Reply #58: A true friend tells you when you have dog poop on your face...

[Youphemism]

There's a big difference between criticizing Obama for his position on FISA and not supporting him.

Obama did say that he wanted to get rid of telecom immunity, but he knows that won't happen. His support of the bill with that as a caveat is disingenuous. I understand that's hard for people who want to like *everything* he does.

But maybe for that exact reason, his stance on FISA will be helpful to his campaign.

Obama is wrong to support FISA. We know this, just as we know that a junior senator is not going to be able to force telecom immunity into the bill. *That's* what we should try not to rationalize.

Guess what? We're not going to like *everything* Obama does. We're not going to be able to defend everything Obama does. Why? Because he's a politician, as much as supporters want to overlook that fact. If he weren't a politician, he wouldn't have gotten this far, let alone get elected.

There seem to be a number of Obama supporters who want to look at him as the answer to all their hopes, dreams, and prayers. He isn't. He doesn't need to be all that to be the best President ever. And he doesn't need to be the best President ever to be a hell of a lot better than Bush/McCain.

I don't believe people who try to unilaterally support every move Obama makes are doing him any favors. It makes them appear to the right just like Dittoheads appear to us. Instead, when he gets something wrong like this, why not keep it in perspective, but acknowledge it for what it is?

When someone says, "Obama capitulated to Bush on FISA," I would just offer the response, "Yeah, he got that one wrong. 100 more mistakes like that one and he might start pulling into McCain territory."

I don't think it's right to try to justify every single thing your candidate does. It waters down the argument for the many times he's right.

Everyone makes mistakes. Obama is human. He's wrong about this. I think what makes it stand out, and what makes people react so strongly is that he's right so much of the time that it takes us by surprise.

Let's acknowledge that Obama can make mistakes, and use those occasions to celebrate how rare they are, rather than trying to whitewash them.