Obama and the Far Left.

The Far Left isn't happy (Ed: What else is new? This time it's about Obama.)


Jeralyn Merritt of Talk Left

I see no transformational quality to either Obama or his candidacy. Obama said he was a new kind of politician. He sold an entire younger generation on the theory of change, a new kind of politics in Washington and he’s delivered the status quo. He’s shown us that on FISA, the death penalty, guns, religion, Iraq, Afghanistan and trade policy (so far) he’s all about preserving the status quo and not rocking the boat in his quest for votes. How much more “politics as usual” can you get? …
How does anyone know what Obama really believes or, even more problematic, what beliefs he’ll decide are worth expending political capital on once he’s elected?

Ed Morrissey of Hot air continues.

Jeralynn will still wind up voting for Obama, but the disillusionment with Obama has started in earnest with his votes on FISA reform, and that will matter. Obama gave up public financing — another source of disillusionment — and now needs to spend his time on fundraising more than he otherwise would. The lack of enthusiasm among Democrats from the former Greenies to Hillary Clinton supporters like Jeralynn will impact Obama’s ability to raise funds with the alacrity he enjoyed in February.

This is a good point right now it's not a lack of voters that troubles Obama over this. He made these changes for the pure purpose of attracting more votes, but there will be a cost to it.

A) People that would vote for a 3rd party candidate may go back to the Green, Independent, ect, after becoming disillusioned with Obama and looking for a candidate with "real change". This group is small in number, but in a very close election may be

B) The youth vote. New voters that were attracted by the Obama "new politics" rhetoric. Historically this has been a very hard segment to get to actually vote, and Obama showing that he's just another politician won't help get them to vote. One can expect this group to stay at home in larger number, feeling disillusioned and betrayed.

C) Moderates that were split between McCain and Obama. McCain is a moderate and in a vacuum much of his policy is appealing to democrats. This is a big problem for Obama as he moves to the center. It looks like Obama is copying McCain, which reduces the differences between them to charisma and experience.

D) Anti-Republicans. These are democrats that vote the party line and those that just want a Republican out of office. To them Obama could be a regrettable nominee, but there's no choice. I think this would be the largest portion.

E) People that are still Obamamaniacs. These are the hopeless nitwits that still think Obama is a different kind of politician. Doubt they'll change their views, but Obama's curious actions will dampen their enthusiasm a bit.

So it seems that the main problem for Obama in all this is a lack of enthusiasm. Which is going to affect his fundraising.

Morrissey also notices something else missing. Obama's June fundraising numbers.

Hmmmmm