Recently, a fair number of high-profile progressive bloggers have been, to put it mildly, flipping out about Barack Obama's campaign style and his chances in November.  Josh Marshall thinks there need to be consistent lines of attack against McCain.  John Aravosis thinks Team Obama is in a bubble and this is feeling like the Democratic campaigns of the past.  Matt Stoller thinks it's time for message testing to find the attack that'll work on McCain.

All of these are smart people who want Obama to win and see it slipping away.  But they are failing to totally account for the X factor of the election, which is going virtually unmentioned throughout the blogosphere - the historic ground effort that the Obama campaign is banking on to win.  It is not without peril, but it is a very new thing, and I think we have to understand it if we want to understand the twists and turns of this election.

Cross posted from Future Majority - a blog about progressive youth politics.

Earlier this week I wrote a post called "If the Youth Vote, Obama Wins" - Yes, But It's More Complicated, in which I tried to walk back some potentially outlandish claims about just how high youth turnout will be in November.  I imagine that for a lot of you it was weird to see me, one of the biggest youth vote cheerleaders, disagreeing with such a positive description of youth potential.  As I stated at the time, my purpose wasn't to say that youth wouldn't vote or turnout in record numbers, rather it was to manage expectations about what that record turnout might look like.

In 2006 we had a crop of Congressional challengers that was poised to win in tough districts and take back the House and Sente.  It was a cautious list, at times a moderate list, and while there have been some excellent progressive lawmakers from that group (Steve Cohen, John Hall, Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown come to mind), overall it was a list full of more Democrats instead of better ones.  You never know what you're really going to get from a candidate until they're in office, but this year there are some promising signs that the class of 2008 is substantively better on several issues.

Jesse Taylor at Pandagon had a remarkably insightful piece today about the wingnut carping over the Barack Obama speech in Berlin, the media reaction, and his popularity generally.  I really think this is important to understand.  The right has always held a goal of minimizing political participation; normally this is done through voter suppression, onerous voter ID or ballot access laws, and generally disenfranchising those for whom it is hardest to engage in the process.  Now they've taken it a step further, basically planting the seed that ANY participation whatsoever, not just voting but showing up for a rally or working a phone bank or donating money, is toxic and inherently fascistic.  Because their deficit in this election year is enthusiasm, they're trying to make such support and excitement untenable.  Behold:

Bob Ostertag at the Huff Post had an imaginary talk with Gail Collins about her recent column on Obama supporters not really listening to what Obama says. Since Bob imagined the talk with her, I'm going to imagine he's also talking with me (after he's read what I wrote in response to Gail) because I have some things I want to say to Bob about common ground, lines and sand.

Many Kossacks asked me to republish this diary for some perspective as I posted this one  late Wednesday night and it slid off the list. I have updated the diary with reports on one of the most progressive pieces of legislation Obama is proposing namely the bankruptcy bill reform.

I have been a Kossack and an Obama supporter for a little less than 4 months but have come to admire and appreciate the tenacity and puritanical instincts of My fellow democrats here.

I'll take you down what I have been through in this  exhilarating and exhausting yet-to-be-won electoral journey below.

There's obviously a lot of noise about Barack Obama's "shift to the center" inside the blogosphere, and today it bubbles up into the mainstream.  The LA Times thinks that most Democrats don't care (based on nothing but anecdotes from insiders), while the Washington Post thinks his ideology is problematic, saying that liberals are calling him a centrist and Republicans are calling him a liberal, so who knows???

I think these thumbsucker pieces offer little in the way of identifiable information.  Then again, so does the blogosphere, increasingly.  That herd mentality we've all noticed in the traditional media has definitely migrated over, and the narrative has definitely hardened.  There is perhaps no bigger critic of Obama's vote on the FISA bill than I.  At the same time, I can't believe that this wasn't a far bigger story, particularly in the blogosphere.

I have been a Kossack and an Obama supporter for a little less than 4 months but have come to admire and appreciate the tenacity and puritanical instincts of My fellow democrats here.

I'll take you down what I have been through in this  exhilarating and exhausting yet-to-be-won electoral journey below.

I get around the progressive blogosphere and have encountered much consternation against Obama over various issues recently.  He is not fighting FISA at an acceptable level.  He is screwing up by advocating that religion take a role in fighting poverty.  He is trying to hard to "move to the center".  Going further back there were complaints about his AIPAC pandering, his healthcare plan, and a number of other things.  I agree with many of the criticisms.  I understand the concern and outrage.  But Obama is not the problem I see here.

Over the past few days I have read a great many heartfelt diaries on all sides of the FISA debate.  There is a full range of views out there, despite the effort of a small minority of bloggers and media figures to convince us that this is a simple, black-'n-white issue.  

The FISA bill and the position of the Democratic presidential nominee on that bill has tipped progressives into a real crisis--and it deserve a serious moment of pause to understand exactly what that crisis is.  

The issue we are debating, passionately and at times painfully is: loyalty.

This is an ongoing series from the national tour for THE UPRISING. You can order The Uprising through your local independent bookstore.

