I'm about tired of the idea that experience is what the US needs right now in its political leadership.  And I'm tired of the punditocracy shoving that meme into the electorate, as if it has some kind of self-evident value. For one thing, where was all this concern about experience when the nit-wit GWB ascended the throne?  But more than that is this:  experience is really important when what you've got to do is essentially no different from what you've done in the past.  In that case, experience might get you somewhere.

But our challenges today are very, very different.  How will experience help us navigate the era of peak oil combined with global warming?  Who even HAS any experience with this circumstance? How will experience help us design a health care system that actually serves the American people?  

Saturday night I was stunned to hear John McCain list John Lewis as one of the people whom he would consult about his policies.  John Lewis was one of MLK's foot soldiers who became a courageous leader -- all before he was 25 years old.  He's a hero of mine, and should be a hero of every young person under the sun.  He's what you mean when you talk of "the courage of youth."

Yesterday I did a google search on John Lewis & John McCain to see if they had some kind of relationship I wasn't aware of.  Nothing, except that McCain had featured Lewis in one of his books. I also emailed him about whether McCain had ever consulted him.  I got no response. Steve Benen reports today, however, that Mother Jones pursued it.

"It ain't what you don't know.  It's what you think you know that ain't so that's dangerous."

I was reminded of this pithy little saying last week, when confidence in Barack's lead in a few recent national polls, his turning away from the traditional public campaign financing system, and the uproar over his announcement of support for the latest FISA bill all collided and left me contemplating a few disturbing possibilities.

As someone who is deeply concerned about his FISA position, I toyed with the idea of withholding a contribution this month to express my displeasure.  But a little investigation convinced me that withholding a contribution could be more damaging than I expected, that strengthening  his coalition of supporters is more essential now than ever to winning in November, and that his FISA turn may have more to do with specific weaknesses in his polling than anything about the Fourth Amendment.