Wow, Sen. Barack Obama tells the truth and the namby-pamby left goes nuts. He tells the truth and the right -wingnuts start crowing that he's a flip-flopper.

I guess Obama has brought so much CHANGE to politics and this campaign season by telling the truth that some people just can't handle it. They’re so used to seeing and hearing a storm of toro excrement thrown about that anything genuine and truthful is too much of a shock to the system.

It would have been so easy for Obama to answer questions from the media about Iraq and FISA, just to name two of the bigger stories of the past 10 days or so, with his normal stump-speech rhetoric. But Obama is trying to introduce himself to an even wider electorate now that he’s in general election mode and nuance is necessary. He needs to describe his policies a little more and little differently.

But it doesn’t make the far left and far right happy.

Last week, Obama said the FISA bill that was given to the Senate was far from perfect but does reinstate the power of the FISA court to regulate domestic spying. He also said he’s still against telecom immunity and was confident that the language in the bill from George Bush’s buddies in the House would be stricken from the final bill submitted from the Senate.

Please excuse Obama for using a scalpel on this issue instead of a blunt object.

"This was not an easy call for me," he wrote on his blog on his Web site. "I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power... But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any President or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court."

Read more here:

blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/03/obama_responds_to_online_fisa.html

And please excuse Obama for being a pragmatist on Iraq. He’s always said that he’ll be as careful getting our troops out of that civil war as Bush and Cheney were getting us in. A meeting with the military brass last year gave him the impression that we could safely get the vast majority of our combat troops out after 16 months, which would be about one or two brigades a month.

But in preparation for his trip to Iraq this summer, Obama said "I am going to do a thorough assessment when I'm there I'm sure I'll have more information and continue to refine my policy."

Read more here:

ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gXhIn6Dsn59np7LYG6eYS5GubXUAD91ML5S80

OH NO! TRUTH ALERT! SKY IS FALLING! A TEAR IN THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM HAS BEEN CREATED! TRUTH ALERT!

So maybe it takes 15 months to get our troops out. Did the far left consider that? Nope. So maybe Obama accomplishes his long-stated goal in 17 months. Does that mean the right can bash him for not being true to his word? Nope.

Obama could have easily just kept his mouth shut, praised the troops and moved on. But he’s a new kind of politician, one willing to speak the truth even if it costs him a vote. And if you can’t handle the truth, then it’s on you – not him.

"Now, I understand why some of you feel differently about the current bill, and I'm happy to take my lumps on this site and elsewhere,” Obama wrote on his blog speaking on the FISA dustup. “For the truth is that your organizing, your activism and your passion are an important reason why this bill is better than previous versions. I cannot promise to agree with you on every issue. But I do promise to listen to your concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn your ongoing support to change the country....

"Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That's OK. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have."

Well-said Senator.

Sen. Barack Obama isn’t even the president of the United States yet and he’s already saved the taxpayers of this great country more than $80 million.

Thursday afternoon, Obama made an important announcement that he was not going to take public money to finance his presidential campaign.

my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gG5SPm

Obama becomes the first presidential candidate from either party to forgo public financing since Watergate in the early 1970s.

Another first for the soon-to-be 44^th president.

Much will be made over the next few days about a supposed agreement that Obama allegedly made to accept public financing. Sen. John McCain will be making political hay over this. If my war chest was one third the size of my opponent’s as McCain’s is to Obama’s, I too would be whining.

But Obama got some support for his decision from an interesting source – Norm Ornstein. From the Huffington Post: “Norm Ornstein, a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and substantial contributor to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act -- also known as the "McCain-Feingold" campaign finance legislation -- said on Thursday that Obama's move was "pragmatically the right decision to make," and that, if the Senator had not chosen that path, "I would have sued him for political malpractice."

www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/19/author-of-mccain-feingold_n_108132.html

Take that McCain!

John McSame continues to have the mainstream media talking with great reverence about him being a maverick. Maverick? That’s a bunch of horse pucky mixed with the dung of a horse-like animal with long ears.

The maverick tag may have been true back in 2000 during his first ill-fated run for the White House. But in order for McSame to garner enough delegates to win the nomination in 2008, he’s had to surgically attach himself to George W. Bush’s hip.

He’s done that by voting for Bush-approved legislation 95 percent of the time since the worst president in U.S. history took office, and a whopping 100 percent of the time this year - when he does make it back to Washington, D.C. to actually vote that is. You see, McSame has the worst attendance record of any U.S. Senator that hasn’t had a brain aneurysm.

blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/04/mccain_most_absentee_08_senato.html

Yeah, he’s running for president. So is a guy named Barack Obama who, until Saturday, was fighting a two-front war and still made it back to vote more often than either of his two opponents.

