I noticed that too and wondered about it. But he nailed in response to the Gibson's direct question on change later.

It's clear from all of their body language that they are all exhausted.

watch their eyes while questions are being asked

I'm a Hillary supporter.

Not speaking and smiling sometimes does not equal leadership. Barack Obama does not even know how to be an effective senator - he's never called for a single hearing in his time as a senator. When difficult votes come up, he conveniently misses them.

Hillary has more smarts and guts than anyone on that stage and she has always been passionate about helping Americans. They all care about Americans; but Hillary is the only one who could truly deliver meaningful progress for all of us, and she does it whether people are smart enough to recognize it or not...

Senator Clinton: We don't need to be raising the false hopes of our country about what can be delivered

Translation: Americans aren't going to tell me what to do

Hillary announces all this change talk is unrealistic:

""We don't need to be raising the false hopes of our country about what can be delivered"

-NH Debate, 1/05/2008

Ezra, Barack is NOT about change and never has been. He's about the WORD "change".

I've had the good fortune to have been able to study a number of cultish groups for an internal perspective (no, I wasn't a member, the details of this fascinating and frustrating experience are for another time) and I can tell you that what they all have in common (among other things) is usage of the right words. "Truth" "Love" "Relationships" and "Honesty" are words they use in abundance - precisely because they're traits that are lacking in their dogma. Jesus/Barack is not about change, he's about becoming President, but his idiotic followers are about change. They're 17 and excited about the idea of rebellion so they'd love nothing more than to vote for a black guy (if he ran against a transgendered dude, Barack would have no chance of course) and they need to hear something about "change". So Barack says it: CHANGE! HOPE! YOUNG PEOPLE! MIDDLE CLASS! CHANGE! HOPE! YOUNG PEOPLE! MIDDLE CLASS!! CHANGE! HOPE! YOUNG PEOPLE! MIDDLE CLASS!!!

And the moronic minions roared...

mnuez
www.mnuez.blogspot.com

MNUEZ,

Most cult leaders don't write bestselling books.

Most cult leaders don't put off law school to organize inner city groups.

Most cult leaders are not constitutional attorneys.

Most politicians, on the other hand, choose their lines based upon what their handlers tell them will sway the most votes. Clearly Clintonesque.

If you could read, you may want to read The Audacity of Hope, where you would find the same concepts developed on deeper levels. Obama wrote this long before the campaign began and campaign pollsters checked the political wind.

Do some research before making such libelous and ridiculous claims.

And the moronic minions... are in your head.

Don't agree that Obama was 'dominant' in any way shape or form. He was solid and occasionally very good, but I thought that both Edwards (who won IMO) and Clinton fared better. But Obama came through unscathed, and as the new frontrunner that in itself represents a victory of sorts for him.

So in Obama's First 100 days we can look forward to more school uniforms, the new improved VChip and updates of the Telecom Reform ACT,DoMA, DMCA and the era of partisan government being over. Maybe Obama can re-reform welfare and fund No Child Left Behind if he has time.

Dr. Brad Burke,

I wouldn't like it if my candidate was called a "cult" leader, either, but your list is absurd. Most cult leaders don't write best selling books--what do you think "Dianetics" was, or, for that matter, "Atlas Shrugged?" And for the rest of it I believe some very famous cult leaders have done a lot of "community organizing" (jim jones) and plenty of really creepy, shitty guys are constitutional lawyers.

My point is the proof is in the pudding. Obama could be completely genuine and a true progressive change agent (rather than a trimmer with a good line of talk) but many of his followers exactly pattern themselves on cult followers. You can't discuss anything with them because they bombard you with meaningless words like "change" and "truth" and "love" and "hope."

Lets grasp something together: the people who are most concerned about Obama are progressives who worry that he won't have the stones to go at the remains of the republican machine with an axe. I think there are very, very, good reasons to think that. Obama is a classic A student from a poor background. He is a hard worker, an eloquent speaker, and not a wave maker or a piss-people-offer. Bill Clinton was, too. they both remind me of somethign I saw once. Question, what is the one thing you can know about a straight A student? Answer: that he knows how to give people in authority what they want. The follow on is that you can't be sure what such a person will do when they, themselves, are in authority because they've been used to pleasing people above them for so long they may not know how to stop.

