With Obama's recent comments about the Israel/Palestine issue, Cuba and his endorsement of faith-based initiatives, there has been a backlash of people from the left who supported him in the primaries and now feel he is "moving to the center".
I'm not totally surprise about this. You know, I watched his last primary speech and I was taken aback by what he had to say on Iraq. He was blaming Iraqi politicians for the problems in Iraq and said they needed to step it up. I kind of cringed at these statements and shook my head.
I have to remind myself that Obama is not a Leftist nor a consistent progressive, even though he says that he is a progressive. Which Obama saying that he is a progressive is a pretty big thing seeing how it is has been demonized and turned into a dirty word like the word "liberal".
He does have progressive ideas and the core his political platform is progressive and a far leap forward from Bush and McCain and even better than Clinton on some issues. These issues that have come up are about Obama making political maenuvers to ensure that the right wing can't force him to take a position that his contrary to what he believes. Even with these maneuvers, the core of his platform has never changed and he is stuck to his principles. Yea, he says he does not want to end the blockade of Cuba, but still wants to have a sit down meeting with Raul Castro, the President of Cuba. What do we think will come of having these meetings?.... Moving towards ending the blockade.
It's been the media that has been his progressive hypeman, both good and bad. They've pointed out how progressive some of his stances are, at the same time making him to be some crazy left wing nut because he has met someone from the Weather Underground or left organizations. The media has also made a fool of themselves attacking Michelle Obama as Barack's "baby's mama" and the recent cover of the New Yorker has raised quite a stir as well. Is it really a satire on right wing attacks or just more fear mongering against Obama?
In the end though, we need to keep our eyes on the prize and ensure that Bush doesn't get a third term with McCain.
