NP: Local H, 12 Angry Months

I haven't been tracking the Obama-FISA story that has the netroots so completely pissed off, but Sullivan nails the flaw in Kos' rant, asking "Did Kos really want Obama to run as the MoveOn candidate?" I've said this a million times, but it bears repeating: just because you see some of yourself reflected in someone does not in any way mean they're exactly like you.

And I used to say the same about the left and Olbermann, but he's pretty irrevocably in the Kos camp on this one, lecturing Obama on what he "must" do about FISA. On the one hand, my uninformed read of the FISA "compromise" was that forcing the telecoms to come up with written evidence that the government had said it was okay seemed like a first step toward proving criminal intent from the administration. On the other hand, declaring that you'd prosecute the current administration, as Keith would have Obama declare, just doesn't seem like a good plan to get elected. But that constitutes "pandering to the center," that mythical place where no one of any consequence actually lives, to hear them tell it, so it must be excoriated in strongly worded blog posts.

This strikes me as a particular form of Internet-fueled niche-based delusion where a small group thinks it has disproportionate influence simply because all the people immediately surrounding them agree with them. To coin a phrase, an Internet bubble.