Obama's Move to the Center

Tis the season.  Everybody's doin' it, right?  After the primary season, when appeal to the candidate's party's faithful is all important, the general election campaign is about scoring points with those Independent voters who inhabit the center of the political spectrum.

Many on the left are now wringing their hands at Obama's perceived veering away from netroots positions.  Andy Borowitz at the Huffington Post made some fun of the whole spectacle:

The liberal blogosphere was aflame today with new accusations that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) is trying to win the 2008 presidential election.

Suspicions about Sen. Obama's true motives have been building over the past few weeks, but not until today have the bloggers called him out for betraying the Democratic Party's losing tradition.

I gave up a very long time ago the naive idea there's a candidate that will match, item by item, my positions.  I think Obama's position on windfall profits taxes for the oil companies is just plain dumb.  His collapse on telecom immunity really broke my heart.  Jeez, I really want him to talk about fiscal responsibility and the national debt.

But, as I take a few steps back, I know I support most of his positions and it impresses me that Obama takes some positions that bounce around Democratic Party orthodoxy.  It's what attracting me to him in the first place; his willingness to color outside the lines. 

And let's consider the alternative, a John McCain presidency: no plan for Iraq besides crossing our fingers and hoping; more puffed up, schoolyard bully tactics towards Iran; a candidate with a new, more confused, economic plan every week; and a Supreme Court full of lifetime appointees like Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito.

No thanks. It's not even close.