Wehner: "The Left's Uprising Against Obama"

Realty has now intruded on the Obama fantasy, as Peter Wehner shows us:

I received a note from a friend commenting on the Left’s uprising against President Obama (see here and here and here). He told me that he thinks “all this lefty fulmination against Obama is sound and fury signifying nothing.”

I have a different take.

Quite apart from whether the revolt among Obama’s liberal-Left base will help derail health-care legislation, the Left’s unhappiness with Obama is significant. Let’s start with the most obvious thing first: the spell he had cast over many of them has been broken, and it will never be reclaimed.

In addition, Obama’s presidency is already weaker than any other presidency has been at a comparable point into the mandate. To have this new fissure complicates Obama’s political life considerably. When independents are fleeing your party in overwhelming numbers, which is now happening to Obama and the Democrats, it is doubly important that your core supporters remain by your side. For Obama to alienate many of them this early into his presidency means that he’s heading toward politically treacherous territory. And Obama has alienated his liberal/Left base at precisely the same time that the rest of the country is convinced that Obama is pursuing a liberal and, in some respects, genuinely radical agenda.

This rupture will also dampen the enthusiasm of his base as we head toward mid-term elections."

Be sure to read it all.  2010 may well prove to be Obama's Waterloo.