Noticed in the coverage over Wes Clark's comments on McCain's military
experience, with which it's hard to disagree, a reference to Obama
backing away from said comments. I was a little surprised. They're
being misconstrued, intentionally, no surprise, and I thought Obama
might be supporting them, since they do undercut McCain's claims to
national security superiority.



So, followed The Hill link
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/obama-criticizes-moveon.org-in-patriotism-speech-2008-06-30.html
and checked it out.



From being a little bit angry that Obama wasn't backing Clark, it
dawned on me that Obama is simply not interested in a 'fight'. I don't
mean that he's a coward, but that it seems to me what he's intuiting,
and risking all by basing his campaign on it, is that America is tired
of polarization, and he's trying to rise above it by simply walking
past opportunities to get in 'fights'. 



Of course, we've heard the rhetoric about moving past partisan
division. But many seem to be confused about what Obama has been doing
lately: triangulating, moving to the center, what have you. I don't
think he's reaching out, per se. I don't think he's maneuvering. I
think this is actually a large part of "change": refusing to encourage
the sniping, the point-scoring, the narrative of nasty, bickering
division and entrenchment.



And naturally, after the last eight years, most of us are spoiling for
a fight. But I don't think Obama is interested in that moment of
vindication/payback. I think he's more interested in actually being
able to go to work to do what's achievable, and in trying to transition
the country into a "post-partisan" mindset.



Of course, it's not very emotionally satisfying. And it can seem bereft
of principle. But given the realities of how paralyzed and divided our
politics has become, how petty and maddening, it actually seems to me
to be the direction we need. It's like, "What if they put on a war and
no one showed up?"



So much of what we'd like to see and hear...In truth, it would only
prolong hostilities and deepen rancor. And this is where I think
Obama's coming from.  It's simple, and it makes sense. Sort of like
saying to estranged relatives, "Look, you can come home for
Thanksgiving again. No one will be throwing potato salad, and Uncle
Dave and Aunt Jenny have agreed to stop calling each other names."



Not that Aunt Jenny didn't have a point when she said Uncle Dave was a neocon thug.