will not lift a finger to aid his campaign. This is a travesty against the rights of Americans and completely gets at the core of his message to stand up for us.

Obama wanted people to become engaged in the political process so that we could hold our representatives in Congress accountable. Well, I'm holding Barack Obama accountable as the democratic nominee, my future representative in the White House.

Stop this bill.

I think I will get more excited about it after I see what his resoponse is...not the press release, but his actual Senatorial response in the chamber.

I think it will be ok...look at the recent "presidential" track record...Rev. Wright and racism (good response).  Gaining the Nomination and speach he gave at the Primaries Close about Unity, and the work since then (good response).

I am not quite yet ready to crucify him on FISA...yet.

Chicken democrats. Only thing they know how to attack is democrats. No wonder, they lose every elections.

In fact he is probably the least likely person to do it.

I just wrote this to Sen Obama on his website:

"My husband and I are about to move to Missouri, an important swing state. We have made only one small donation so far, but we were prepared to give much more and, in addition, to volunteer our time to the campaign. I say "were" because we are having serious second thoughts due to Sen Obama's tepid response on FISA. Civil liberties are a non-negotiable, core issue for us, so we would have trouble accepting any compromise on FISA, but the bill that passed the House last week is not a compromise - it's a capitulation. We expected leadership from Sen Obama against this disastrous piece of legislation, but, so far, we haven't seen it. If Sen Obama can't stand up for our rights on this very clear issue, how can we believe that he will stand up for us on other issues? Just because Sen McCain is totally unacceptable doesn't mean that Sen Obama can count on people like us to overlook what we would view as a serious betrayal. Staying home is still an option."

This is just killing me. I really wasn't having any trouble transferring my support and enthusiasm from Hillary to Barack. And then this. It doesn't help to tell me that Hillary might or would do the same - it's Barack who is the presumptive nominee, and it's Barack whose credibility is on the line.

Barack Obama got around to issuing a statement - citing what he calls "the grave threats we face," he just announced that he supports this warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty compromise.'

see Glenn Greenwald in Salon here:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/# postid-updateA7
and Obama statement here: http://utdocuments.blogspot.com/2008/06/ statement-of-barack-obama-supporting.htm l

For those temporary MYDDers who bashed MoveOn because they thought they were in the bag for Obama, can we just stop the whining about MoveON now? THey have no problem putting pressure on Obama when warranted. I think we should make Obama know that he is not going to get a free pass on this. He needs to repay the goodwill shown to him. Otherwise, he will invite another Nader.

And if Nader or someone like nAder steals votes from Obama, Obama will only have himself to blame. He has lost the racist white vote. But he can still get the biggest white vote yet from those interested in real change. He needs to cater to all Americans regardless of color interested in real change. Those Americans will have his back when the inevitable smears continue to pile on. So he better not try to sell out on the real important issues. He can pander on the trivial stuff if he wishes to.

not to start up a Hillary vs Obama strand, but just for my own curiosity: does anyone know if has Hillary taken a stand on this 'compromise'?

If Obama filibusters it- I will eat it- size 11.

I don't think he's going to do it.  

We have a candidate who said nice things about Ronald Reagan (dynamism, entrepreneurship, optimism), the GOP (better on a whole host of issues than the Dems), and not nice things about the Clinton-Edwards universal health care approach (government will force you to buy insurance, even if you can't afford it) while trying to get the votes of Democrats.

What did you expect him to say/do once he was trying to get the votes of Republicans?

Obama is either campaigning very far away when it comes up in the senate.