Battles over voting registration are building. The Chicago Tribune has the details about the battles, which mostly seem like Republican attempts to block new voters.

However, unlike Al Gore, who never did fight back, the Obama campaign already has teams of lawyers in the field. Obama is not flashy, but he is always prepared, and always has a well-thought-out plan.

Both in the primary and now against McCain, there’s been times when his supporters were screaming, do something, hit back, and then a week later you realize he just surged ahead in the polls. So, I’m not too worried about attempted Republican dirty tricks on voter registration. I’m sure Obama has a plan here too.

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Jim Kunstler on the current financial crisis

So, to begin this process, and to clarify the situation, I urge readers of this blog to identify the Republican Party by its new brand-name: the party that wrecked America. At least, then, we can reinstate one cardinal value into the juddering structure of what we claim to believe: that actions have consequences, that you can’t just swindle and loot a society and walk away with the swag.

PS

The man most responsible for the financial services and banking deregulation that made today possible, fmr. Sen. Phil Gramm, is the man John McCain wants to put in charge of the whole economy.

It’s time to end the looting of this country by a tiny fanatical elite who use their extremist political philosophy to justify greed and plundering. Look, lots of them belong in prison. Once we get Obama, a centrist adult, in the White House then perhaps we can start to clean up the mess these thieves have left us. But none of that will happen with McCain in the White House as the thievery will simply continue.

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Why are netroots ignoring Obama and foaming at the mouth about Palin and McCain?

That’s what a reader on Andrew Sullivan asks, and he has a point. The Liberal blogosphere is currently so utterly preoccupied with attacking McCain and especially Palin that they are barely covering Obama at all.

While the reader thinks this could be a devious ploy by Rove to neutralize the netroots, I’m thinking the liberal blogosphere needed little encouragement to go off on such extended rants. They should get back and focus on what’s important, which is helping Obama win, not constantly giving press and focus to McCain and Palin.

However, this could just be a tempest in a teapot as the general public may not even be following it. But it’s still counter-productive.

And Obama, god bless him, he gets it. As does his team. while everyone whines he keeps at it every day with much much class and like a laser focused on the issues. The problem is not Obama, is that no one wants to follow his lead. Instead they are following McCain-Rove and they don’t even know it.

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The Obama campaign will start a major offensive tomorrow. This is a campaign that does things in a deliberate manner. That’s a good thing. He did the same thing when Hillary attacked. Waited a bit before responding.

Key quote:

“We’re sensitive to the fluid dynamics of the campaign, but we have a game plan and a strategy,” said Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe. “We’re familiar with this. And I’m sure between now and Nov. 4 there will be another period of hand-wringing and bed-wetting. It comes with the territory.”

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Conclusive proof from the fine folks at Snopes.

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Maybe, says Socialist Unity

Obama cannot entirely ignore the radical expectations that he has encouraged. The Clinton administration died on the cross of failing to make good their promises for universal health care. Obama has to deliver something, and that means that an American society that has been accustomed to things gradually getting worse year on year, will see that things can also get better. That is a much more fruitful context for radical politics.

No chance, says Dennis Perrin

Once Obama’s president, many of these “progressives” say that they’ll feel safe enough to challenge the Dems from within. I’ve heard this from a number of quarters, including from people I respect, and it’s utter bullshit. Won’t happen. The Clinton years are the template, and that’s already ancient history. The Obama years will crank it to a new, obscene level. Power always attracts followers and servants, and the idea that “progressives” will go after President Obama as he fortifies the police state, expands war, and keeps private interests flush, is ridiculous and ahistorical.

I’m with Socialist Unity on this. An Obama presidency will raise expectations for real change. He’ll have to deliver something, and the job of the Left will be to keep pressing the issues. Perrin sounds a bit burned-out. It’s an occupational hazard for activists. Hey Dennis, I know lots of progressives that are and will continue to oppose the militarization of society and the wars. But if you lose hope, then you lose most everything. “Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind.”

