Kudos to Obama. The moment he stops being overtly cautious the primary election over. Buh bye Hillary. There are literally millions of people waiting to support Obama. He has an extraordinary personality and talent, only the consultants can stop him. He should learn from what happened to Gore in 2000 and Edwards and Kerry in 2004.

Go Obama. Fullfill your great potential.

Good for him. Slower than Edwards, but I don't think the result was ever in doubt. He's frozen them out since the madrassa incident; there's no real reason he'd start reasoning with them now.

Excellent.

This is exactly the type of thing I like to see progressives do (and before anyone questions whether or not Obama considers himself a progressive, he self-identified as one at last weekend's healthcare forum in NH). Now we need to start putting the pressure on the other candidates, especially the ones who dropped out of the Fox/NV debate.

I would think this event is dead.  The one black candidate, isn't going?  At the CBC event?  Not to mention one of the other two main candidates, Edwards?

Look to others to start pulling out.

I liked the staff level dig too, lol. I'm sure Obama will get getting some CBC phone calls though :).

For those of us who prefer to avoid the Politico (or who otherwise weren't convinced it was real because of the source), ABC News is reporting the same.

How long before Fox loses its last shred of mainstream legitimacy? Sure, we've known for years about its biases, and serious politicos have long been aware, but many ordinary Americans still mistake it for a real news network. I think we're about to see this change over the next couple of years. With Democrats giving them the finger, Fox will step up its right-wing rhetoric and alienate any middle of the road viewers they still have.

I'm thinking this debate is just about dead as a doornail. And if Hillary decides to drop out, it's only cause everyone else is doing it, not because she thinks it's right.

Even if the debate isn't cancelled, it won't mean anything and probably won't be covered much anyway, since two of the three top-tier candidates have dropped out of it.  On the other hand, this could be the perfect venue for Hillary to debate herself on her Iraq war position.

Thinking again about this, the criticsim of Obama's quotes, I still think, come out of his successful strategy in his life and work as a "consensus builder", both in Harvard and in community organizing.  

I view that as his main mode of being, building consensus, in a smart and inspiring way.  And it has worked for him, in many ways.

And of of the tactical actions that a community and consensus builder must do, is to hear and validate objections to whatever action or direction the consensus builder is taking people.  It's like selling.

You hear the objection
You restate the objection.
You validate the objection, and the fear/concern behind it.
You neutralize the objection/concern behind it.
You propose how your action/strategy going forward not only meets the concern, but fulfills it in a deeper way.
You ask for the sign-off/sale again.

I probably have missed it, but you, Chris, etc, keep taking the quotes of Obama, without addressing the frame they come from, AS a consensus builder.  At least I haven't seen this addressed specifically.  And it matters, because you pull out quotes that MAY be validations of "authentic" concerns/objections, and then frame them as "buying into the opponents frame".  

But depending on your perspective, the same quote could be "buying into the opponents frame" or "building consensus by validating then neutralizing an objection".  Certainly, the story of Obama's tenure at Harvard shows that the conservatives on the paper, felt heard, respected, listened to, "Gotten".  And thus the conservatives at the paper respected Obama, and dialoge with the "conservative wing" of the paper continued, without anyone being frozen out.

Now, like you - I'm not sure a consensus builder is what is needed, to deal with the smeart artists/partisans over principles, who now govern the Republican parties and their media allies.

I would prefer Edwards, who coming from an oppositional expertise - as a trial lawyer - is intimately familar with the strategy and tactics of corporations who play a zero-sum game.

And my own opinion is, that is what I think is needed to deal with the partisans over principles who currently are the conservative party.

But there is an open argument whether Obama, by focusing as a consensus builder, gets more people involved in the process.  That MAY be a more important thing to do.

I don't think so personally.  Game theory shows me you have to meet people who are actively out to destroy you, with opposition.

Of course, there is time for Obama to learn that - and in his freezing out of Fox News, it shows he is capable of this, when necessary.  

But again, for myself, I think Edwards has more experience in the tactics of people being out to get you, as well as, in the last couple of years, being in the forefront of taking visionary and brave stands that have proved out over the course of time.

I'm so happy to see Obama and Edwards on the same page. I love it when two great minds unwittingly connect.

I have never considered Fox a credible source of news.  It has always served, in my view, as the propaganda arm for the Bush Administration and the right wing.  To call itself "Fair and Balanced" is patently absurd and an insult to the intelligence of Americans.

I applaud both Obama and Edwards for refusing to debate on that twisted station.  It is well about time that Democrats stand up to the bullying right and its water carriers.   Let's hit the right wing scream machine where it will hurt the most -  their ratings.

What's the Politico comments on this latest development?  Do they think that Obama, like Edwards, will be able to pay "less attention to black voters" by pulling out of the debate?  WTF were they thinking with that genius political analysis?  Why would any Democratic candidate even WANT to pay LESS attention to black voters???  That nugget was courtesy of Ben Smith at the Politico... wonder WTF he's saying now...

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0 407/Edwards_Skipping_Fox_Debate.html

Did Obama (or any of the candidates) actually agree to appear at the Fox/CBC debate -- or is this just a case of announcing that they won't be showing up for it?

Will Obama put this on the front page of his website like Edwards??

That would probably be pushing it :)