One thing about blogging during the campaign is that you end up pissing people off on all sides. There are those who, understandably, think it’s vitally important that Barack Obama be elected and so important that asshole bloggers like me should refrain from any and all criticism lest my mighty blog powers cause Obama to fail. And there are those that get mad because I’m completely in the tank and don’t criticize Obama enough. And everyone in between.
I actually think all perspectives, except the crazy people who imagine the Obama campaign is funneling lots of money to me, have merit. It is vitally important that Obama win this election, and the importance of that towers over most day to day stuff.
Per usual, Atrios is a voice of reason. Bloggers will be bloggers, and criticizing what we see as poor strategy or bad policy is in our DNA. On the other hand, pushing back against the obsessions with unimportant crap and keeping in mind the larger stakes involved in this election is not going in the tank for Obama. I can keep two conflicting things in my mind simultaneously. For example, I can be extremely upset and disappointed with Obama’s position on FISA without letting that strong disagreement color my interpretation of every other thing he is doing. I can see the repudiation of Wesley Clark’s recent comments as a short-term win with long-term risks without actually giving two craps about the issue either way. I can agree with his criticisms of MoveOn.org’s Gen. Betrayus ad campaign without seeing it some kind of ‘move to the center’.
But I will say this. If anyone in the Obama campaign is listening, tell your candidate to take his foot off the centrism accelerator. He’s feeding the left more centrism than they can digest all at once. We all knew and expected that you would tack to the center once the nomination was secured. But you definitely should dole this stuff out in a more piecemeal fashion. You’re actually starting to damage the unity, motivation, and credibility of your base. And that has its costs.