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ultimatejosh on Obama’s speech.

85,000 people cheering for a black guy who opposed a popular war. Almost need to check my passport to remember what country I’m in..

I was in the Embarcadero tonight in SF walking around during Obama’s speech. A steady stream of tweets to my cell phone kept me updated on what was happening in virtually real time. That’s why Twitter is so valuable.

McCain is practically foaming at the mouth to start more wars. Obama isn’t. Obama also wants to spend $150 billion on cleantech and renewable energy R&D. There are real differences between them. Maybe, just maybe, this country is moving towards progressive ideas again.

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Darry Barry confirms the wingnut’s deepest suspicions.

[Obama's] goal, in his acceptance speech, will be to win over the undecided voters — the people who are unsure of what he really stands for, or who have received emailed rumors that he is a Muslim, or a socialist, or a vampire, or a lesbian. His goal will be to show, with no disrespect to the Muslim socialist vampire lesbian community, that he is a regular person just like you, except he has Vision and Leadership. After that, he will lay out his specific policies for building a brighter future. Then he will turn into a bat.

While Barry’s humor is always welcome, the possible assassination attempt on Obama by apparent meth head white supremacist wingnuts is unsettling.

The TimesOnline UK has a video interview with Nathan Johnson, one of the arrested, saying the others told him of their plan to assassinate Obama from on high with a .22-250 rifle sighted at 750 yards, a shot a skilled marksman could pull off. He also contradicted himself a few times. Can’t imagine why an alleged outlaw biker would inform on compatriots unless he was up on serious charges and wanted to cut a deal. Which means he could be making stuff up. Or not.

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After reading some Left listservs and blogs, you might think Obama is the continuation of the policies of George Bush under another name. I mean, there’s some serious gnashing of teeth and fury going on. How dare he be a centrist. He’s not for the immediate withdrawal of troops. He’s a sellout and his presidency will mean no change.

Get a grip folks. Does anyone think that having a centrist adult in the White House will be as bad as George Bush?

More to the point, think back to what Ralph Nader said in 2000 (and I did drink Nader’s Kool Aid then), that there’s no difference between Al Gore and George Bush. Is there anyone left on the planet who thinks a Gore presidency would have been as destructive as Dubya’s has been? Didn’t think so.

Sometimes I think the Left is so used to losing and being marginalized it wouldn’t know what to if things started looking even slightly optimistic. An Obama presidency will open the door to progressive change, whether he wants it or not. So, the Left need to push Obama that way, and not stand on the sidelines sniping, refusing to play, and thus inadvertently insuring its irrelevance.

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All summer Obama has offended his most ardent supporters, and lost countless others, while spending too much time ingratiating himself with people who will never vote for him in November.

The result, according to the Zogby poll, is telling: McCain surged ahead by five points this week, a gain of fifteen percent. Obama suffered a reversal of nearly 20 points in his favorable/unfavorable ratio. The primary reason, Zogby, said is that Obama flip-flopping move to the center was perceived by his supporters as a move to the center.

The magic is tarnished.

No doubt, at least on the Left. But Obama’s timeworn if cynical calculation is, who else will they vote for but him, especially with Nader and McKinney being nonentities this election.

Hayden is quite correct when he says progressives should and must pressure the Obama campaign to tilt leftwards and to hit McCain on the war and economy. Hard.

Else it’ll just be ten weeks of unending meaningless attack ads driven by pollsters, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.

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It now appears McCain has twelve homes. Count ‘em, twelve.

From USA Today:

McCain, who has portrayed Obama as an elitist, is the son and grandson of admirals. The Associated Press estimates his wife, a beer heiress, is worth $100 million. Obama was raised by a single mother who relied at times on food stamps, and went to top schools on scholarships and loans.

Time: “The McCain campaign’s constant invocation of the candidate’s POW past is weird bordering on irrational” and yes, his spokesperson tried to invoke McCain being a POW to deflect criticism for not knowing how many homes he owns.

