Over the holiday weekend, I did some catching up on recent public statements made by Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain. I read a little about Barack Obama's response to the unhappy left regarding his Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) vote for telecom immunity, and "refining" his message about Iraq troop withdrawals . I also read, for the first time, that John McCain admitted he does not know how to operate a computer and relies heavily on help from his wife for anything computer related. Assuming none of the above campaign messages were unintentional gaffes, I realized again that, inevitably, disappointment over compromise comes up during a presidential campaign.
But how much compromise is too much?
The FISA vote stuck in my throat. I've written before about why I believe it's important to treat the Bush-era super-sized version of FISA with extreme care. Although the current policy voted on last week is more narrowly tailored, the idea that Senator Obama voted in FISA's favor frankly surprised me. Immediately, the skeptic in me jumped to the conclusion that the senator was already flip-flopping. &
But then he did something beautiful: He responded. &
