For too long, there has been an assumption that there's a Cracker Jack prize somewhere at this magical "center" -- that playing it safe nets you the fifty percent-plus-one you need to win.
Those of us who want real change must hold with one hand to the absolute necessity of an Obama victory and with the other to the possibility that pragmatic cynicism may be precisely not the road to achieve victory.
The folks behind the Oklahoma City Bombing and the first World Trade Center attack were caught, prosecuted and in the case of Timothy McVeigh, executed. And then there's Osama.
Hirsh can't be bothered to look into the competing policy proposals and assess which is more credible. Perhaps Newsweek could hire a research assistant to "search the web" for him?
Liberals have a path out of Egypt. But if our principles are still unbaked or minimalized, it will be another long trip. As the warthog said in The Lion King, "Put your behind in the past."
Obama's got a lot to lose all of a sudden. That means he's going to have to fight the temptation to play it safe even when it may be unwise.
Hillary must turn to the man who defeated her for help paying back money her campaign owes, while her husband seems all but absent from the campaign. And few people, even Democrats, seem to really care.
To misread Hispanic voters is to miss a fundamental dynamic of the presidential race. For all the talk about race and gender, it is ethnicity that may determine the next president of the United States.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Justice Scalia's opinion in DC v. Heller is its use of living constitutionalism to justify the decision to invalidate D.C.'s handgun ban.
But let none of us be naïve in our hearts. Barack knows what he's doing, his people know what they're doing -- this is all very carefully calibrated.
As Obama dominates in California -- as much through a sort of political and social osmosis as through personal campaigning -- leadership within the state is shifting also.
Congratulations, Justice Scalia! Now we can all look forward to years of arguing over just exactly when, where and how the right to have guns in the home applies.
We should not give Obama an easy pass on his FISA turnaround, but progressives need to maintain a nuanced view of the relationship between electoral politics and movement building.
