Strib carries an Aug. 20 AP feed:
WASHINGTON - Liberals argue that he caved on the debt ceiling. Unions are upset
over his handling of unemployment and labor issues. Hispanics brought
the immigration debate directly to his campaign doorstep.
President Barack Obama's summer of discontent has been marked by
rumblings within his Democratic political base over his willingness to
fight congressional Republicans and his approach to fixing the economy.
Liberals disappointed with Obama for compromising with the GOP during
the debt-ceiling showdown now are calling on him to hold firm against
Republicans this fall. They want him to push a bold jobs agenda while
drawing a strong line on taxes and protecting Medicare and Social
Security.
In recent weeks, the gripes have become so loud that the president
himself acknowledged them during his Midwest bus tour this week.
"I've got a whole bunch of responsibilities, which means I have to
make choices sometimes that are unattractive and I know will be bad for
me politically and I know will get supporters of mine disappointed,"
Obama said in Iowa. He claimed progress on the economy, health care and
two wars. And, offering his backers a bit of tough love, he added:
"Sometimes you've got to make choices in order to do what's best for the
country at that particular moment, and that's what I've tried to do."
The complaints — founded or not — are narrowing the tightrope Obama
must walk over the next year to keep his base energized while
recapturing the independent voters who helped power his win over John
McCain in 2008.
Still, for all the complaining, the ultimate impact on Obama's
re-election chances is open to question. The president faces no serious
primary opponent, and polls show him faring fairly well within his
party. Few liberals are likely to support a Republican for president
next year.
But angry liberals could refuse to volunteer to knock on doors or
make phone calls, a pivotal grass-roots role for a candidate's base of
supporters. Disaffected Democrats could keep their wallets closed,
hampering small-dollar fundraising over the Internet. Or they could just
stay away from the polls on Election Day.
"They want to love him, but he's given them little evidence and his
rhetoric is running out of steam," said Princeton professor Cornel West,
who campaigned for Obama in 2008 but has become a fierce critic.
[...] Liberals howled last December when he struck a deal with the GOP to
extend Bush-era tax cuts. That reinforced earlier bad feelings from when
he dropped the proposed "public option" for a government plan to
compete with private insurance as part of the health care overhaul.
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| We want to love you. But you're no different than a f**king Republican. CHANGE! |
