Leap of Faith

The backlash has begun. Or has it?

It was heralded by a piece in the Huffington Post several days ago, and word's now rippling throughout the popular press. The story goes that liberal commentators are distressed by Senator Obama's remarks regarding last week's critical Supreme Court Cases, as well by his appointment of a centrist Clinton administration official as his economic policy director. They are said to be concerned that having won their allegiance, Senator Obama is taking them for granted as he pivots to the right. And they are rumored to be wondering whether they can believe in change after all.

But is it true? Are influential liberal commentators feeling betrayed? Will they turn on him in righteous fury?

Hardly. We--liberals, that is-- seem to have attained political sophistication, a concept that would have been deemed oxymoronic in previous election cycles. We no longer want our candidates to be paralyzed by principle. We want them to be viable. And if it means making those compromises needed to forge a winning coalition, we're willing to turn a deaf ear for the time it takes to do it. You may have heard "Adlai Stevenson" used as invective against Senator Obama. Well, he's not having it, and we won't, either.


If you're concerned that some of what you're hearing from Barack Obama is at odds with what you'd thought of him before, his record provides all the assurance we need that he will promote the values that won him the nomination. The battles he's chosen and the allies he's had testify to the vision, ideals and character that made him our choice for this fight. Let's trust him to know what it takes to win.