Musings Over Morning Coffee

So, this has been an interesting week. All the polls have Obama ahead (you can't find a single one that has McCain in the lead including a new Ipsos poll, and Newsweek has Obama leading by a whopping 15.) Republican and conservative pundits are waxing wroth over Obama (their message is "Obama is everything I despise in a politician: a Democrat that can win"), though they manage to say it in astoundingly different ways. He's too strong, he's too weak, he's too something.

Democrats, meanwhile are uniting behind their candidate. Obama has wide leads with women, Latinos, the electoral college, and enthusiasm of supporters. But Obama supporters are also realizing that when Obama runs to the middle, the traditional thing that candidates do to win elections in the U.S., some cherished programs are going to get short shrift. I'm not talking about public financing, which no one really cares about (Norm Ornstein wins the prize for commentary):

What I told a bunch of people a few weeks ago," said Ornstein, "is that while it would be nice if he decided he felt honor bound to stay within the system and take the money, if he did so I might join a group of people who sued him for political malpractice. When you have the ability to raise the kind of money that he could raise and do it without selling your soul to spend all the time between now and the election on fundraisers, your goal is to win an election and not turn your back on the people voting. There will be outraged editorials and McCain will be justifiably pissed. But it was pragmatically the right decision for him to make."

Another good one was from The Note:

The calculation really wasn't all that difficult: Obama trades maybe (generously) a few thousand people who care deeply about campaign-finance reform, for maybe (surely) a few million people who will hear his message because he has an extra couple hundred million dollars to spend.

No, not campaign finance. I'm talking about FISA. Actually, yesterday we were all talking about FISA.

Still, as disappointed as I am about what passed the House, I suppose it's good to focus on Obama's intent to run as a candidate from the center. Too many people have too many unwarranted expectations about what Obama would do as President. At the same time, Obama is sending a clear message that he intends to run pragmatically, and has the toughness to do so. Whether it's FISA or campaign finance, that means making some people unhappy. Running to the center means increasing his chances of winning and the size of the win, and it also means that the "Obambi" slurs (weakness, no substance) are badly missing the mark. I'm not suggesting we suck it up and like everything he does, I'm suggesting we be realistic about expectations.

I really dislike the Democrats' rationale for voting for FISA, including Obama's. OTOH, I think the criticism over Obama taking himself out of public financing is silly. The entire campaign finance system is rotten, and Obama is going to publicly finance via small donors, an eminently more fair system than depending on corporate dollars funneled to the RNC and 527's as in past years (that McCain isn't generating 527's at this point is irrelevant – he's not generating much of anything). I heard Charlie Gibson complaining about fairness last night on World News because of Obama's fundraising, without mentioning the usual Republican advantage in fundraising in most elections (IOKIYAR, I guess). But like it or not, we are going to see Obama consider moderate and conservative VPs before he chooses someone, he'll consider Republicans for Defense (a mistake to appoint, but not a mistake to consider), and he'll do a bunch of other things in the name of party unity to piss us and the talking heads off, all while enhancing his chances to win.

When he screws up, he'll need us to hold his feet to the fire (and we will: see No Republican at Defense and A warning to pro-capitulation House Dems and FISA posts from yesterday). But that's a discussion I am happy to have, rather than inane ones that no one cares about, like flag pins and campaign finance reform, and whether or not David Brooks or David Broder (each of whom never met a Republican he didn't like) is disappointed in Barack Obama. The election season is upon us, and personally, I couldn't be happier. It means we are one step closer to getting that walking disaster out of the White House, and don't lose sight (even for a moment) of what that means and which party George Bush presides over. And if it means treating our candidate like the imperfect vessel he is, warts and all, so be it. Our guy is head and shoulders above their guy, and it's going to be fun to prove it, FISA notwithstanding.