"You, Aaron, are what it's all about. You're real. Your room is real. Your friends are real. Real, man, real. You know? Real. You're more important than all the silly machinery." - Russell Hammond in the movie Almost Famous

LAFAYETTE, IN - Having been on tour for more than a month and now having my first day off, I've gained a bit of perspective that I don't think I had before this whirlwind began. This post is probably going to be a bit rambly, and more than a bit personal - so if you don’t like that kind of thing, don't fill up the comments section with overwrought complaints, just stop reading right now.

This is an ongoing series from the national tour for THE UPRISING. You can order The Uprising through your local independent bookstore.

LAFAYETTE, IN - I chatted with the Washington Post on Friday about Barack Obama's recent moves to the right. You can read what I told them in the Post's big story from yesterday. It juxtaposes nicely with an important post from Chris Bowers at OpenLeft, in which he urges us to judge Obama on his actions - and not come up with wild theories to explain them away. I can't agree more.

I see that a celebrity from cable TV is leading the Rec List today with an attack on Glenn Greenwald.  In the interest of discourse and pluralism, I include part of Mr. Greenwald's response to Mr. Olbermann, and a link to his full response in this diary.

I have no doubt that some will attack me for presenting a view contrary to the views presented by the cable TV celebrity.  But the FISA bill matters.  The Constitution matters.  My own self respect and nearly 40 years of fighting for progressive change require me to provide this to those who wish to hear.  

I understand Olbermann says:  "I don't know much about Mr. Greenwald and I didn't read his full piece."   Yes, Keith Olbermann is quite a celebrity.  So fucking what that he does not know Greenwald!  

Many here, including Markos, consider Greenwald an excellent progressive. I first saw Greenwald's work being quoted by Markos here.  Now Markos may [or may not] disagree with Greenwald on this issue, and either position's fine.  

I'm about principles, not persons.  I don't even have cable TV and rarely see Mr. Olbermann.  Please forgive me if I fail to genuflect to him and his ideas, just because they are from him and he is a celebrity.

More, after the fold.

This is an ongoing series from the national tour for THE UPRISING. You can order The Uprising through your local independent bookstore.

NASHVILLE, TN - We tend to complain a lot about not having progressive voices in the media, and yet we watch how the conservative movement rams their voices into the media through books and publications. When conservative authors sell lots of books or conservative magazines build a big circulation, the rest of the media comes calling. It's a pretty simple formula, and that's why one of the things I tell audiences at my events is that by buying a progressive book or by subscribing to a progressive magazine, you are engaging in an act of movement building. This concept is at the heart of my new newspaper column today.

I posted a diary a couple of days ago wondering what Markos stance on the Obama FISA position was.  That post is here.

http://www.dailykos.com/...

Later, I had heard that Markos was on Countdown and was curious to see what was said.   Being that I am not the Republican nominee running for president and DO know how to operate a personal computer, I decided to head to You-tube and check out the segment.  His five minutes with Keith was interesting to watch but I hope he posts his thoughts here on the dailykos in the near future.

Playing around on You-tube I decided to type in dailykos in the search box.  One of the first things that popped up was an three part segment that Markos shared with Harold Ford, the chairman of the DLC, on meet the press on August 12th, 2007.  So I decided to watch what these two stalwarts of the Democratic movement had to say.  

Markos,

I am at a turning point in my very young Progressive life.   I got swept up in the progressive movement somewhere during the primary season between Iowa and Super Tuesday.   I didn`t know much about it before then but I have been reading up on the Progressive Philosophy here on your great websit dailykos everyday for the last six months.   My day starts and ends with checking the headlines and recomended diaries here on your awesome site.  

Barack Obama is the first and only candidate that I have ever supported with my heart, my head, my energy and my wallet.   I believe in Sen. Obama and what he represents.   I don`t always agree with him, but I know that I have never felt this enthusiastic about a presidential campaign before.  

I came here to the dailykos on a daily basis during primary season because it was so wonderful to be in a community that felt the same as I do about Sen. Obama.   There were some rough days when things didn`t go as well as we would have liked them too but I came here anyway because not only was I learning about Sen. Obama fight against Hillary, but also about the Progressive movement itself.

I became a Progressive in the process.

The following is an amazing speech, Tale of Two Cities, given by New York Governor Mario Cuomo at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. I read it the other day, and its words ring so true 24 years later, with a different (but similar) President. Taken graciously from the American Rhetoric website, the video can be found here

Thank you very much.

On behalf of the great Empire State and the whole family of New York, let me thank you for the great privilege of being able to address this convention. Please allow me to skip the stories and the poetry and the temptation to deal in nice but vague rhetoric. Let me instead use this valuable opportunity to deal immediately with the questions that should determine this election and that we all know are vital to the American people.

Ten days ago, President Reagan admitted that although some people in this country seemed to be doing well nowadays, others were unhappy, even worried, about themselves, their families, and their futures. The President said that he didn't understand that fear. He said, "Why, this country is a shining city on a hill." And the President is right. In many ways we are a shining city on a hill.

Although the general election campaign informally started weeks ago, after Senator Clinton's endorsement of Senator Obama last week, it has officially begun.

We are consistently told, from the media and from both campaigns, that this is a "change" election. Obama in particular has been able to mobilize and energize millions of people either disillusioned or newly political, and bring them onboard his campaign.

GOOD 'BRANDING' DOES NOT A MOVEMENT MAKE