With traditional media pushing the meme that Obama’s environmental record is just more talk with very little record (this week, Brian Williams offhandedly dismissed Obama’s historic and detailed speech on Monday outlining his plan for the environment as Obama "refining" his environmental position), it’s time to talk about Obama’s very real environmental record.

There is a present danger that Obama would lose by focusing on narrow issues, and not simplifying the message. Here is the winning strategy for Obama.

Note: A slightly different version this diary was published in Nov. 2006.

I was just watching MSNBC and there was a breaking story about a man in Florida who has been taken into custody for threatening to assassinate presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

He made the threats during training in Florida.  His automobile was found with weaponry, body armour, etc.

More to follow...

The last 5 budgets of the United States of America,  hold entire planet's record for the 5 highest record deficits ever recorded by anyone in history, by anyone.

George HW Bush (41) is actually responsible for instigating the good years by requiring that any tax cuts must have equivalent cuts in spending.

Clinton added to good fiscal policy when he got passed the balanced budget amendment.

Throughout American history, every generation has endured hardship and has done whatever was required to better their children's future.  George Bush undid that .  Because of Republican tax cuts, and only because of Republican tax cuts,  we will be the first generation to give their children a world far worse than the one they inherited, because of the mantra once espoused by Republicans, that "deficits do not matter".

With Barack Obama, we likely have the most technologically-savvy candidate for President in the history of the country.   He's revolutionized campaigning and fundraising with his web-based system.    He  even has his own personal iPod playlist.   Google CEO Eric Schmidt and numerous other leaders in the technology sector have endorsed him.  More importantly, Obama has an innovative series of technology policy proposals on his campaign website under the heading, "Technology and Innovation for a New Generation."  

In contrast, John McCain is technologically illiterate and his campaign's web page barely even mentions any technology issues.

I always have this feeling of wonderment, exhilaration and commitment to the people’s movement for hope and change in the country as led by the able, articulate, informed, transparent, patriotic and exceptionally humanely diplomatic and affirmatively the personification of the American dreams and ideals, Sen. Obama and all those who are associated and equally steadfast and dedicated to changing the course of this great country.

Several diarists have exhorted Senator Obama to personally address the offensive last-minute attack ads launched by Nikki Tinker, candidate in today's TN-09 Democratic primary against incumbent Steve Cohen.

According to MSNBC FirstRead's Mark Murray, Obama has spoken.

David Freddoso is a conservative political reporter for the right-wing website National Review Online. In his recent book The Case Against Barack Obama (subtitled The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate) Freddoso unsurprisingly outlines the case against Barack Obama which is essentially that Obama is not an idealistic reformer but in fact a shrewd and cynical political operator whose political career evolved from the milieu of corrupt Chicago-style machine politics.

IF Obama gets elected, and IF he succeeds in curbing the power of special interests while simultaneously freeing us from our polarized paralysis, and IF we somehow filter out a great deal of corporate media bullshit so that even the blue-collared worker with nothing but network television can remain authentically informed - then there is hope for the United States of America as it currently exists.

But this, I think, is our last chance.

Poor Barack. He has enough to do, what with trying to match his flip-flops to the day's outfit, trying to remember how many U.S. States there are, or offering minority audiences reparations of "...not just words, but deeds", and offering to solve the energy crisis by inflating our car tires. Now he is suffering from over-exposure, under-preparation, and the return of the 800 pound elephant to the room.

This is your granny's dog, Rose.  Now, you couldn't call Rose a beautiful dog by any stretch.  Once described by a visitor to our home as "a genetic experiment gone wrong," Rose's undeniable appeal lies simply in being so darn ugly.  Granny likes to dress her up in ridiculous dog costumes and take her picture.  Honey, I don't care what you say, there just ain't nothing funnier than a homely dog wearing a dress.  What's more, Rose is so confident of her own grotesque charm that she never doubts her irresistibility for even a second.  And rightly so:  there ain't no more beloved dog in our entire neighborhood than Rose.

Everyday we are hit with hundreds of thousands of various stimuli that if we had to attend to, we would either get nothing done or we would get so caught up in the molecular that we would fail to see the big picture even assuming we could function at this level of reality.

