Some of Us Care

The media have spent the last days or so deconstructing the secret coded messages being sent by the Obama campaign and his VP search:

Obama Stirs Some Intrigue Over VP Search
Obama, Clinton raise New York cash and V.P. speculation
Veepstakes: Meeting with the Vetters
Vetting Undercover
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Or they're talking about the Rev. Jesse Jackson:

First Thoughts: The Jesse Jackson Flap
Treacherous Sound Bite
It's Jackson vs Jackson on 'Ugly' and 'Demeaning' Obama Remarks
Jesse Jackson Apologizes for Remarks on Obama

I live overseas, but I have a feeling that more people saw discussions of the political implications of Rev. Jackson's desire to castrate Obama or images of Sen. Obama entering DC office buildings for top secret meetings than saw debates over FISA and Senator Obama's flip-flop.

Some of us haven't forgotten Obama's flip-flop and we haven't stopped talking about it. It's not just the Clintonistas who are angry (but I think we're the only ones enjoying the anguish of the Obama people). I was surpised to come across this blog post at Barack Obama's community blog website. Here's an excerpt. It's worth a visit, even if you aren't supporting Senator Obama. (I understand how difficult it is to visit that website. This Clintonista's stomach turns every time he visits Hopeland.)

Today was a dark day indeed. Our candidate, the candidate of change “we can believe in,” certainly changed his position on filibustering a terrible FISA bill that added new categories of warrantless surveillance and granted immunity to the big telecom companies complicit in the Bush administration’s warrantless spying.

Instead of offering strong, principled leadership on this issue, and using his power as the Democratic nominee to bring along the minority of Democratic Senators who supported this atrocious legislation, he and they joined the solid Republican bloc to ratify the most egregious aspects of the Bush administration’s approach to warrantless surveillance and enable an immunity deal that will in all likelihood forever prevent the public from learning the full truth behind Bush’s illegal domestic spying. We’re talking about a Democratic Congress here – facing a Republican president and a Republican party experiencing historically low public approval ratings!

SNIP

Today’s vote was also a personal blow to millions who believed that Sen. Obama was a different kind of politician. The members of this group are only the tip of the iceberg.