I read somewhere (can’t find the link now) that Obama has deliberately delayed announcing his VP selection because he doesn’t want distract from the media frenzy over McCain’s homes.

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The trend continues.

And the counter-trend, Democrats for McCain, appears to be nonexistent.

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Yes, Obama tacked too hard to the Right recently, and may have lost support and cred in doing so. Then again, who else will they vote for? It’s the usual cynical calculation, play to the faithful on the edges during the primary, then move to the center in the general election. (Hillary would have done precisely the same. McCain is doing the same.)

So now presumably Obama will be getting negative on McCain, as will McCain on him, and the final months of the campaign will be one enormous mud-sling.

All of this is entirely predictable. Anyone who is surprised, shouldn’t be. Like Huffington Post, apparently.

What was HuffPo thinking, printing a hit piece on Obama by a Republican insider working for the McCain campaign? It was skillfully done though, playing up the weepy liberal angle, oh how Obama has disappointed us. Maybe that’s why they printed it, liberals sometimes do love to weep and be filled with angst, don’t they?

Obama is, and always has been, a centrist politician. The presidential campaign is now entering the guns and thunder phase. Again, this is entirely predictable.

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From an anonymous political consultant on JoeBageant.com

Barack Obama is in short order a far more reassuring prospect for the continued dominance of the financial elite than another four years of neo-conservative rule which in an almost historically unique combination of greed, ill will, incompetence and stupidity have brought the country to the edge of disaster.

Audacity yes, change hardly.

Sort of. That the financial elite wants an end to neocon venality and incompetence in and of itself represents change. The Bushies have been terrible for business. Thus, a non-ideological, rational adult in the White House is called for.

I’ve never thought Obama represented real change, and given his rapid rise out of nowhere, it’s clear he has long enjoyed the backing of powerful segments of the financial elite. However, he genuinely gets it about global warming and will be considerably less bellicose than the willfully ignorant George Bush. And that will be a welcome change.

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This is something you might expect from a hard right slime squad, but not from the supposedly liberal New Yorker. It shows Obama in the Oval Office in Muslim garb with his wife as an AK-totin’ radical with a picture of bin Laden above the fireplace with the flag burning in it.

I’m speechless. What were they thinking?

[The Obama] campaign issued a statement by Bill Burton which Mike Allen of Politico.com reported as, “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds quickly e-mailed: “We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it’s tasteless and offensive.”

We look forward to future satirical New Yorker covers. Perhaps they could portray Obama as Stepin Fetchit or as a murderous Communist or, hey how about this laff riot, being lynched by a white mob. All in good satirical jest of course. Right.

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From Dave Winer

First, the conservative pundits who say that Obama turned his back on the extreme left by voting for the new FISA bill have it wrong. He turned his back on people of all persuasions who believe in our form of government.
…
He was right if he assumed he had our vote. I will not vote for McCain to prove this point. But I’m also not going to give him any more money. I’m going to save that for causes I believe in.

I no longer believe there is a cause to Obama other than getting Obama elected. It’s up to him now to prove otherwise. The FISA vote can be undone, but he has to actually do the undoing.

FriendFeed discussion

Dave Winer is a gifted programmer and conceptualizer who played a major role in the development of RSS and podcasting. He can alternately be brilliant and infuriating. This post, IMO, is one of his best and is why people read him.

Even Hillary voted against FISA. But Obama voted for it. Why? Maybe to out-right McCain so he won’t be called soft on terrorism or as an attempt to grab what he perceives as the center. Whatever the reasons, it was cynical and manipulative and makes one wonder, just what does Obama believe in, given that he’s currently reversing previously stated views seemingly as fast as he possibly can.

Maybe he’s just another triangulating Slick Willie. But he’s quite correct. The Left will vote for him anyway. And I’ll take a Slick Willie over the neocons any day. For one thing, Obama gets it about renewable energy and global warming.

