Brandi Carlile is still looking for a promise she can keep. Speaking of Sen. John Ensign:

He was a member of Promise Keepers, a men's Christian group that espoused devotion to family and marriage.

This is an open thread.

A reader asked a reasonable question -- When do you think Obama might consider replacing the Bush US Attorneys? -- that was ably answered by another reader, which led to polite disagreement about the robustness of Obama's effort. My own perusal of the internets revealed last month's report that the first batch would be announced in a few weeks. Three appointees got the Judiciary Committee's blessing a couple of days ago and will face confirmation votes as early as next week. Other announcements seem to be on the verge of ... announcement. A number of U.S. Attorneys have already resigned. Obama is keeping Patrick Fitzgerald, and in general appears to be proceeding with caution. Whether it is better for the White House to fire them all at once or to work its way through the appointments in an orderly way is a matter of opinion.

In Monday's meeting with former President Bill Clinton, I reminded him of a speech he gave in 1993 at an event for the reelection of then-NYC Mayor David Dinkins. In that speech, President Clinton discussed the issue of folks being able to "vote for people who look different than ourselves." It was a brave speech for the first year of a first term President. I asked President Clinton about the issue in light of the election of the first African American President in our history. In response, President Clinton mused about the new state of our identity politics and told a story about his own paternal cousins and their own struggles with identity politics (both for and against them.) It was an interesting answer and got me to thinking.

Regular readers know I am disdainful of claims of persecution coming from white males. The history of the world has shown that is has been a man's world and the last millenium belonged to white men. In a way, I think Clinton was giving me a slightly veiled warning about demonizing white males generally. I take his point. What struck me at the time is President Barack Obama is truly President Clinton's political heir regarding this aspect of politics. With one important difference - Obama operates from a position of political strength electorally -- the Emerging Democratic Majority predicted by Texeira and Judis is largely upon us and strengthening. But Democratic political strength has not translated into progressive policy strength. I'll explore these themes on the flip.

I was very pleased to read BTD's post earlier today on the lack of a meaningful and effective left flank of the Democratic party and the importance of pushing policies instead of specific politicians.

It's always amazed me how bold the right is on both foreign and domestic policy in contrast to the timidity of the left.

Where are the strident, prominent voices on, for example, criminal justice system which should be a classic left issue? While a prominent left blogger mocks proponents of marijuana legalization for supposedly espousing "Cheech and Chong mathematics," a centrist Democrat from Virginia (!) pushes for reform of our vast system of prisons and jails. For all the jokes made by left bloggers about faux moderates and "seriousness" they mock and marginalize the left flank every chance they get. [More...]

Chris Bowers described a part of yesterday's meeting with former President Bill Clinton (I was in attendance):

President Clinton told the assembled bloggers that one of the best things they could do for elected Democrats is to function as a "countervailing" source of progressive pressure. That is, he encouraged us to offer left-wing criticism of Democrats on key policy areas, and that we should urge our leaders and elected officials to favor further reaching, more community-focused public policy. In fact, he indicated that he would have wanted more such progressive media pushing him during his time in office.

Additionally, President Clinton told the assembled bloggers that they should focus their pressure in a "sophisticated" pattern, focusing specifically on members of Congress who could be the most influenced. By this, he meant Democrats in safe blue districts afraid of primary challenges, and members of both parties in districts that could be swung in the next general election. He also indicated that he believed this was the start of anew progressive era in the federal government--the first since the mid-1960's--and was hopeful that major progressive agenda items on health care and climate change would pass as a result.

On the state of the progressive agenda, Matt Yglesias offers a contradictory view:

"Better to be a troublemaker than to pursue excellence." - Black Republican Shelby Steele describing his view of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who finished at the top of her high school, college and law school classes and is the most experienced nominee to the Supreme Court in a century.

