Myth Vaporizing

Gay rights activists' anger with President-Elect Obama's decision to have Rev. Rick Warren deliver the invocation at the Inaugural represents another instance of the Obama myth (held deeply in the hearts and minds of his most liberal supporters) vaporizing. Stung already by his moderate to conservative personnel appointments, the Left must now absorb another body blow to their deepest hopes and expectations.

That the President-Obama actually shares Rev. Warren's position on marriage (officially at least) is immaterial. As Byron York writes, "no matter what Obama says, a number of gay activists appear to believe the president-elect is, deep down, with them on the issue."

For their disappointment his more robotic supporters have no one to blame but themselves, falling prey to the Obama campaign's deliberate nebulosity, which encouraged them to project whatever views they wanted on him, all of which could fit under the umbrella of "change."

But now that he is in a position of action (the Presidency) and not one of talking (a candidate) he has to pull a reversal and project himself, whoever that may be. As Jennifer Rubin writes, "The essence of governing is doing and choosing. Rick Warren or Jesse Jackson? Secretary of Defense Robert Gates or Chuck Hagel? A tax increase or not? At some point your actions make clear your intentions. And inevitably one side or the other, both which thought he was with them, is disappointed."

The upshot is an inevitable conflict. A transition from diplomatic rhetoric to specific actions means that someone is left feeling hurt. You can be all things to all people when all you have to be is a blank canvas for other's disparate projections; you cannot be when you have to project something yourself. Quoting Rubin again,

All of the elevated expectations and conflicting promises might have helped get him elected, but they will make the governing more challenging. As President Obama is forced to choose on issue after issue, the ambiguities will become fewer and the complaints greater. It happens to all politicians, and even President Obama can't change that.

The unhappy truth for the Left is that the PE needs the support of a broad expanse of Americans to be successful, most of which don't share the values of the standard urban or campus liberal, his most robotic supporter. They should prepare themselves for more heartbreak.