I'm not whining, or at least trying not to. Obama was cut a lot of slack to get voted in; he was running on promises with no backing. I had a bad feeling when he folded on the FISA vote. As Jake pointed out, he's a professional politician. I really don't want to believe that means that everything he says is bullshit.

As far as all the evaluations going on, since he is a constitutional scholar, he could just say, "This is fucking illegal. MAKE IT STOP!" He IS the head of the party and they have control and his job description DID have a requirement to protect the constitution.
As far as a big tent, if he's really trying to co-opt the Republicans, I'm going to have to reevaluate my estimation of his intelligence. He is still a popular president. He could use that to try to at least kick his own people into line to advance his agenda. If he's not going to go that far, he's not going to advance any change whatsoever. He has Pelosi and Reid, both of whom are so tough their shit has muscles, but only when facing other Democrats. When a Republican gives them a dirty look, they roll over on their backs and pee on their stomachs. If he can't get them in line, he needs to do something about it. That, at least, is normal party politics.

Routinely killing civilians by remote control, because they MIGHT be standing near a "bad guy" is SO antithetical to our alleged society that I just don't know where a review would begin. They could use the same drones to get pictures and see if they could leverage Pakistan's government to do some of the foot work. I mean, since we really don't live over there and all...

Looking forward to 2010 or 2012 is also a non-starter. I'd really like some of these losers to actually do their friggin job NOW. If it's not too much trouble...

I just don't know. I guess I just don't see the big picture. Or about half of my life's savings, for that matter. Still, I'm better off than somebody standing next to an Afghani Jehovahs Witness while drones are flying...

It is antithetical to our social values. We've been fuckheads for a while now. I was kinda hoping for change. Walk it like we talk it? Maybe next time.