This piece is forceful in its condemnation of Obama's comments, but may not be a fair interpretation of Obama's reasons. While it certainly is politically expedient for him not to speak out against the death penalty for child rapists, I am not certain that he is simply playing politics. What he says is that "if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that that does not violate our Constitution." Conveniently, he does not comment on whether in fact the Constitution should be amended specifically to prohibit the death penalty, or that Supreme Court justices should find the death penalty to be "cruel and unusual" (knowing what we know ... More »

The opinion piece captures a large portion of the reaction of the democratic base. Those who would have preferred Kucinich, Edwards, or Dodd compromised grudgingly with supporting Obama because he seemed to be moderately progressive and charismatic enough to win. Now he is changing. Change Democrats do not want to believe. Democrats have been extremely disappointed with the democratic congress they worked their tails off to get elected when they have not ended the war funding, confirmed fascists to the Supreme Court, failed to impeach in the face of the clearest evidence in the history of the country, failed to enforce supoenas, and other atrocities of poor legislation. If Obama continues morphing into a Lieberman/Bush, their ... More »