Obama Moves To The Left

The news media has appeared to catch up with Obama's lurch to the right. There are process stories in the WaPo and the LAT, and on the second page, we get the dreaded headline "Obama tilts to center, McCain to right." Whatever. I loved the 90s.

And I am disappointed with the ferocity of Obama's shift. And I'm pleased with the backlash online, even if it is nipping at heels. There's Obama Letdown Watch and the No Telecom Immunity and Get FISA Right social networking group inside MyBO.com. which now has over 1,600 members (I think the largest group on their site only has 3,000).

However, I do want to offer a bit of a silver lining on Obama, proof that he's not abandoning every single Democratic principle in order to get elected. For example, on an extremely important issue like union rights, he's stepped into a labor dispute and urged Tesco to begin talks with the UFCW for their new "Fresh & Easy" stores in California. Obama would sign the Employee Free Choice Act and would be an aggressive advocate of union membership. That alone would make this a more progressive country.

There are also reports that Obama's health care plan could move closer to Hillary Clinton's plan that the two argued over throughout the primary campaign. I always thought that Clinton would be able to get something for her trouble of running a 50-state campaign, and considering that health care policy will be decided largely in the Senate, she'll certainly have the opportunity to take the lead (which would, you know, be a first in her Senate career, not to dredge up old wounds). Clinton's domestic policy director has also signed on with Obama for America, and she was the architect of Clinton's health care policy, so that's a signal as well.

So Obama is tacking to the center, but also tacking to the left on some other issues. Like I said, not much of this matters right now, but the day after the election it will.