Opinion: Obama is wrong. Democrats don’t need to fear circular firing squads.
Barack Obama By Paul Waldman Paul Waldman Opinion writer covering politics Email Bio Follow Opinion writer April 8 at 2:47 PM Barack Obama is worried:
“When that happens, typically the overall effort and movement weakens. . . . You can’t set up a system in which you don’t compromise on anything. But you also can’t operate in a system where you compromise on everything; everything’s up for grabs. That requires a certain amount of internal reflection and deliberations,” he said.
He became a viable candidate in 2008 in no small part because the party's base was so disgusted with Democrats who voted for the Iraq War, including Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry, John Edwards, Chuck Schumer, and Harry Reid. Obama, who had publicly opposed the war as a state senator in Illinois, was alone among the major candidates in being able to point to his opposition, satisfying a purity test that candidates like Clinton and Edwards failed.
And while it's true that many of the Democrats running for president are embracing policies that are farther left than what they may have supported a few years ago, they're doing what presidential candidates always do: Responding to their party's voters. And it happens that the things they're advocating, like universal health care, a higher minimum wage, marijuana legalization, or stronger action on climate change, are pretty popular.
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