"A chorus of anger and disappointment from the left but those voices are a distinct minority."

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: CAMPAIGN '08
Democrats take Obama shift in stride
The senator's wiretapping vote is seen as the latest in a series of moves to the middle. Most aren't complaining.
By Michael Finnegan and Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
July 10, 2008

As Barack Obama moves to broaden his appeal beyond loyal Democrats, a chorus of anger and disappointment has arisen from the left. But those voices are a distinct minority because the party has a more pressing concern: winning in November.

On Wednesday, Obama again bucked his liberal allies, voting in the Senate to give legal immunity to phone companies that took part in warrantless wiretapping after the Sept. 11 attacks. Critics chided Obama for the vote -- which put him crossways with dozens of Democratic colleagues, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. The vote, a reversal of an earlier pledge, was Obama's latest perceived step away from his party's base on a range of issues, among them the death penalty, gun control and taxpayer money for religious groups.

Reaction has been swift and -- aside from the blogosphere and some newspaper columnists -- notably mild.

"We're willing to work through this period," said Richard Parker, president of the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, one of the party's most enduring advocacy groups. In the long run, he said, the organization's "serious concerns" about Obama are far outweighed by its disagreements with Republican John McCain. Gerald Austin, a veteran Democratic strategist, put it more succinctly: "When I hear people complaining . . . I tell them I have one thing to say: 'President John McCain. Three Supreme Court appointments.' That's all I need to say."...

***

Few voters cast their ballots based on a single issue, making much of the discussion of Obama's evolution -- real or imagined -- just so much talk by political insiders. Significantly, though, many have accepted what they see as Obama's shift. "At some point, it does cause a problem," said Kathryn Kolbert, president of the People for the American Way, another liberal advocacy group. "Is he there yet? Probably not."...

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-campaign10-2008jul10,0,4376045.story

[patrice]

1. We need coalitions between Issue Groups to strategize about if/when he does get "...there..." nt

[truthisfreedom]

2. We have our own negative "noise machine" here at DU and I think it should pipe down in this forum.

This particular forum should be about support and strategy. Period.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. And I think we need to recognize that we represent a minority of voters...

and even a minority of Democrats (some of us, maybe even a minority on the left). That recognition seems to me something important to keep in mind when we realistically assess a candidate or a campaign.

[kenny blankenship]

3. Will someone let those clueless fucksticks at the LATimes know

that there's nothing "leftwing" about trying to preserve Constitutionally guaranteed individual rights of privacy against the encroachments of state power???

[DeepModem Mom]

5. I'm not sure this statement went that far in implying that only the "leftwing"...

supports preservation of the Constitution:

"On Wednesday, Obama again bucked his liberal allies, voting in the Senate to give legal immunity to phone companies..."

I recognize that they could have gone further down that path, or phrased the sentence differently, but the article is about Obama and his relationship with the left and not about Constitutional principles.