Obama doing great

I just read some comments over at Daily Kos about Obama. Some people, absurdly, are already talking about being disillusioned with him. Kos in particular is upset at him:

I was going to max out to him today, given I haven't given Obama a dime yet (focusing on congressional candidates). But I changed my mind. He wants to send the message that he doesn't need us, all the power to him. Message received. I'll spend that $2,300 somewhere else.

This is because he disagreed with Wesley Clark's comments about John McCain, and because he said something in his speech on patriotism that criticized the excesses of the 60's.

Please. I have nothing but respect for Kos, but I think this is ridiculous. I think Clark's comments were a little awkward, and Obama needed to clarify that he was not going to dis McCain's military service. These things will get massively misinterpreted very quickly, and Obama needs to take a strong position, because otherwise he WILL be misinterpreted. And I find it incredibly refreshing that a Democrat was willing to point out that the '60's went too far, because I completely agree. Those are broad topics that I can't get into in sufficient detail here, but there is another point that I want to make.

Which is this. If you are disillusioned with Obama because of a couple of comments this early in the campaign, then you should take a serious look at how well you deal with political controversies, because this is nothing. To call either of these "controversies" a tempest in a teapot would be to vastly overstate their importance.

As for the comment about the '60's, Obama has made it clear from day one that he will challenge the sacred cows of liberals. He has never been anything less that completely upfront about that.

Ed Koch used to say that if you agree with me on 9 out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12, see a therapist. Obama is not your candidate alone. He is campaigning for the President of the United States. Every single person who votes for him will have some disagreement with him. Deal with it.

In other words, anyone who is disillusioned with Barack Obama at this stage of the campaign needs to take a deep breath and maybe take a step back, and get ready for some real political fighting.