Hey Barack, quit posing for Mount Rushmore and do the right thing

A few days ago, Arianna Huffington posted an astute list of "Seven Things Barack Obama Should Do to Keep from Blowing It" and included this inspirational quote from one of Obama's speeches:

"This campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us - it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice - to push us forward when we're doing right, and to let us know when we're not. This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.... That's why I'm in this race. Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation."

Contrast this to Obama's statement to his supporters that attempts to justify his cave-in on the FISA bill:

Now, I understand why some of you feel differently about the current bill, and I'm happy to take my lumps on this side and elsewhere. For the truth is that your organizing, your activism and your passion is an important reason why this bill is better than previous versions. No tool has been more important in focusing peoples' attention on the abuses of executive power in this Administration than the active and sustained engagement of American citizens. That holds true -- not just on wiretapping, but on a range of issues where Washington has let the American people down.

I learned long ago, when working as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago, that when citizens join their voices together, they can hold their leaders accountable. I'm not exempt from that. I'm certainly not perfect, and expect to be held accountable too. I cannot promise to agree with you on every issue. But I do promise to listen to your concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn your ongoing support to change the country. That is why we have built the largest grassroots campaign in the history of presidential politics, and that is the kind of White House that I intend to run as President of the United States -- a White House that takes the Constitution seriously, conducts the peoples' business out in the open, welcomes and listens to dissenting views, and asks you to play your part in shaping our country’s destiny. 

Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That's ok.  But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have.

I'll leave aside the disingenuous suggestion that the "compromise" FISA bill is a "better bill." Glenn Greenwald has skewered that notion thoroughly. Anyway, it's akin to the idea that there's no such thing as "a little bit pregnant." So it is with this bill. You can't get by with saying it's only "a little bit unconstitutional."

Beyond the awfulness of the bill, is the awfulness of the attitude. As one DKos diarist put it, in Obama we have "our next 'Decider'." This is the candidate that asked us to believe in our ability to bring about real change. Obama told us that he wanted our advice to let him know when he's not doing right. Well, that sentiment has become a quaint relic of the primary season. Now, "going forward," it's Barack Obama Knows Best. Squawk all you want, I've got some politickin' to do.

Knowing full well that McCain is beyond the pale to Democrats, Obama is perfectly fine with "taking his lumps" on his FISA flip-flop. He's pretty sure that it won't be a "deal breaker" and he's made the calculation that he'll have enough money and enthusiasm from the weak-minded that he can afford to cut loose those who expected that Obama would not only "listen to their concerns" but act on them as he had solemnly promised. In the words of another DKos diarist and a veteran of the first Iraq war, MotleyPatriot, "You, Sir, are forgetting all of those who helped you get to where you are today."

Our country, all that we hold dear, is on the verge of being lost.  Our constitution, that piece of paper that many have died to protect, is on the verge of being relegated to the annals of history as a concept that didn't survive the test of time.
[snip]

You state, "Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That's ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have."

I, Sir, disagree.  For me, Sir, and many like me, there is nothing that outweighs our Constitutional rights, our country, our very identity as a nation; that which makes us Americans.

This fourth of July, Sir, I ask that you go to Arlington Cemetery.  I ask that you walk among the graves of those who fought and died to protect that to which you wish to compromise on.  I ask that you read the tombstones, the names, of those who gave all to an ideal that you wish to play politics with; our Constitution.  I ask, Sir, that you look upon grave after grave and let the totality of them press upon you what honor means.

This fourth of July, Sir, I ask that you travel to Walter Reed Medical Center and you see the veterans.  Talk to the amputee's.  Talk to the men and women whose lives are broken from their service.  Ask them what prompted them to give what they gave for their country.  Learn, Sir, what it means to sacrifice for your country.

This fourth of July, Sir, you can do what is right, and hear a collective cheer from the masses that hasn't been heard in centuries, or, you can do what is politically expedient and hear the collective groan from a nation that knows it is dying; one capitulation at a time.

That last graph makes me cry. I want so very, very much to see a Democratic presidential candidate stand his ground and do the right thing. We yearn for redemption of our national soul through restoration of our Constitution. This is something far beyond partisanship and it will never be accomplished through expediency. As Arianna says, it calls for "real leadership, not a poll-driven facsimile."

Obama will easily beat McCain only -- ONLY -- if he gets back to proving that he's got some bedrock principles after all. The mushy middle, the celebrated-yet-elusive "swing voters" may say they don't like "partisan bickering" but they swing toward the stronger partisan every time. Every time. Why? Because, like loose electrons, these voters have no core, no bedrock philosophy of American governance.

Therein lies the irony of all those Democrats who've "moved to the center" and repudiated their base, only to find defeat at the polls. The mission for Obama is to hold close to our Democratic ideals and so attract all those confused wanderers with the fierce strength of his commitment. Sadly, we haven't seen much fierceness lately, unless it's to denounce the people he's got in a vain quest to get the people he'll lose.