Bloom off the rose?

Last week, in "Anxiety in the Church of High Liberalism," I noted a few areas where Sen. Obama's actions and words had to have given the left-liberal blogosphere a case of the jitters.  This week, focusing mainly on Sen. Obama's position on FISA, Politico and HuffPost noted the same thing. 

The HuffPost article mentioned that Obama's relationship with the so-called "netroots" hadn't always been as adoring as it was at the end of the campaign.  Late last year, and in early January, John Edwards was the favorite of many, which, considering that Edwards was campaigning on the idea that he was the most progressive of the major candidates, is not all that surprising. 

With Edwards out, the blogosphere went for Obama in a big way, which was mystifying to me since, given the choice between Obama and Clinton, she seemed more devoted to progressive positions than he.

As a former aide to Sen. Hillary Clinton told The Huffington Post, had the New York Democrat not had her own problems with the crowd, her campaign would have been a far more natural home for the progressive netroots.

"I don't understand why a group like MoveOn backs Obama," said the aide. "Hillary is the one who will build up the Democratic infrastructure. She's the one promising to fight the ideological battles. He's the one who is talking about moving beyond partisanship. And they love him for it."

The Politico article went a bit further than HuffPost, saying flatly, "the honeymoon has ended" because of FISA, and noting that "the online activists feel jilted and betrayed and have taken to questioning his progressive credentials."  One prominent blogger, Atrios, even gave Obama its “Wanker of the Day” award.  Jane Hamsher of firedoglake, said that many considered Obama "a progressive hero, and I think they were disappointed.  You can feel a real shift in the zeitgeist online.”

Markos Moulitsas of dailykos, in quite a come-down from his earlier Obama burbles, gave this less-than-ringing endorsement, “Let’s be honest, it is either Obama or John McCain. So we really don’t have much of a choice.”

Comments

[redrabbit]

I have to say, that quote from the mighty MarKos made me spit out my Cheerios. I want to scream at the top of my lungs "These are our only choices NOW, you pinhead!"

The dKos army of fawning fake lefties will get the change they deserve*--no matter who wins.

*brazenly stolen from the GOP. Oh yes, I got nerve.

[Hypatia]

As Barack Obama knows better than most, there's one born every minute. Chortle, chortle.