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This isn’t surprising. In the past month Obama has gone from being a visionary with new ideas to just another politician tacking to the center during the general election, flip-flopping on his previous statements. Even those who aren’t on the Left can see this opportunistic process for what it is, and by being so obvious about it, he’s removed the aura that made him unique and different.

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One of the final reasons that apartheid fell in South Africa was because their ruling class came to the conclusion that it was no longer tenable or defensible. It was no longer working and was doing nothing but lose them friends and allies worldwide. Sound familiar? Maybe like the US now after eight years of Bush?

So, Obama is their choice for change. No, not revolutionary change. But a serious step back from the precipice and time to get rational adults in the White House again. The neocons have been a disaster for the economy, business, and the influence and power of the US. Thus large parts of the ruling class know change is needed now, and Obama is their choice to do it.

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Even the normally satirical Mark Morford appears to have been sipping the Kool-Aid - envisioning Obama as a Lightworker who will usher in a New Enlightened Era. Seriously, he’s really saying that.

It is something more. Even Bill Clinton, with all his effortless, winking charm, didn’t have what Obama has, which is a sort of powerful luminosity, a unique high-vibration integrity.

Well, pass me the crystals and let’s get in a circle and chant “Om.”

People, Obama is a politician. Not a Godform sent to redeem us. Unreasonably sky high expectations have a way of getting punctured by craggy political realities.

Will Obama be better than Bush? Of course. But come Inauguration Day, he’s won’t be floating down from the heavens to take the oath of office.

The Blue Voice appears as bemused as I am by Morford.

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Former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, who is expected to be a national security adviser if Obama is elected, says Winnie the Pooh provides a model for US foreign policy, saying

The future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else.

Works for me.

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Because a black man in the White House would shock the nation and maybe even ignite a race war. Shades of Charlie Manson and Helter Skelter. But then, Manson was a white supremacist too. And equally not in touch with reality.

This demented reasoning isn’t just on the right. You see it sometimes on the Left too. If the repression gets real bad and the economy collapses, then the masses will rise up in righteous wrath and join our cause.

(Why they will join the cause is never really explained. You could make an equal case they will rise up, blame the Left or the Right, then shoot them.)

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From David Sirota, author of The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington, blogging at Firedoglake.

Obama has one foot firmly planted inside the establishment and has presented himself as having one foot outside the establishment, and the question remains whether he is a candidate who used the pretense of insurgency to be another establishment stooge or whether he is the real deal? I think he’s the real deal - but we will need a full-fledged social movement to make sure of it.

Imagine if all the populist movements; urban, rural, Left, Right, could find common ground. Then we’d have something powerful indeed. Obama, whether he wants to or not, is unleashing a populist upsurge. Sirota is correct. We need to take advantage of it.

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Email to supporters from Hillary Clinton

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party’s nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

“I’m not a member of an organized party, I’m a Democrat,” Will Rogers once said.   Ok, the street fight is over. Join hands everyone and sing “Cumbaya.” The Democratic Party will now unify as never before and  clobber the Republicans in November.

(BTW, I’m not a Democrat. Now that we’re back in California, I’ll register as Peace & Freedom, the only socialist party in California with ballot status. Obama may well raise expectations so high that he will open the door for the possibility of real change - whether he wants to or not.  Will he end the wars? Dunno. But I doubt he’ll support torture and the erosion of constitutional rights, and that’ll be major steps in the right direction. And he gets it about global warming.)

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My 90 year old father, a life-long Republican until 1992 and Obama supporter since day 1, called me excitedly tonight saying CNN just called the nomination for Obama.

He said, “this is historic” and he’s right. An African-American man is now the Democratic nominee for president and quite probably will become president.

Someone on Twitter said, so now we hold his feet to the fire like any other politician, right? Absolutely. But let’s appreciate this historic moment for the extraordinary moment that it is.

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NPR just reported that Hillary Clinton will be giving a major speech Tuesday night in New York and quoted Obama as saying she’s run a superb campaign and he and she will be working together in November.

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