The Emerging Democratic Majority really has Republicans stumped (see also Brian Tamanaha.) The token designated African American Republican (yes, the irony of an "identity" commentator decrying "identity" politics is not lost on me) Shelby Steele writes:

The Sunday New York Times Magazine has a long article on how Bill Clinton is mellowing. And aging.

Clinton at 62 looks older than the boy president who dominated American politics in the 1990s, but he remains more robust than most men his age and full of intellectual energy. His left hand trembled a little bit during dinner, as it tends to do late in the day. It worried him enough at one point that he had himself tested for Parkinson’s disease, but the results came back negative; his doctor says he has just signed too many autographs over the years. When I mentioned that he had to get hearing aids during his White House tenure because of the effects of too many campaign rallies, he cheerfully pulled out the latest equipment from his ear and showed off how sleek and virtually invisible it was.

So, What's he up to now? [More...]

Tom Tancredo has officially lost his marbles. (Video here.)Today, in discussing the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, he said:

TANCREDO: If you belong to an organization called La Raza, in this case, which is, from my point of view anyway, nothing more than a Latino — it’s a counterpart — a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses. If you belong to something like that in a way that’s going to convince me and a lot of other people that it’s got nothing to do with race. Even though the logo of La Raza is “All for the race. Nothing for the rest.” What does that tell you?

SANCHEZ: Alright. We’re not talking about — we’re not talking about La Raza –

TANCREDO: She’s a member! She’s a member of La Raza!

[More...]

In January 2008, after writing for many months about Barack Obama's Clinton/Third Way campaign, I found agreement from E.J. Dionne:

Obama's not particularly original insight was a central premise of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. . . . In many ways, Obama is running the 2008 version of the 1992 Clinton campaign. You have the feeling that if Bill Clinton did not have another candidate in this contest, he'd be advising Obama and cheering him on.

Of course the problem here is it is 2008, not 1992. As I have written, I believe Bill Clinton would NOT be running his 1992 campaign today. . . The politics of today demand a politics of contrast from Fighting Democrats. . . . It is ironic that it is Barack Obama who is reliving 1992.

Today, Dionne argues that Obama is succeeding in creating a Third Way:

Matthew Yglesias was on MSNBC yesterday to discuss his article at the Daily Beast, GOP's Torture Tricks Backfire.

The video is from Crooks and Liar's Video Cafe site -- I really like what they've done with that page.

In an Orwellian lede, the AP reports:

President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Census Bureau is ruling out the use of statistical sampling in the 2010 head count, seeking to allay GOP concerns that he might be prone to put politics over science.

(Emphasis supplied.) Of course what occurred is exactly the opposite - politics was put over science. It is undisputed that the most accurate census count requires the use of statistical sampling due to the difficulties of getting an accurate count. More . . .

The other day I praised E.J. Dionne for his column embracing an open debate on principles, in that case, between Democrats and Republicans regarding the Supreme Court. Today Dionne writes a column criticizing conservative Republicans for fighting for their principles in the Florida GOP Senate primary coming up in 2010:

When Charlie Crist, Florida's popular governor, announced this week that he would run for the U.S. Senate, it was the best news the Republican Party had had in an otherwise unpleasant year. The problem for the GOP is that its right wing quickly decided that the good news was very bad news indeed. . . . Florida will be one of the clearest tests of whether rank-and-file Republican voters are more interested in doctrinal purity, or in winning -- even if it means nominating an Obama hugger.

(Emphasis supplied.) Define "winning" E.J.? Do the actual policies matter anymore? After all, Florida is not Massachusetts. Or more interestingly, Connecticut. Because, columns like Dionne were written about the Democratic Connecticut primary in 2006, when Ned Lamont challenged "sure fire winner" Joe Lieberman. Back then, progressive blogs did not much appreciate being attacked by the Media for fighting for their principles (they had principles back then.) Today they join the pile on. As in the 2008 Presidential primary, the progressive blogs find themselves in tune with the Establishment. More . . .