That's a disappointing presentation. Not disappointing in that Lessig has decided not to run. Don't get me wrong. I think people like Lessig running for office are essential to change the nature of the political establishment. I'm so sick of the choices "we the people" are allowed to have in our leaders.

I'm sick of "fightin' Dems'" who then, not surprisingly, turn out to be Bush dogs. I'm sick of the support given to people like Ken Salazar, one of the so called "gang of 14" who effectively ended filibuster, but only for Democrats, while at the same time facilitating the imposition of some of the most right wing "conservative" judges imaginable. Democrats can now only use the filibuster in situations that are more partisan than the standard of those accepted extreme judges the "gang of 14" OK'd. Personally I would rather Republicans have won in many of those cases in that having Republicans win as Democrats only furthers the destruction of what being a Democrat truly means or at least has meant. Does anyone really believe that Jay Rockefeller is a Democrat? Is there a true Democrat that is still hoping and expecting to see Harry Reid stop pulling his bullshit stunts and actually fight for democratic causes, like the Constitution of the United States?

With that in mind I've been hoping that people that are part of the current wave progressive movement would choose to run rather than attempt to find suitable candidates from within the already corrupted "Democrat" party. Lessig to me represented that kind of opportunity. Jonathan Tasini was another example, though his run against Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York was the sort of hopeless cause Lessig dared not attempt. Hopefully Tasini will have gotten some name exposure and will see a political future.

I'm disappointed that Lessig chose to focus on losing and losing to name recognition. I don't know the politics involved and what little I've seen recently is that Speier is a "progressive." It might have been better for Lessig to characterize choosing to not run as a fight against a progressive that shouldn't rather than wouldn't be worth trying.

The progressive voices on the web are beginning to take away the corrupt dialog established by the corporate press. Josh Marshall is perhaps the best example of that but it's still Marshall's work in stopping Bush and the Republican party's attempt to dismantle Social Security that I find to be his most valuable effort. That wasn't reporting or journalism. That was advocacy. Many of the voices I read on the web would be great advocates and great leaders. Perhaps they don't have the game show host looks now required by the visual media era or their speaking voices can't survive the "talkies" era but there are many still with looks and voice to match spirit and ideals. I think Lessig was one in that category and I hope he eventually does set an example for people not part of the political establishment to run for office.

We don't have that much time left. America doesn't have that much time left and won't survive many more "gang of 14" compromises or Harry Reid stunts or "San Francisco Democrat" Nancy Pelosi back hands directed towards average American concerns or Jim Webb "fightin Dem" sellouts.