That is a fact!

Some of us who’ve had the tremendous misfortune of having Flip-Flop-Orama “representing” (loosest sense possible) us in the Senate tried warning all you gullible “believers” that you were drinking the kool-aid. Anyone who ever called Flip-Flop Orama’s senate office and was told they didn’t know how he was voting on bills that day such as Funding Iraq, Patriot Act, previous attempts at retroactive immunity, etc. because he had his finger sticking in the wind or planned to vote with the Rethuglicans know that he’s a smooth talking con-artist politico who’s been posing for the presidency since day one of his senate term.

Sooner or later it’s not fun saying “I told you so.” This sudden realization by the “believers” that they were sold snake oil by Flip-Flop-Orama is too little too late.

We live in scary times and I hope Barack Obama realizes the mess he’s about to inherit and doesn’t give up his core values because I’m afraid that he’s being built up to be used as a scapegoat.

Obama has, with his FISA vote, managed to deal a potentially mortal blow not only to his claim to be a different sort of politician but also to his other big claim for deserving high office — his judgment.

This vote calls into real question his judgment regarding the powers of the executive, the meaning of the Constitution, the consequences of one’s actions and his reading of the electorate. It calls into question his judgment on what’s politically possible for a real leader.

It also begs the question: Is there any issue, any principle, on which Obama is not prepared to compromise? If the Constitution isn’t enough — especially to a teacher of Constitutional law — to finally convince him to make a fighting stand, then what is?

Will Obama nominate Alito and Roberts clones because he’d rather not fight to get a progressive SCOTUS nominee through? Will his Iraq withdrawal timetable grind to a halt because he’s suddenly been persuaded that there are many “safety” reasons to linger near the oil wells or the Iranian border? After all, it should be relatively easier to play the bait and switch once he’s in the White House, especially since he’s already built a lot of wiggle room into his Iraq withdrawal statements.

It seems that at Obama’s core, the only bedrock value is the importance of not standing for anything if it makes waves. Except, of course, if you’re standing against your own supporters in a vain attempt to get a few votes from the swing voters. And that’s another fundamental misreading of political reality. The swing voters, because they have no core beliefs, swing to the stronger partisan every time, like loose electrons to the stronger nucleus.

I was never a fan of either Clinton or Obama, but right now I’d rather have Clinton as our nominee. Obama, like too many superstars, is starting to believe his own hype. These days it seems as if he’s posing for Mount Rushmore and arranging lotteries for a few of the little people to attend his coronation in Denver.

If he continues like this, he will lose in November.

“. . .who said that Obama was ‘not a politician?’ Sure he is, you don’t get elected if you don’t play the game. Nobody thought otherwise “

Duh, Lessig did.

Lessig:

“There are at least two views about what makes Obama so compelling. One that he happens to have the mix of positions on policy questions that best matches the public’s. The other that he is perceived by the public as “different,” and hence (given the public hates politicians so) someone the public can like, or more significantly, get enthusiastic about.

“I’m strongly in the second camp. It seems to me nothing more than consultant-think to imagine people choosing a President with a checklist of issues, finding the one to vote for the way they pick a place to vacation. It seems to me nothing less than obvious that people are passionate about Obama because he strikes them as a different kind of candidate — one that stands for his beliefs, that speaks clearly and directly, that can be trusted to stick by his beliefs, that says what he believes regardless. Such a creature, in most people’s minds, is’ “not a politician.’ Such a creature (i.e. “not a politician’) is what people want in a President.”

Get it now? “Not a politician.”