Obama is the only one who can dispell the doubts of the non-obama supporters. And I don't see him doing that, because, I take it, he doesn't take our doubts as either reasonable or important. But I do think they are reasonable, so I'd like to not have them blown off. And I do think they are important, so I'd like to have them addressed. And I'd love to stop being lectured by his followers on what they think Obama means to do . You don't know, and neither do I, because Obama consistently blurs his intentions with feel good talk. And some of us don't believe that the future is amenable to making nice with the forces of reaction.

aimai

Obama is going to change the political landscape in the US. When he brings forward his proposals for privatizing Social Security and builds a bipartisan consensus around them, it's going to be a huge change. People should stop underestimating the political skill of this man.

Dr has never heard of Jim Jones, Anton LeVay, or L. Ron Hubbard I guess.

I have read Ezra for a long time, and I am finally delurking. I am the 62 year old mother of four grown daughters, grandmother of one, who has been an editor, librarian, and social worker. I was a 60s civil rights and anti-war activist and a 70s radical feminist. My major leftist credential is my daughter Katherine, who blogs for Obsidian Wings.

My role will be the radical feminist grandmother who supports Hillary as of Saturday's debate.

Sorry, I did not intend to be anonymous. That would not suit a grandma curmudgeon.

Mary Jo: Welcome!

aimai: I'm sorry, I almost stopped paying attention after you said

meaningless words like "change" and "truth" and "love" and "hope."

At first, I thought "what a sad person" but then I realized you were talking about starry-eyed Obama supporters, not the candidate himself. I'll admit it's a little creepy, but let me share what this looks like from inside.

I've been a supporter a while, and there's definately a little frustration for these gung-ho latecomers. But that's the core of this movement; bringing people into the tent. The Volunteer offices are PACKED. Those kids that betrayed Dean and Kerry in '04 are showing up at the offices, and at least in Iowa, showing up at the polls; in equal numbers to seniors, no less. Obama's ground team in Iowa prepared them well. They trained them on what to expect, held mock caucuses, and then contacted them by email, phone, text, maybe even carrier pidgeon to make sure they got to the caucus *on time*.

I think you're also upset that Obama is being vague on the stump and that people are projecting their hopes and dreams onto him because of it.
First, stump speeches at this point in the campaign are supposed to be spirit over substance. You'll need to look earlier in the year for policy speeches. Go on Youtube and search for "Obama full speech." there are lots of details all year, in Oakland and South Carolina, all over the country. If you want to read, check his website, the menu "Learn > Obama Speeches" has a ton of policy speeches. "A Call to Serve" is probably my favorite.

Second, the "projection" issue: that's a big part of the power of this campaign. Obama wants people to dream about the America they want. He lets them think at first that he'll do it for them, but after they come around a while, they'll see that the true power is in themselves. That they are the agent of change. The quote above the navigation panel says it all: "I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about in real change in Washington ... I'm asking you to believe in yours."

Obama's going to continue to use the campaign network he's built AFTER the campaign to put pressure on the legislative branch (even though they'll likely be Dem-controlled) to enact change and make the hard compromises to solve our problems. If you sign up on Obama's site, expect to hear from him for the next five years.

"Obama is the only one who can dispell the doubts of the non-obama supporters. "And I don't see him doing that, because, I take it, he doesn't take our doubts as either reasonable or important. But I do think they are reasonable, so I'd like to not have them blown off. And I do think they are important, so I'd like to have them addressed."

Until the netroots can deliver a winning vote margin for him, I think he (correctly) doesn't give a flying fuck what you want.

I love reading the political commentary on the blogs, as it provides a needed corrective to the dominant narratives in the MSM. But its main purveyors, and many, many of its commenters have an alomost delusional sense of their importance to the electoral process.

I wonder if brewmn and his cohorts will be pressuring Jane T. Moderate (R) when Obama needs her vote to pass his legislative package. I doubt we will see many of them volunteering for Congressman Unappealing as he fights to hold unto his seat in a Republican +5 district during the off year elections.

brewmn and other Obama supporters seem to be under the delusion that winning the 2008 election is the end instead of just another beginning. Then again if you were a Gold Coast republican hoping to make the best of it in 2008, helping Obama win would be the end of your involvement in progressive politics.