B arack Obama’s supporters must be feeling a little like Olivia Newton-John’s character in “Grease.”
She’s the nicey-nice Sandy Olsson, who falls in love with greaser Danny Zuko at the beach. But when they end up in the same high school, Danny (played by a pre-Scientology John Travolta) gives Sandy the brush-off because she’s too pure for his tough crew.
Now Obama is summer lovin’ with red state moderates and talking like George W. Bush: Pistols are just fine, lawsuit immunity for phone tapping telecoms makes sense, giving churches federal funds is a good idea, the Army needs another six divisions, and NAFTA is a necessity.
Just a couple of months ago Obama was BlackBerrying with a smitten Scarlett Johansson and giving coeds at his rallies the vapors. But this week, his Web site’s message board read like a packet of unanswered love letters.
They start out begging Obama to stay true: “You must not govern by fear. You must govern by wisdom and moral courage.”
Then they get increasingly frustrated: “Senator, if you want to go down in history as a man who would not stand up for his core values, a hypocrite, that is your prerogative, but do not condemn America to tyranny and fascism.”
Eventually his former flames feel deceived: “The FISA betrayal AND solidifying the link between church and state. I think he concealed these viewpoints until now.”
When Obama said he was all about change, his devotees didn’t realize the senator was talking about himself.
All presidential candidates change their pitches from the primaries to the general. It’s good politics and usually reflects a deepening awareness of the awesome responsibilities that come with the office they seek.
But the gale-force winds that have been blowing through Obama’s positions for the past few weeks are something different.
When John McCain had finally dispatched the Bad News Bears in the Republican primaries, he immediately started talking about the kinds of things that make his party’s base blanch: the environment, civil rights and the downside of free trade.
McCain has charmed the media with these views for years, but they’re better left unsaid at the family reunion.
Last weekend, Obama went to Unity, N.H., to grip and grin with Hillary Clinton at an event that looked about as natural as a mongoose and a cobra in a three-legged race. But he finally had his crown. So what did Obama do with his new freedom?
On Monday in Missouri, he spoke of his own patriotism. On Tuesday in Ohio, he said he wanted to expand Bush’s faith-based initiatives. On Wednesday in Colorado, he said he wanted to push military rolls back up to Cold War-era levels. Today, he’s in North Dakota to “honor veterans.”
We’re not talking about a flip-flop, we’re talking about a five-day voyage of personal discovery unseen since Jack Kerouac hit the road.
It’s pragmatic. The campaign knows that Obama’s fervent support among young people and the progressive movement will pad lopsided victories on the coasts, but won’t win him the election.
Obama’s current gambit relies on two beliefs: first, that he can knock over enough wobbly Republicans to keep McCain on the defensive in Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia.
Second, that his old flames on the left will burn for him even after he sprints to the right in an effort to outrun the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers and his own “inartful” comments about guns and religion.
Obama is right on both counts. Keeping those demographically roiled states on the bubble in the worst Republican year since 1964 shouldn’t take much. Even if Obama seems a little disingenuous, it’s not close enough to Election Day for people to worry too much. And that’s OK, because right now Obama is just trying to get swing state voters to keep their minds open.
And as for his old liberal flames, they’ll come running back as soon as he tells them that they’re the ones that he wants.
Scarlett Johansson may even put on Sandy Olsson’s greaser chick outfit just for the occasion.
