Over the past two weeks, Barack Obama has said and done a number of things that have(*)pissed off(*)progressives:

• Flip-flopped on immunity for warrantless wiretapping
• Criticized the Supreme Court's decision prohibiting capital punishment for child rape
• Praised the Supreme Court's decision overturning gun control laws
• Broadcast a TV ad embracing welfare "reform"
• Criticized Wes Clark's remarks about John McCain
• Embraced "faith-based" programs

As a result, progressives are wondering: is Obama "triangulating" at our expense? Is he trying to win conservative votes by attacking progressives, as Bill Clinton famously did during the 1992 campaign when he attacked Sister Souljah?

I think not. When I analyze these actions more closely, I see a different pattern: Obama is trying to(*)steal "moderate" conservatives away from John McCain.

At first glance, it seems like a hopeless strategy because John McCain is widely viewed as the quintessential "moderate" conservative because of his occasional defiance of hard-right positions on immigration, stem-cell research, global warming, torture, campaign finance reform, and tax cuts for the rich.

But McCain really doesn't have a lock on "moderate" conservative votes, because on key issues like Iraq and Iran he's really not a "moderate" conservative, but rather a(*)Bush-Cheney neocon.

"Moderate" conservatives oppose the Bush-Cheney-McCain-neocon agenda of occupying Iraq forever and starting an even more disastrous war with Iran.

So those voters are "in play" for Obama - but to win their votes, he has to overcome their kneejerk opposition to "liberal" Democrats.

There are several aspects of "liberalism" that produce a kneejerk conservative response. The simplest formulation is "God, gays, and guns" - hostility to Christianity, support for homosexuality, and hostility guns.

Obama is not trying to position himself as a conservative on these hot-button issues. Instead, he's trying to position himself as a moderate who embraces the positive aspects of these conservative issues, without embracing the divisive aspects of these issues.

On faith-based programs (i.e. "God"), Obama embraced the effective social service work performed by religious groups, and promised government support for that work. But he rejected divisive aspects like using government funds for proselytizing and job discrimination.

On guns, Obama embraced the individual right to own guns under the 2nd Amendment, but also embraced the right of local governments to enact reasonable restrictions on that right.

 



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