Now i am sure that almost everyone here remembers when Obama did this diary in 2005, i have no idea how to find it here, but it is on his senate website: , but there are surely some that never saw it, or like me were not even members at Kos.
I just ran across it reading the PBS/Frontline site with interviews to go with the show aired last week.
Why its appropriate to flashback to it now in the last days of the election below the fold.
Tone, Truth, and the Democratic Party
Updated with a link to his 2nd diary here, thanks sbdenmom for pointing the direction
His 2nd diary in response to kos member comments
First of all the nasty smear tactics of McCain/Palin and those who are their handmaidens to spread the message. It is so easy to want to punch right back in kind, be it liddy, or other associations. To respond with the exact same tactics, do ads which call out Palin for AIP, suggest that mccain does not have any honor, call the people supporting the crap racist. I did that on another board last night to my shame especially after i read Obama's words from 2005 this afternoon:
The same principle holds with respect to issues other than judicial nominations. My colleague from Illinois, Dick Durbin, spoke out forcefully - and voted against - the Iraqi invasion. He isn't somehow transformed into a "war supporter" - as I've heard some anti-war activists suggest - just because he hasn't called for an immediate withdrawal of American troops. He may be simply trying to figure out, as I am, how to ensure that U.S. troop withdrawals occur in such a way that we avoid all-out Iraqi civil war, chaos in the Middle East, and much more costly and deadly interventions down the road. A pro-choice Democrat doesn't become anti-choice because he or she isn't absolutely convinced that a twelve-year-old girl should be able to get an operation without a parent being notified. A pro-civil rights Democrat doesn't become complicit in an anti-civil rights agenda because he or she questions the efficacy of certain affirmative action programs. And a pro-union Democrat doesn't become anti-union if he or she makes a determination that on balance, CAFTA will help American workers more than it will harm them.
Or to make the point differently: How can we ask Republican senators to resist pressure from their right wing and vote against flawed appointees like John Bolton, if we engage in similar rhetoric against Democrats who dissent from our own party line? How can we expect Republican moderates who are concerned about the nation's fiscal meltdown to ignore Grover Norquist's threats if we make similar threats to those who buck our party orthodoxy?
Different examples but apply today in this election - if we respond as they do, then how can we castigate them. He makes the point that there is not an equivalency Right now is the time to work on the unconverted, not the converted. So IF powell endorses Obama tomorrow, or even simply smacks down the hate speech tactics, let us remember the above. When any republican or right of center democrat who has criticized Obama in the past now is willing to support him..lets not slap them back.
The general consensus is that undecideds are mccain leaners who will probably break for him when they vote. There are though some whom can still be converted by what is said not just by Obama but by his volunteers. We are going to hear the "socialism" word, code for communist a lot on top of the muslim/terrorist smears in the next 17 days. Colleagues at work and neighbors or family will sadden or infuriate
The way to converse with them is his reminder to everyone in 2005:
My dear friend Paul Simon used to consistently win the votes of much more conservative voters in Southern Illinois because he had mastered the art of "disagreeing without being disagreeable," and they trusted him to tell the truth. Similarly, one of Paul Wellstone's greatest strengths was his ability to deliver a scathing rebuke of the Republicans without ever losing his sense of humor and affability. In fact, I would argue that the most powerful voices of change in the country, from Lincoln to King, have been those who can speak with the utmost conviction about the great issues of the day without ever belittling those who opposed them, and without denying the limits of their own perspectives.
In that spirit, let me end by saying I don't pretend to have all the answers to the challenges we face, and I look forward to periodic conversations with all of you in the months and years to come. I trust that you will continue to let me and other Democrats know when you believe we are screwing up. And I, in turn, will always try and show you the respect and candor one owes his friends and allies.
He has stayed so true to his words from then, there is no change in the man, no flinching on his views even when not popular with all. Reading his words back then and putting them in to todays context ..wow..what a sincere and honest man.