Obama's Far Left-Wing Backlash

I've commented a couple of times now on the netroots outrage that's erupted in the wake of Barack Obama's FISA vote for telecom immunity. I seriously doubt that "progressive" contingents would consider abandoning the Illinois Senator for some throwaway vote alternative, or God-forbid, the GOP standard-bearer.

It nevertheless does look like there's some real alienation among young voting idealists, who're now shocked - shocked! - that Obama would tack to the center after wrapping up the nomination. Today's New York Times even has a big story on this, "Obama Supporters on Far Left Cry Foul":

Joe McCraw, 27, a video engineer from San Carlos, Calif., who writes three liberal blogs, said Mr. Obama’s shift on the domestic spying measure was a watershed moment.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen him lie to us, and it makes me feel disappointed,” Mr. McCraw said. “I thought he was going to stand up there, stand by his campaign promises like he said he would, and it turns out he’s another politician.”

Many Obama supporters said the most vocal complaining about various policy positions was largely relegated to liberal bloggers and people who might otherwise support Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate, or Dennis J. Kucinich, the liberal Ohio congressman who dropped out of the presidential race earlier this year.

“I think it’s accentuated by the fact that Obama’s appeal is an appeal to idealism,” said Kari Chisholm, who runs a blog, blueoregon.com, and does Internet strategy for Democratic candidates. “They believe their ideology is the only idealism and Obama’s is very mainstream. I’m not surprised they’re getting a little cranky. They’ve always been kind of cranky. A mainstream Democrat has always been too mainstream for them.”

This raises some interesting puzzles:

First, while it's certainly true that far left-wing activists are idealistic, what explains their own sense they are the "mainstream," and hence their resistance to terms like "radical" or "leftist," the types of people the Times is discussing? For example, Markos Moulitsas has long claimed his netroots hordes represent today's political center, which I've characterized as megalomania on a number of occasions. The mainstream press doesn't really see these folks that way.

Things get even more complicated if we consider figures like Senator Joseph Lieberman, who very likely will be driven from the Democratic Party because of the hardline antiwar forces among the party base (he's likely a special case of one who's paid a genuine price for extremist antiwar anger).

Still, it's fun to see the hard-lefties squirm when the press identifies them as "hard left," for example, Digby:

The NY Times has published a story proving that the only Democrats who give a damn about wireless surveillance, or anything else of substance for that matter, are a bunch of crazed, leftwing freaks...

Hey, her words, not mine, but I can dig it, Digby!

(Added bonus: Outrage at Comments From Left Field!).

Second, though, is the deeper, essential issue: Is Obama himself really the "mainstream"?

This is where Obama's political skills have really come in handy!

As we have learned throughout the year, the Illinois Senator attended Trinity Lutheran Church for roughly 20 years, absorbing a black liberation theology that has been identified as a gospel of revolution; he has known ties to ex-revolutionary fugitives William Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn, activists today who still denounce the United States and stomp on the American flag; he has a personal religious pedigree that raises startling questions about his sectarian fidelity to the nation's Anglo-Protestant heritage; his family ties have deep and troubling foundations in doctrinaire Marxist-Leninist activism and ideology; he espouses a form of patriotism that places him firmly in the minority demographics of public opinion; he's got a record of public policy that's been identified as the most left-wing of any of his contemporaries in government; and he's been beating the drums for an unconditional surrender in Iraq louder than most mainstream political leaders, with the exception of also-rans like Kucinich and Ron Paul, all the while trying to backtrack from his own antiwar retreatism.

But hey, some in the Democratic Party must think this is mainstream!

If Barack Obama wins the presidency the United States will have elected a genuine far-left candidate, which raises another puzzle: Is socialism coming to America?

Maybe those lefties aren't so extremist after all!!

Photo Credit: New York Times