I completely agree that Obama's speech last week, his lame huffpo piece, and statements since are completely inadequate. He seems to think he can offer platitudes to smooth this over with the base, and anyway the long term political damage from changing his position would be greater. I'm not so sure he can afford to dampen voter enthusiasm, but this appears to be as good as we're going to get from him, especially if he now thinks it was a mistake to vote for FISA.

That being said, the explanation that I heard from my republican friend was that Obama sees it as important to have a law on the books, however bad, since we are currently operating outside the law. The flaws can be fixed later. Some democrats that I know that are very active in the party (locally) have confirmed that view and also said that the issue will come up again during the general campaign, and Obama is looking to sweep a large majority into congress on his coattails. He sees this as the right political move given that goal. So it may be an oversimplification to call this a "move to the center". It is more probable that he's playing chess, and we're playing checkers.

Let me reiterate that I think FISA was terrible bill, and I denounce and reject Obama's judgement in voting for it. Just to be clear. Not because I've read it, but because big Russ said so.

I did not mean this piece to be an apology for how he voted on FISA.  This particular vote was not one I expected from Obama, and I was angry and disappointed too.  I question whether it might be part of a larger strategy, but I am also willing to accept that his reason was as banal as short-term political gains, or even CYA.  After the high point of my enthusiasm around the time of the giant Portland, Oregon rally, I am back to supporting Obama, but accepting that I may not always agree with him.  I'm still excited though, because he has shown a willingness to try new things, such as the upcoming meetings to allow his supporters to help develop the democratic party platform.

What's done is done, and all we can do is push him and our other elected officials to make badly needed changes in things like the Patriot Act once he is in office.  But we can't lose this election!

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.