It’s hard to be a maverick in the D.C Corral, Johnny, when you’re never there.

But you’ll still hear media pundits keep referring to McSame as a “maverick.” I loved Obama communication director Robert Gibbs’ line to George Step-on-pus yesterday when he said, "it’s one thing to paint ‘STRAIGHT-TALK EXPRESS’ on the side of the bus, but the message isn’t making it inside.”

Check out this great read and by all means grab the book, it’s a fabulous read:

www.alternet.org/mediaculture/80724/

Barack Obama got a bump out of this weekend’s concession speech from Hillary Clinton and considering that the polling is only over a two-day span, he’s doubled his lead over John McSame.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/09/obama-polls-number-bump-u_n_106160.html

Expect to see a bigger bump soon.

It looks like the Hillgals are starting to come back to the party and coalescing around our nominee. Thank God. Yes, we do need the women who supported Hillary. Heck, we need all of the people who voted for her to do their research, come back into the fold and make the smart choice.

A vote for McSame out of spite for Obama flies in the face of everything Hillary stood for and would be an insult to her efforts. I think her supporters are starting to see that.

blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/06/are-women-shunn.html

Now we need to go after the Republicans who feel they don’t have a candidate they can trust and who can move the country forward - not back 50 years.

When you encounter a Republican who hasn’t made up his or her mind yet, just tell them you’ll hug their Republican elephant if they kiss your Democratic ass. No wait, that would be counter-productive. Just tell them to go to barackobama.com, click on the issue stab and download and read the 64-page Blueprint For Change then compare and contrast that with McSame’s plans.

Here’s the link:

www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf

I have to admit it, I was all teary-eyed as Barack Obama addressed the huge crowd in Minnesota late Tuesday night. I got emotional not only because his victory speech was so uplifting, but because I was reminiscing about how Sacramento For Obama has grown from a small group of supporters meeting first at Kim Mack's dinner table in North Natomas, then growing so big and strong that we now operate California's only full-time Obama For America campaign office.

"All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the end of the day, we aren’t the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn’t do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — we cannot afford to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say — let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America."

I was the second wave of Sacramento For Obama supporters to join up. My first meeting was in mid-March at the Steve's Place Pizza in North Natomas. I was impressed that the group already had a Web site up and populated, had a newsletter and had big plans for fundraisers and community outreach projects. It was SFO who came up with the idea for Walk For Change, the national canvassing day that took place from coast to coast almost one year ago and involved 10,000 Obama supporters knocking on 100,000 doors. It was because of efforts such as Walk For Change that Obama won the nomination last night.

"I’ve walked arm-in-arm with community leaders on the South Side of Chicago and watched tensions fade as black, white, and Latino fought together for good jobs and good schools."

We grew too big for Steve's Place and started meeting downtown at a nightclub that was trying to get on it's feet. The owners were nice enough to give us a meeting place for free. As the California primary grew close, we needed an office to better conduct our phone banking and canvassing efforts. That's when an office on Q Street opened up and suddenly we were a real, live campaign office humming with activity and energy. The state went for Hillary, but we carried most of Sacramento County...and polls now show that if the primary was held all over, Obama would beat Hillary by 13 points. That's due, I think, to our continued hard work and visibility in the state and the Cap City.

Yesterday's victory party at our headquarters was sweet. The beer never tasted better. But we're just starting. Call it Phase II. People who know me know I'm prone to making sports analogies. I pointed out that Hillary's claim to the popular vote made as much sense as the New England Patriots claiming they won the last Super Bowl because they had more fans in the stands. Today, I'm making an NBA analogy since the NBA Finals start tomorrow: We've only won the Western Conference finals. While the silver trophy is great, it's the gold one we're looking for - The Championship Trophy. I don't want to look back in early November and say, "well, at least we won the Democratic nomination."

[UPDATE 6/5] I love it, Obama uses sports analogies too: Obama's aides were jubilant. But ... Obama cautioned the group, "You don't cut down the basketball nets in the middle of the conference championship." - from a Washington Post story: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/04/AR2008060402062.html

Nothing less is acceptable to me than witnessing Barack Obama standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in January as he takes the oath of office ON A BIBLE!

I do hereby rededicate myself to our noble effort to help elect Obama as our 44th president.

I hope you will too.

"Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment — this was the time — when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America."

Read the entire speech:

www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/10818.html

And they call Obama supporters irrational cult members?

blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/05/31/scenes-from-today-s-rbc-hillary-protest.aspx

Our hard work in Sacramento and California in general is really paying off people, so keep up the hard work!

origin.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_9424932

According to a new poll, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama beat John McCain by 17 points. But Obama beats Clinton in a head-to-head matchup by 13 points! That's a 21 point turnaround from the Feb. 5 state primary and no doubt a byproduct of all the energy and money we have been putting into Sacramento and California. McCain and the GOP thought that had a chance in the Golden State. They better campaign somewhere else and save their dwindling funds because California will stay BLUE!

So, May 31 fast approaches and the Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet to discuss what to do about Michigan and Florida. Do they award the pledged delegates based on the actual results of the Jan. 15 and Jan. 29 primaries, do they stick to their guns and say NO to those two states for so brazenly violating the rules, or do they come up with a compromise that allows both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to save face?

Whatever happens, in Democratic Party circles this is shaping up to be a new kind of May Day and the outcome may be moot:

www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php

Several groups of pro-Hillary supporters will be showing up at a park across the street from where the RBC will conduct its in-the-open meeting – that’s so refreshing. But I have to ask, where were these groups such as Count Every Vote and WomenCount in late July when the DNC stripped the two states of their pledged delegates? Where were they in February? Where were they in March? Where were they April? They profess to be working hard for the poor, poor people of Michigan and Florida who did not get to have their votes officially counted.

Yeah right. This is all about Hillary.

Some pro-Obama supporters have said they plan to counter-protest, something that Obama has come out against, instead suggesting that his supporters do something more constructive such as register new voters or work in their communities or in some other positive capacity.

my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGB7V9

If the DNC does the right thing they’ll come up with a plan to award some delegates to both sides. Hillary should not be given an advantage since she too signed the pledge agreeing that the delegates from Michigan and Florida would not be seated. During an interview on New Hampshire public radio, Clinton was asked by a caller why she left her name on the ballot in Michigan. Read her reply at this link:

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php

I can’t wait to hear Harold Ickes this Saturday spin his decision last year to strip Michigan and Florida of its delegates.

Hopefully, the Hillary camp will finally be radioing in “MAYDAY! MAYDAY!”

I planned on chipping in with my two cents worth on Hillary's latest gaffe of monumental proportions, but MSNBC's Ketih Olbermann has a special comment tonight on Hillary's comment today that she's hanging around because something may happen to Obama. So I won't pile on here. I'll just let the man I want to be like when I grow up make his special comment. KO KOs Clinton with this one:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24798368#24798368

Hillary Clinton and her supporters keep trying to solve for X. They're playing the angles like it's geometry and twisting the numbers and using some unknown form of trigonometry trying to solve a big problem - they're still losing. Kentucky's redneck vote and Oregon's results don't change the equation much and unfortunately they just prolong the race while John McCain continues to grow stronger and Obama is forced to wage a two-front war.

Hillary and her supporters want to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates based on the numbers awarded in those two states' illegal primaries. Basically their argument is to count a state in which Barack Obama wasn't even on the ballot and count a victory in a state that Obama didn't even campaign in. With Hillary's huge name recognition advantage, that's just as unfair to Obama as not being on the ballot. Not only do they want to get an unfair delegate allotment, but they also want to argue that the popular votes should count to her total too. Sure, Obama gets no votes in Michigan because he followed the spirit of the rules and gets drubbed in Florida because he didn't have a chance to campaign and poke holes in Hillary's claims of superiority. Yeah, that's fair Hillary.

In Hillaryland, 0+0 equals the nomination and I'm convinced that if it was anyone else other than Hillary Clinton making all this ruckus, the powers that be in the Democratic National Convention would have shut her down long ago.

I'm also convinced that the remaing undeclared superdelegates (what are you waiting for?) are scared of the Clintons. I'd be interested to see if someone has broken down the list remaining superdelegates to see who they are and why they'd be scared of the Clintons. For instance, is there a few representatives from New York who would suffer the wrath of the Clintons if they don't go to Hillary? If anyone knows of such a list, post a link to it in the comments section.

Thankfully, no matter what kind of theoretical math Hillary uses, it appears that her tactics have stalled:

weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/05/obama_broadening_democratic_ba.html

Fittingly, theoretical math is used to explore the chaos theory - and I don't mean Rush Limbaugh and his cult members' unpatriotic ploy.