At its heart, Obama’s position on FISA is, to some extent, an abandonment of the views of his liberal base. This statement is as subjective as I can get. His position can be observed objectively as: necessary for someone running for president or a complete betrayal of liberal ideals. But forget the relevancy of your personal views of FISA and Obama’s position on it.
One thing is certain to me: our reaction (throughout liberal communities) to Obama’s decision has shown weakness on our side. Weakness in the extent of our support for our Democratic nominee. While the conservative base has come to fully back John McCain (observable in polling of his support among republicans), with a single "wrong" vote we have come to express discontent with our candidate. We shouldn’t allow FISA to become an anti-Obama talking point on the cable news or other media; it is only hurting our cause.
This whole affair has made it apparent that our liberal community’s ability to blindly follow a single person is weaker than the conservative base’s. Most of us wouldn't see this as a bad thing. But, I don’t believe we will be able to beat McCain if we don’t act at least a little less like liberals and a little more like sheep (as unfortunate as that is). Agree or disagree?