There is nothing new or hopeful about his politics.

...Leaders lead.

you mean the same Hatch here on mydd's rec list?

OK.  I am now officially apologizing to all Clinton supporters.

You were right.  

I was wrong.  

I was duped.  I was taken in my his slick "leadership" (ha!) skills and smooth talk.  

If I could take my vote back I would.  I AM ANGRY.

war:

There has been quite an uproar in the press that Sen. Obama has flip flopped on Iraq. I think there is deep rooted misunderstanding of Sen. Obama's position on the Iraq war. There is a false presumption on the part of the public and the media regarding the speech Sen. Obama made on Chicago lake front.

Let us go to the facts: Sen. Obama delivered his now famous "Iraq war speech" on October 2nd 2002. The Iraq war resolution was passed by the House of Representatives on October 10th and passed by the senate on October 11th. By October 2002 Obama had already made up his mind to run for the US Senate. He was well aware that the majority of the Illinois Democratic delegation was going to vote against the war resolution. In fact it is public record that 9 out of 12 Democrats in the Illinois delegation voted against the resolution. Here is the list:

Sen Dick Durbin- Rep Jerry Costello- Rep Danny Davis- Rep Lane Evans- Rep Luis Gutierrez Rep Jesse Jackson, Jr- Rep Bill Lipinski- Sen Bobby Rush- Rep Jan Schakowsky

Sen. Obama's run for the senate required the support of the congressional Democrats and it would have been unwise for him not to speak against the Iraq war. It was not necessarily his convictions that made him speak up against the war it was in fact a political necessity. So I can see why he might now want to "refine" his position.

http://usliberals.about.com/od/liberalle adership/a/IraqNayVote_3.htm

Have people forgotten that the GOP tried to make the whole 2006 election about Democrats being soft on terrorism for opposing warrantless wiretapping?  Have they forgotten the coast-to-coast fearmongering ads the Republicans ran using that theme?

Have they forgotten how that election turned out, how the Republicans failed to defeat a single Democratic incumbent?

Someone wants a free pass for voting for the Patriot Act a couple weeks after 9/11, fine, you can have your free pass.  But I really don't see what Democrats have to fear from this vote.  We have all the empirical evidence we could ever want in the form of the 2006 election results.

And this is exactly the type of politics Obama was supposed to move us beyond.  No more cowering to the Republicans, no more ceding the battlefield to them every time they wave the bloody flag of national security.  Instead, we're right back in the 2002 mindset.

One of the main reasons Lyndon Johnson escalated our involvement in Vietnam is that the Republicans were agitating for it and, given the ambitious domestic program he wanted to pass, he didn't want to give them an excuse to paint him as soft on Communism.  Well, that sure worked out great.

I'm confused on one topic - did Clinton vote for or against cloture on the final bill?  

I agree that I probably expressed my opinion quite poorly. I absolutely do not believe that Democrats should, as a rule, roll over for the GOP on national security issues.

But my overall point stands. In this particular instance I don't think that the risk he would have faced by opposing the bill would have outweighed the consequences of the vote. If he'd done the same thing on a vote to authorize force in Iran, it would obviously be a different situation. We're talking about telecom immunity, not a declaration of war.

Very proud to call myself a Clinton Democrat today.

Thank you, Hillary, for standing against Bush/Cheney and standing up for the Constitution today.

I actually agree with the diarist.  

Obama's main challenge is to prove to Americans he will be willing to protect the country from whatever threat - terrorists, China, etc.

Clinton does not have to prove her 'testicular fortitude'...they can be seen from space.

The main problem, for me, is that I'm sure if you go back and look at her earlier diaries, she was railing against Clinton as a hypocrite and 'politics as usual'.  

And she is.  But, so is Obama and he always has been.

Ummm.

Good for Hillary but do you really think she would have voted this way if she was the candidate?

If you do, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

Does this take HRC out of the running as VP?

This nonsense about the GE is bull!  Obama was in no danger of loosing the GE opposing immunity for Telecoms.  In fact it was more than likely a plus for him just look at recent polls since he's changed his stand.  Contrary to the weak kneed spineless idiots on this site and others encouraging people to compromise on the Constitution I say go to the cattle car by yourself!  Americans want a leader who will protect the Constitution not weaken it.  Oh yeah sure I should just trust that Obama will instruct his Attorney General to 'investigate' possible crimes.  Yeah the check is in the mail Obama!  

Stabbed in the back - AGAIN!

Thanks Congressional Dems, and Obama in particular.  Nice to see you are just as craven as I always thought you were.  And cowardly to boot.

God I hate the Demcrats just as much as I hate the Republicans.  At least the Republicans I are openly bad - Democrats try to justify it with all kinds of BS.

Like winning against Republcans means anything when you adopt all of their policies.  WOOO HOO! Democrats did it instead of Reublicans - what  RELIEF!

Why don't the mods here actually do something about the trolls on this site rather than continuing to take pot shots at Kos?  Clean up your own backyard, so to speak.  This front page article serves no useful purpose.  If you want to respond to something on Kos, get a friggen account over there and FEEL FREE.

I would agree with you Josh if the presidency was not on the line.  Obama did what he had to do, and I am glad he did.  FISA is one bill that can be fixed later, but this is the one really big chance for the democrats to win the presidency which leads to everything.

It's easier said then done.  Most Americans don't read political blogs or follow what Congress is doing in terms of legislation.  They rely on sound bites and TV ads for their political information.  Obama voted the way he did so the GOP and McCain wouldn't feed middle America a bunch of garbage about us Dems being weak on national security.

One of the reasons that Democrats have been viewed as weak on National Security and defense is that they frequently do things that show that they actually are weak and spineless. There are exceptions, but not enough to have a very salutary effect.