There's been a lot made recently of Obama's so-called "pivot to the center" on some notable issues and I wanted to chime in with my thoughts on them.

First I do want to say that, as a liberal, I'm definitely disappointed in some of what Obama has done of late. Yes, my heart wants Obama to be a liberal lion, to stand up for our principals and ideals. My head realizes, however, that Obama can't do anything unless he gets elected, and so far he and his team have shown phenomenal political skills. Keep in mind Obama came out of nowhere two years ago and beat out the Clintons on the path to the Democratic nomination, something that was viewed as highly unlikely just eight short months ago! My head tells me that he's doing what he and his team feels he has to do to get elected and to do so he's got to beat McCain, the GOP slime machine, the media, and this country's history. So far it looks like he's on track to do so... and I'm gritting my teeth and holding on to my faith that the Obama I've closely followed since his address before the National Democratic Convention back in 2006 is the real Obama as opposed to the Obama we're going to see during these few months in the Summer and Fall leading up to the election. This Obama is the Obama who's doing what he feels he needs to do to win.

The FISA so-called "compromise"
Obama is dead wrong here, but so is the vast majority of Democrats in Congress. For whatever reason, they're still terrified of Bush and the Republicans bashing Democrats on National Security and Terrorism. News flash-- the GOP will continue bashing Democrats on National Security and Terrorism regardless of how they vote. It blows my mind that they still can't seem to get this. It would have been nice for Obama as the new head of the national Democrats to muster a united front to turn this around-- given how horrible the Bush policies have been on this issue. Team Obama can certainly craft a message, why not get all the Dems on board to face this head-on? Obviously, the campaign has decided to try and table this issue for the election season.  Setting this side is the biggest leap of faith.

Faith-Based Initiatives
Speaking of faith, some people are pissed that Obama has talked about expanding the Bush-era Faith-Based initiatives for channelling public funds through religious organizations to help people in need. Personally, I think it's a brilliant move; there is proof of movement among the religious in this country away from the GOP, and Obama is the first national Democrat to come along in a while who's comfortable talking about faith and religion. If he can warm up a siginificant sliver of America's religious folk to Democratic ideals, that's a major body blow to the GOP base. I'm all for crippling the Republicans for a generation in the hope that they will shed all the poison and corruption and actually become a party of decent conservatives.  Also, I don't think one party should be considered the one that all people of a particular religion have to vote for, that just seems fundamentally wrong.  Bravo for Obama in opening up this area in politics that the Democrats have too long avoided.

Supreme Court Death Penalty case
Obama denounced the majority decision rejecting a law allowing child molestors to get the death penalty. To me, this was a no-brainer-- you certainly don't want people running ads against Obama claiming he's an advocate for child molestor rights. There's not a politician alive that would applaud this ruling, which is why the Court is supposed to be "above" politics.

Supreme Court on the DC Gun Ban
This decision was a gift to the Obama campaign; if Kennedy had sided with the liberal wing then the GOP would have actually had an issue to fire up their base about; nothing seems to rile up a significant portion of conservative America than the rediculous notion that the government is going to come take away their guns (which is nearly as rediculous as the notion that you could actually stop the government if they truly did come for your guns). The Supreme Court shot this law down, Obama simply concurred with the decision to take away any chance of this being a hot-button issue.

Refining his views on Troops in Iraq
I think Obama's statements here-- where he said he looked forward to speaking to the commanders on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan and was open to "refining" his views based on what he learned-- are smart politics. We got into the mess in Iraq due to idealogues pushing invasion without concern for reality on the ground. With this statement, Obama is telling people that he's the kind of leader who listens to the experts and keeps an open mind. How refreshing!

Obama is not going to go to Iraq and come back as McCain/Bush Lite. "Refine" means "improve or perfect by pruning or polishing."  Barack is not going to fundamentally change his position that he will immediately being the process of drawing down our troops from Iraq, and making clear to the people there that the U.S. is not interested in long-term occupation.  His trip to Iraq will allow him to polish his message as someone who's actually been there recently and spoken to the people there. This takes away the attack point that Obama is niave about Iraq and ignorant of "the situation on the ground."  I expect him to return and say something like I've been to Iraq, I've talked with the Commanders and the troops on the ground, and I remain convinced we begin to responsibly end this occupation as soon as I become President.

So, let's all that a deep breath, have some faith and hope that team Obama is doing what they actually need to do to win this election.