Something for Obama supporters to be concerned about

So I recently read this article in CommonWealth Inc magazine (registration required to read it but it's free). This article is about Deval Patrick but I think parallels can be drawn to Obama because he and Deval ran similar campaigns on similar issues. A few things to note.

It was an outsider’s campaign, and I think that predisposed [him] to having an
outsider’s government, which is a very different proposition

Patrick has been slow to grasp the difference between campaigning and governing,
or, if he has been reluctant to accept that the executive branch doesn’t
necessarily trump the House Speaker and Senate president

I think these two issues go hand in hand for Patrick although Obama may be
immune to this in the sense that, even though he's running as an outsider, Obama
is a senator and knows how the system operates. Patrick's only experience was as
Assisstant Attorney General in the Clinton administration. So at least Obama
knows how these relations currently work.

What Patrick was reveling in that night, it seemed to me, was the way his
judgment, his instincts, had proved to be right...Would he become a believer in
his own inerrancy?...Then, a year later, I kept running into people who wanted
to tell me about the “arrogance” of the Patrick administration, how he seemed to
be filling the executive branch with “the smartest guy in the room” types

I think this is what really needs to be watched. Obama stresses judgement and it can make him seem elitist. And while not agreeing with people is fine, I think not listening to people (especially democrats who may not agree with his stances or methods) will earn him a lot of enemies. I'm not suggesting Obama will be like this but
1) It's something that needs to be watched and
2) It's something Republicans can use against him

That being said I think the quality of Deval Patrick's governing is still up for debate. I feel like he has not focused on specific issues and has many things that he is working on still 'pending.' So, as of right now, it looks like he has accomplished less that he 'should' whereas if things continue to progress he may have a shotgun of policies go through in the next year or two that makes him look like a very effective governor. Only time will tell.

Feingold votes for Obama

This is probably one of the most meaningful things that has happened in the campaign. Russ Feingold is one of the most principled senators and his support for a candidate means a lot to me and many bloggers.

More blacks than Hispanics might turn out in Texas

If this happens Hillary is done. In Texas, in the election, done.

Biggest threats to national security: terrorism and paperwork?

So the House dems stood their ground and didn't listen to Bush's warnings that we're all going to die if the Protect America Act wasn't renewed. Well, apparently the sky isn't falling (which is always good to hear). The real tragedy is that now the Bush administration will have to, oh I don't know, obtain warrants to spy on people and...provide reasons for suspicion to a court. You know...the legal process that is so tedious and uneccessary. Not to mention there are still stipulations that permit a period of surveillance before securing a warrant. Apparently that's not enough. We need to be able to spy for an infinite period of time on whoever we please for our own reasons that we won't share with you because...paperwork sucks. Wow.

Really, Hillary? Really?

So the Hillary camp (in this particular case it's Hillary's Michigan campaign co-chair Joel Ferguson) continues to support super delegates while attacking other delegates (caucuses, red states, anyone who doesn't vote for her). So this is Joel Ferguson's response to super delegates being 'second class delegates':

Superdelegates are not second-class delegates. The real second-class
delegates are the delegates that are picked in red-state caucuses that are never
going to vote Democratic.

Wow! Well done, Joel Ferguson. That's two for one! Red states AND caucuses. Well we couldn't just say red states because then we'd have to question Hillary's wins in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Arkansas (and they'd be slapping Texans in the face). While you're being ridiculous why don't you say you think states that start with the letter "I" are undemocratic and that their delegates shouldn't count?

So does that mean that Hillary's general election strategy will be to campaign in states she knows she'll win cause it'll make her feel better? You need to campaign in every state. You need to win the swing states and the red states and any state you can. Ronald Reagan won 44 and 49 states in his elections and George H.W. won 40. Neither Bill Clinton nor George W. has won more than 32 states. Why have we grown to accept that you can't win states? Why have we agreed that people can't do that anymore?

I don't know why Hillary keeps trying to temper expectations and kill hope. I want the democrats to win 40 states this year.

Hillary's foreign policy: insults

So Hillary had criticized Obama for saying that he would sit down and talk with our enemies citing "we should never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate." Hillary claimed this was naive.

Well apparently her form of foreign policy is name calling and insults. Hillary claimed that Putin "doesn't have a soul." Call me naive but I think I'd prefer Obama's take on foreign relations. This just seems childish.

Putin responds by saying "At a minimum, a head of state should have a head." If this counts as experience on Hillary's part I don't think I want it. I don't want our president, or even our democratic nominee, to have personal problems with a leader of another country (especially a G8 country).

McCain's standpoints on advanced interrogation techniques change

So I will not claim that McCain flat out supports torture but McCain had talked with an army general who said "techniques under the Army Field Manual are working and working effectively, and he (the general) didn’t think they need to do anything else." According to McCain, "this is what America is all about." Does anyone else read that as 'I agree with the general that we don't need to use interrogation methods outside of those laid out in the Army Field Manual because they work'?

Well, apparently that's not what he meant because McCain just voted against a bill that would limit the CIA's interrogation abilities to those in the Army Field Manual and apparently McCain has "always supported allowing the C.I.A. to use extra measures." Really? You could have fooled me. McCain is either being deliberately misleading or flat out lying. Either way I can already hear the cries of 'flip flopper' coming from the democrats regardless of who is the nominee.

This can just be thrown in with McCain voting against the Bush tax cuts which he now supports. I think the tag of flip-flopper would mean more coming from Obama just because Hillary has already been accused of being a flip-flopper (drivers licenses for illegal imigrants, war in Iraq).