FISA fight not over

No vote until July 8th, now.

There's still hope for figthing this off, apparently.

Every delay is a victory. If there's no vote this summer then it can become a campaign issue.

Here's Glenn Greenwald explaining why that's a good thing: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

Unity

Being a politician requires certain skills and talent, like any human activity. Merely understanding policy options is just one useful talent for a politician, but not even a necessary one.

One of the most effective local politic ans I ever covered as a town report was a man who had been a town selectman for close to three decades. He was not the brightest bulb who ever sat in a chair of power. He really had only the most rudimentary grasp of things like the town budget.

But he understood people very well, and had little trouble winning re-election year after year because he knew that he was ultimately in a people business and he could hire people who understood the budget. By the same token, I've seen a lot of people who had a very good grasp of the mechanics of government yet no ability to get people to work together.

Politicians at the level of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, of course, must have some ability to handle all the aspects of being a leader. Despite their reputations, for example, neither Ronald Reagan nor George W. Bush were/are unintelligent.

But talents are unevenly distributed and the long campaign has already highlighted that Obama may be the best balanced leader among the final three. Whether that means he will be a success as president remains to be seen. Sometimes the times a president finds himself in my require character that is particularly strong on one way or another and not balanced.

Hillary Clinton seems to understand policy very well, but one is still left with the feeling she doesn't understand people as well. Her husband was famously a people-person, but she has to work at it. Her relationship with her staff suggests a person who has to manage explicitly rather than instinctively.

McCain, on the other hand, is very much a people person, but seems to have a weak grasp of policy issues. Even in areas where he imagines himself to have expertise he seems spotty with his positions taken on "gut" rather than analysis.

Watching Obama and Clinton perform their little Unity dance at Unity, N.H., is a reminder that purity and uncompromising principles are all very well for pundits and professors, but totally unsuitable for a politician. If one could imagine little thought balloons over their heads the words would undoubtedly belie their public presentation.

But politic ans have to have the discipline to set aside their feelings for the larger goals they are pursuing and this is not inappropriate. We see the same things in other fields and think nothing of it. Medical personnel are faced with horrific sights all the time yet maintain a professional demeanor as they provide care.

WTF, Ralph

Is there anyone more pathetic than Ralph Nader?

"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American. Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards.
--Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader

What a complete, self-absorbed ass.

Obama the politician

I'm not sure where this idea originated that Obama was some kind of pie-in-the-sky idealist and not a politician. Being a politician necessarily means making compromises, and this is not a bad thing. Sometimes one even has to make compromises on issues one really cares about and may even violate a principle or two. This is why pundits and politicians are different.

I do think Obama has ideals and principles and wants to accomplish grand things, but this makes him no different than most politicians.

The Republicans have been -- gasp! -- discovering that Obama is a politician. As in most ways lately, Republicans as a class have been pretty dumb and underestimated Obama all along. At the rate they are going they will underestimate him all the way to the White House.

Meanwhile, another brave voice for American values speaks up

A "lowly Army major" makes an impassioned plea for justice and Ameircan values:
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/35753res20080619.html

Fourth Amendment repealed

So as far as I understand it, the FISA "reform" bill amounts to this: So long as the Attorney General certifies that the illegal search is related to a terror investigation, then a federal judge must dismiss any challenge to the search. The only possible grounds for a challenge is that it isn't really the AG's signature.

There is no requirement that there actually be a terror investigation, merely that the AG say there is.

This is more than adequate because we know for a fact that every future AG will be a person of impeccable character and will never, ever misuse or abuse his or her power.

Professional interrogation

http://newsrackblog.com/?p=2367