My Father…as he often does when I call him to complain about the Campaign...admonishes me that I’ve been watching too many Squiggles.

Squiggles?  Really?

Face it, the man’s old.  I worry about him at times, but…then again a PhD and forty years as a Professor of Mathematics can give one the impression of a high IQ.  So unfortunately, time and again, despite my best efforts, he sometimes…(shudder)…can be right.

What he’s talking about is that I shouldn’t be watching every detail, of every line, of every shading in the twenty-four hour newsfreak about the Campaign, and then follow through by freaking out myself.

There’s another term for this…circular firing squad.

Speaking of which, uhhh TPM Community…or better still… “Pot?  Yeah, this is kettle.  You’re black.”

The squiggles first reared their ugly head way back last year…when Obama was prepping for Iowa, and trailing 20 points in the polls.  Both in the web and on Liberal Talk Radio, the question was the same, what the heck is he doing?  Why isn’t Barack doing more?  Why isn’t our obviously superior candidate not catching up to Hillary?

As we were freaking (and yes I count myself in that number), he was getting organized.  He was putting in place the ground operation that was going to win in Iowa.  He was keeping his powder dry.  He wasn’t making a spectacle of himself when no one was paying attention.  Guess what.  He won.  He won Iowa.  He won 36 other states.  He won the nomination, and he beat the most powerful machine in current Democratic Politics doing it.

Why do we assume, suddenly…that this man has forgotten how to run a campaign??

So what’s happening now, now that’s it’s the silly season?  Now that we’re in the Veepstakes holding pattern; now that nothing’s really going to happen between now and the announcement of the Vice-Presidential nominees?

Apparently, y’all are going to freak out.

Usually, when I’m talking to dear old Dad about the squiggles, I’m complaining about the lies, myths and distortions coming from Republicans, traditional purveyors of noxious bull@#$%.  Oh, no.  Not so 2008, I’ve spent more time pissed off about what’s coming from our side than any other, no more so than this past week.

You do remember, that despite the five month time frame, this is a marathon, not a sprint, right?

C’mon it was BREAKING NEWS on MSNBC last week that on the night before the Unity Rally Barack and Michelle had maxed out to Hillary’s campaign.  Red-banner BREAKING NEWS, the kind you get when a Airplane goes down, or someone famous sudden and tragically dies.  But that’s the standard we’re messing with now.  Barack and Michelle following through on easing Hillary’s campaign debt…is breaking news.

Do we really want to go there?

Nothing is happening right now, nothing (as far as the actual campaign is concerned).

Senator Obama is leading McCain by fifteen points in National Polls, as well as polls in major swing states.  That and five bucks’ll buy you a gallon of gas.

The FISA Capitulation Debate has gotten toxic enough to have Glenn Greenwald of Salon and Keith Olbermann slugging it out.

Are you kidding me??

Theda Skocpol wrote what I thought to be a completely ridiculous piece asking if Obama can set the Agenda.  A lot of you, for whatever reasons, agreed.

Even Arianna has gotten into the act.

We even got folks fuming about Obama being outspent in Missouri, and according to some this means the doom of the whole campaign.

And now, we have the freak-out over Wesley Clark’s statement.

Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.

Yeah, I know.  This quote is actually taken out of context.  (Surgically removed is more like it).  This is the quote the MSM used to fan the flames.  After all what makes a better story than one Soldier calling out another?  However, what Clark had said contained a lot more nuance, but why bother with nuance, right MSM?  We’ve got deadlines to meet, and controversy to stir!

But let’s take a look at the quote in and of itself, because like it or not that’s what’s being bandied about today.

For the most part, I agree with the General.  Being shot down isn’t some great barometer of experience.  It makes for a great story about McCain, it doesn’t make him Presidential.  That all being said, my feeling toward the quote are at best lukewarm.  While I enjoy someone eviscerating McCain as much as the next Democrat, I thought we weren’t even going to come near attacking him for his service.  In addition, it comes desperately close to being personal.  This is the kind of Politics, I thought, we admired Senator Obama for trying to run again. 

But when I log onto TPM, do I get rational debate?  Do I get thoughtful analysis on the why and the wheres, the positive and negative?  No.  I get a freak out, name calling, or whatnot…for the most part.

But why shouldn’t there be a freak out?  After all, right now y’all want blood, and are kind of scared you’re not going to get it.

Face it, we’ve all been taking crap from the Bush Administration for last eight years, hating it and him every minute of it.  We’ve watched their callous regard for human life, the truth, patriotism, coupled with their “my way or the highway” attitude to fuel our anger.  Now, we’re looking for a little payback as a result.  I don’t blame you.  It’s impossible not to watch what’s gone on these last eight years, not feel angry, not feel (I’m going to say it…bitter), and not give back as good as we got.

