Still not an Obama fan

I refuse to smear Krugman because he's against my guy. We Obama supporters are a passionate bunch. Barack Obama is something of a vessel for the hopes and dreams of many, which people should probably be taking responsibility for themselves rather than projecting them onto him. One of the less attractive aspects of Obamania is the vitriolic retaliation that one sees in the comments page of any blog that offers a perspective of Obama that paints him in a less-than-angelic light. I ultimately think Krugman is wrong about Obama being less progressive on domestic policy and I will offer a defense of this in the coming days. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that his critique doesn't make me uneasy. I hope Obama is reading Krugman's article and taking it serously. I hope that Obama realizes that domestic policy is, by its very nature, more polarizing than foreign policy. Significant numbers of Republicans acknowledge that global warming exist and that it requires urgent address. Plenty of Republicans agree that the Iraq war has been badly managed and, I suspect, privately think the war in Iraq was misguided and unnecessary. Similarly, the word globalization has become less of a dirty word in the progressive movement, and more of an inevitable phenomenon with real consequences for American workers to which there are no easy answers. But there is much less crossover when it comes to domestic issues. Getting a mere three to five GOP senators to support a plan for universal healthcare does not, at this moment, appear possible (although I suspect there will be a small breakdown in the ranks after Bush leaves office and a democratic candidate is elected--even the divisive Senator Clinton). The point is that progressive ideals on the domestic front (especially healthcare and unionization) are still an anathema to the vast majority of Republican poiticians. That does not mean that the democratic party should not probe the ranks for defectors from such hegemony. But calls for bi-partisanship on the domestic front have simply not been paying attention to the mainstream conservative agenda.