AP:
President Barack Obama's move to grant same-sex partners full visitation rights in hospitals is the latest example of his making concessions to liberals without getting too far ahead of public opinion.
Obama has moved just as cautiously, if not more so, on immigration and gays in the military. Supporters and some critics agree that he tries to walk a line that neither angers liberals who helped elect him, nor fires up conservatives hoping to defeat Democrats this fall and to oust Obama in 2012.
Some gay rights activists, meanwhile, offered tepid praise, noting that it took Obama more than a year to fulfill a promise he made during his 2008 campaign.The underlying problem is that President Obama is trying to walk a fine line between liberals and conservatives. While that might sound all "presidential," conservatives didn't bring Obama to this dance. Liberals did. It's a bit like trying to walk a fine line between your wife and your mistress. Or your best friend and your worst enemy. They're not morally equivalent, and the President keeps acting as though they were.
Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, called it "a small, but welcome step forward" that will help many people. But he added: "Piecemeal steps, addressing one protection at a time, will take up a lot more time than either the administration or American families can afford."
Barack Obama didn't run on a conservative agenda. He ran on a liberal/progressive agenda that included the public option, repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, closing Gitmo, and much more. It's not "finding a happy middle ground" when you break your promises to those who elected you in order to curry some elusive and quixotic favor with those who didn't vote for you, and never will. Rather than coming off as stately, this never-ending quest for the support of the FOX News crowd comes off as desperate and somewhat delusional.
It's also rather rude to those of us who supported you from the beginning.