We’re scared we’re not going to win.  But most of all, I think we’re scared that Senator Obama is not going to deliver onto us our pound of Republican flesh.

Last I checked, that’s the last thing Senator Obama wants to do.

In his DailyKos posting regarding John Roberts from 2005, Senator Obama said something we all need to remember, and we all keep forgetting:

Let me be clear: I am not arguing that the Democrats should trim their sails and be more "centrist."  In fact, I think the whole "centrist" versus "liberal" labels that continue to characterize the debate within the Democratic Party misses the mark.  Too often, the "centrist" label seems to mean compromise for compromise sake, whereas on issues like health care, energy, education and tackling poverty, I don't think Democrats have been bold enough.  But I do think that being bold involves more than just putting more money into existing programs and will instead require us to admit that some existing programs and policies don't work very well.  And further, it will require us to innovate and experiment with whatever ideas hold promise (including market- or faith-based ideas that originate from Republicans).

Our goal should be to stick to our guns on those core values that make this country great, show a spirit of flexibility and sustained attention that can achieve those goals, and try to create the sort of serious, adult, consensus around our problems that can admit Democrats, Republicans and Independents of good will.  This is more than just a matter of "framing," although clarity of language, thought, and heart are required.  It's a matter of actually having faith in the American people's ability to hear a real and authentic debate about the issues that matter.

Finally, I am not arguing that we "unilaterally disarm" in the face of Republican attacks, or bite our tongue when this Administration screws up.  Whenever they are wrong, inept, or dishonest, we should say so clearly and repeatedly; and whenever they gear up their attack machine, we should respond quickly and forcefully.  I am suggesting that the tone we take matters, and that truth, as best we know it, be the hallmark of our response.

We have to remember, Senator Obama, and the people who support him (lightly or strongly) have gotten as far as we have by being different, but coming up with a new way to campaign.  We cannot roll back to a way of doing things that hasn’t gotten us anywhere.  I know people are complaining that Senator Obama to move too close to the center for your tastes (maybe mine as well), but last I checked the ideological war that most to want to fight have also been proven losers for the last two Presidential Election cycles.

There was another quote Senator Obama dropped, this one from The Audacity of Hope (Pg. 131 Hardback Edition), that also bears remembering:

Not surprisingly, there are activists who insist that Democratic senators stand fast against any Republican initiative these days – even those initiatives that have some merit – as a matter of principle.  It’s fair to say that none of these individuals has ever run for high public office as a Democrat in a predominately Republican state, nor has any been a target of several million dollars’ worth of negative TV ads.  What every senator understands is that while it’s easy to make a vote on a complicated piece of legislation look evil and depraved in a thirty-second television commercial, it’s very hard to explain the wisdom of that same vote in less than twenty minutes.  What every senator also knows is that during the course of a single term, he or she will have cast several thousand votes.  That’s a whole lot of potential explaining to do come election time.

We were drawn to this man, because he made us believe there could be a better way.  At the same time, we were also drawn to him because he seemed to understand that the voters of America weren’t idiots, and was willing to engage them.  He has treated us intelligently, and I feel we owe the same.

Please if you disagree with him, FINE.  This is a good thing.  This is a debate.  Debates are the fuel of our Democracy.  It’s the being disagreeable part that I’m objecting to.  It’s the premature nature of this panic that I’m objecting to.  It’s freakin’ June.  We’ve barely had kickoff, and some of you already have us losing the game.

We don’t know everything (again, I could myself in that "we").  Thus, we cannot possibly project onto the future our fears of the past.  No one here, least of all me, has a monopoly on the way things have to be, the way things have to be run.  I would be very few of us in this community are Political Professionals.  There are probably a similar number of journalists. 

But, we all have opinions.  We all have valid viewpoints, and we are all capable of cheering or booing from the stands.  But let’s remember, that unless we’re in Chicago, that’s where we are.  There’s nothing wrong, or reduced, by being in the cheap seats.  We’re allowed to cheer and boo as we see fit, but I we do a disservice to ourselves and our cause by going overboard, and I think that’s what’s been happening these last few days.

Despite the hue and cry, this is still a zero sum game.  Either John McCain or Barack Obama is going to be the next President of the United States.  The only way our side truly loses is if Barack Obama does.  Remember, he is at the head of a movement, one that will still have work to do after that first Tuesday in November; one that will hopefully be used to push the Congress…or if necessary Barack himself, one way or the other.

We are active participants in this zero sum game, but we’re not on the field.  We got a team playing right now.  They’ve gotten us this far.  Let’s see where they can lead us.

All we can do is work, and after that is done work harder.

And if you want to freak out, freak out in September.  At by then, it’ll be halftime.