Huh? How you organize is a different dimension than what you do in government. It has nothing to do with centrism or progressivism. You could organize a mass movement, say, to "Remember the Maine" and declare war on Spain.

On the death penalty: Who cares? The Supreme Court has spoken, and so this becomes simply another personality test.

Marriage Equality: Good to hear that this is "the center" now. Excellent.

FISA: This is legitimately bad. Maybe the Senate will manage to not get to it, in which case Obama gets to have it both ways, which makes him, y'know, an effective politician.

Excuses, excuses. But don't hold your breath waiting for the Senate to save Obama from his FISA pander. (I hope it does but I don't think you should count on it.)

obama may have just lost my vote because of fisa (among other stuff). this blog is progressive only when convenient enough to support the dems.

putting aside fisa marriage equality and death penalty?! thats basically saying putting aside civil and human rights..

How about the "He's always been a centrist, so these aren't moves to the center so much as revealing what he's honestly thought all along" option?

Except for the FISA thing, which does quack like a flip-flop, none of the the other stuff seems at all out of character or surprising. He mentioned in "The Audacity of Hope" that he thought the death penalty might be justified for crimes that didn't involve killing. He's a former community organizer and by all indications a committed Christian, so it's hardly surprising that he'd think religious organizations might have a role to play in solving social problems.

Why is any of this surprising?

Aaron -- FISA is more than a "flip-flop". Click over to Glen Greenwald's blog for a catalog of Obama's stated positions over the past year. It'll break your heart to see where he started out and where he's ended up on this.

I've read Greenwald's blog for a long time, and I agree that it's depressing. But he's being pressured to do the right thing by lots of his own supporters, and with a little luck and the work of guys like Chris Dodd, we may not have to worry about it too much.

It's the way that that admittedly Bad Thing is being conflated with Obama's other recent statements to create a "move to the center" narrative that's disturbing to me. He's not moving to the center, he's always been there. Repeating this theme is doing the Republicans work for them. They've already tried to paint Obama as a flip-flopping Democrat who will say anything to get your vote. The fact that McCain is far less consistent on policy or ideology has, thus far, not penetrated the reporters who retail the McMaverick stuff. Complaining about an illusory "move to the center" by Obama only helps the McCain campaign.

"Aaron -- FISA is more than a "flip-flop". Click over to Glen Greenwald's blog for a catalog of Obama's stated positions over the past year. It'll break your heart to see where he started out and where he's ended up on this."

Greenwald has turned into a first class drama queen.

Obama is trying to get elected.

Everything that matters to progressives isn't off the table because the guy's trying to get elected. And I agree that it's vitally important that Obama and as many Democrats as possible win in November. I'll send money, do what I can, encourage everyone I know to vote for him. That said, I don't think liberals gain by excusing in Democrats things we've opposed in the Republicans. I do think Obama needs to develop a better position on marriage equality. I don't believe a White House Office of Faith-Based Initiative in an Obama administration would be more acceptable than the one we currently have (more honest, no doubt; but still not a good idea). I don't think we need to be shy about asking for what we want. It's true, we should be careful in how we frame the criticisms, but it's not necessarily playing to McCain's strenghts for progressives to promote politics and policies they can believe in. The Republican oppo machine will try to paint Obama as a leftist -- and "worse" -- no matter what. The way to defeat McCain is to keep the focus on McCain, detailing his record of poor judgement, political opportunism, and support for Bush's war. It's hard to get past the Washington press corps' adoration of him, it's true; they created a fantasy McCain in 2000 and they've invested in the story for a long time. That startling collective tantrum over Wesley Clark's remarks was because the fairytale was exposed; the outrage had little to do with McCain himself. But now that the narrative line's been challenged, it's going to be harder for them to maintain it. We might being to see more rational coverage.

Obama is trying to get elected.

Shorter PeterK: "Obama's a lyin' sack o' shit, but I will apolgize for him since he's on my team".