My name is Brian Lindenau.  I'm a 5th-year Microelectronic Engineering student at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.  I am the Campus Coordinator for the RIT chapter of Students for Barack Obama, but I use that title loosely, as I don't feel like I've done a whole lot to earn it.  I'm writing this diary to share one of the most incredible weekends I've had in a long time.  A weekend I spent in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, volunteering for Barack Obama.

I sat down and wrote this in an Economics class, minutes after having a discussion with one of my classmates, JP.  We historically clash on most topics of discussion.  JP is a borderline hopeless cynic, convinced that human nature brings the worst out in all of us.  JP grew up in Rochester, NY, and has never left.

This is what I wrote.

Sen. Clinton has made an interesting argument as of late:

I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold. I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy.

When asked directly what actual experience she has, she, and her surrogates, cite some work in Ireland, Macedonia, etc.

I'd like to focus on two votes in particular, both of which, were votes for war.  Both of which were votes made in solidarity with Republicans and Bush/Cheney.

It seems that the electability argument has become one of tho most talked about topics at this point in the primaries.  Each candidate and each of their respective supporters have been making cases about which candidate can beat John McCain.  I think there has been something missing from the discussion.

Barack Obama has picked up a lot of endorsements form former Edwards supporters.  He has picked up Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ), Richard Codey (NJ), Transport Workers Union, California local Health Care Workers Union, just to name a few.  Also, the SEIU in California is flirting with endorsing Obama.

So if the support for Edwards is going to split (some say in favor of Clinton) where are her switch-from-Edwards endorsements? (I'm actually asking this question in earnest, because, as an Obama partisan, I may have missed some Clinton endorsements)

I don't think the rogue Democrats in Congress truly understand what they did when they voted for the recent FISA legislation.

I recently took a course at my college specifically tailored to "Presidential Power in Times of War."  The first thing I learned is that these issues can be surprisingly complex.  It's common to see the word "unconstitutional" flung around the netroots, but when it comes to the war powers of the President, the Constitution is surprisingly brief.  With this fact in mind, it has been up to the Supreme Court to sort of "fill in the blanks" on what should and should not be allowed.  The Court has swayed back and forth during different time periods, but the fact remains that most of the cases involving presidential power establish expansion, not contraction.

The two cases that come to mind with this most recent FISA legislation are United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. (1936), and Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952).