So we do many things, we habituate to our surroundings, we only notice things that are different then they should be, are out of place.

We develop ways to save time since we do not have time to examine every event in our life--to survive our day.

One of the tools we also use is to form perceptions of events we encounter. Often times these perceptions reflect reality as it is, other times they do not. But for us, these perceptions become reality. It does not matter if in the "real world" they are "real" but for us they are "real" and that is what counts. Why? Since these perceptions impact our behavior and what we do.

<More after the break>

As we all know now, inflating tires can save America 3% in gas consumption.  I have a very simple idea which I think the Obama campaign could easily implement, which would garner a lot of publicity... why not station Obama campaign volunteers in parking lots with air compressors and Obama tire guages, and actually volunteer to inflate people's tires?  This would give a chance to spread the word about Obama, it would be a great service to the community, and it would actually begin the process of saving energy, here and now.  The tire pressure guages would be available for a small donation, along with bumper stickers and free literature.

Faggot. Nigger. Bitch. Please excuse the blunt language. From here forward, to avoid the ugly words, I’ll refer to it as "FNB politics." With little to show the electorate in 2008—after six years of uninterrupted control—besides sub-standard care from a privatized workforce at Walter Reed Hospital, thrice-married "family values" presidential candidates, and a boom in home foreclosures, the conservative base’s 2008 strategy has begun to emerge: Weaken the major Democratic opponents by making their image unpalatable to the public.

Rick Perlstein, the brilliant author of Nixonland, explains to us just what is happening to our candidate for President.

Yep, that's it.  After everything that has happened the last few weeks, I've decided I can no longer be a volunteer for Barack Obama.

I've heard what he has been saying, I've looked at what he's proposing to do, and I've seen what is happening in the polls.  And it's absolutely clear that my days as a volunteer are over for good.

It's time to make an even bigger commitment.

It's so frustrating living out here in rural America and following the attempts by the campaigns to set up certain memes or narratives. For Obama, though I believe he's far less "elite" than McCain in so many ways, I think he must be surrounded by exactly the types of people GOP candidates label as "elite." These people must live with so much bullshit everyday that it becomes normal. The whole political apparatus - from pundits and reporters to the candidates and their paid campaign staff - apparently do not care to really try to appeal to the 35-45% of the voting age population with well-developed bullshit meters and thus, almost never vote.

For example, why spend any money trying to "tell" the American people that McCain isn't really a maverick? McCain has spent his entire life working this narrative about himself and only those of us who follow politics like it's an addiction are ever going to believe otherwise. Even knowing all I do about McCain, not-so-deep down I don't think I can be convinced he's not somewhat of a maverick ... and, I'm someone who would never vote for him.

At the start of the year, there was a great, new, and powerful disturbance in the political force: Barack Obama. Out of nowhere this rookie with his ideas of change, hope and new politics swept through the establishment turning it upside down. His sudden rise caught the Right off guard and led to the defeat of the seemingly invincible Billary duo. As the first African-American nominee in US history, Barack Obama had everything on his side: an unpopular president, unpopular war, worsening economy, and a people eager to see something new in a tired country. Barack Obama has given this country a new sense of energy and whether or not he is the best candidate to solve every last problem, a better choice than the empty Republican option, John McCain. Now in the early days of August, it seems as though the Obama train has started to run on empty or so it may appear...

I'm sure most kossacks have heard about the McCain, Rick Davis (campaign manager that lost it on A.Mitchell's show)DHL, OHio, lobbying/layoff  scandal (if not see the story below, after the video).

But now the Ohio DNC/Dems have responded with a crushing anti-McCain/Hypocrite indictment, video slam.

This is exactly what we needed folks. McCain needs to be hit hard; and hit hard often with the truth. It seems the DNC went for the kill!

We don't have to lie. Just ask questions. This is what Obama needs to do till the election. He needs to show voters McCain is a lying, slimy, greedy, corporate, misogynist shill, shell of a former "Maverick" Senator. If he can't, then 527 or DNC groups such as this needs to make the case.

But somebody has to. Let's hope the Obama campaign does the same.

The video is below.