What Al said. And, moreover, it isn’t just a disconnect between traditional big-statist Democrats and social justice/civil-libertarians that is causing confusion, but a major disconnect between academic progressives and urban progressives. And the one area where Obama really is creating genuine dissonance is over FISA. That’s because the privacy of personal communications is a major concern to all three of Obama’s major constituencies.
1. Urban progressives remember Operation Shamrock and Operation Minaret and how they were used against the civil rights movement.
2. Academic progressives are the most likely to travel abroad and maintain routine contact with foreign colleagues.
3. Social Justice/Civil Libertarians are by definition concerned with civil liberties, including especially the First and Fourth Amendments.
On FISA, Obama has aligned himself with Blue Dog/DLC Democrats that share few of the cultural qualms about state power with progressives and libertarians. But in most other regards, all Obama’s recent moves have been easily understandable to at least one or two (but not all three) of his main constituent groups.
