The most important thing Obama can do is win the White House.

It isn't filibustering FISA.
It isn't standing on principle and poking holes in the air with his index finger.
It isn't singlehandedly wiping out the Hanta virus.
It isn't acceding to tester's pathetic crusade to impeach Bush.
It isn't stopping to walk an old lady across a street.
It isn't making Billy Glad a fully informed and comforted McCain activist.
It isn't displaying seamless consistency of thought in accordance with the wishes of some TPM readers.
It isn't challenging John McCain to a game of beanbag.

This isn't beanbag. It's a fight for everything you care about and everything the rest of us care about even if you don't.

This battle will determine the fate of every civil liberty that has suffered in the last eight years of GOP rule and every civil liberty still under attack, including your pet civil liberty of the month.

I've had enough of the anti-Obama bullshit here. I was publishing underground newspapers in high school while most of you weren't even a gleam in your daddy's eye. I was fighting for some rights many of you now take for granted. And I've been fighting that good fight at every election and in between them, too.

So don't come pissing into the sandbox because Obama failed you. He hasn't. Principle is meaningless without the power to exercise it. Worthless without the office to wield it.

You have principles, right? So how's that working out for you? You say your government doesn't live by your principles? Well, bust my buttons and welcome to Oz.

Obama is trying to win the White House from a party that is showing you, by the very nature of its candidate, it intends to make national security the central issue of this election. If you don't remember what that means, have a look at the tactics used in the last election and the ones we've seen so far in this one: Fear of terrorism. Along with it comes xenophobia, religious intolerance, racism and disdain for rational thought and discourse. Topping it off come the ads that smear and the surprise events that can steer the election to the SAME FUCKERS THAT HAVE RULED US SINCE THE LAST MILLENIUM.

So let me ask you ONE simple question: Are you happy with the president we have now?

If you are, keep bashing Obama and keep expressing your "concern" that he's placing a mere election win over principle.

If Bush/Cheney/Condi/Rummy/Brownie, et al, doesn't make you happy, then quit your carping and donate a few bucks to Obama.

And if you just can't quit carping, then leave your name and address so I can send you a postcard when McCain bombs Iran; drills off the California, Jersey and Florida coasts; puts a DEA tap on your phone; and sends your nephew back to Iraq on his sixth rotation.

THIS is Obama: Great president.
THIS is Obama on FISA: Good senator.
Any more questions?