Robert Novak wrote recently about the possible Obamacon movement and Colin Powell's potential participation in it, but now the story is picking up more steam. Colin Powell is certainly an influential figure and big name in the Republican Party (especially with conservatives) but is nowhere near as influential as the big thinkers inside one segment of the GOP's big tent. The problem for McCain here is that the tent that held strong for the last few decades is coming apart and springing huge leaks, as the conservatives are becoming more and more disaffected with where their party has gone in the last few years.
From RawStory:
An increasing number of disaffected Republicans fed up with what they see as President Bush's broken promises and unimpressed with John McCain say they may be switching teams in November to vote for Democratic candidate Barack Obama.Among the reformed righties now hoping for an Obama victory are free-market economist David Friedman, former Reagan aide Douglas Kmiec, Contract With America co-author Larry Hunter and Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of the former president.
Bush's "view of the legitimate power of the executive branch, including the authority to deliberately violate federal law, I find frightening," Friedman, son of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman tells the San Francisco Chronicle. "Perhaps, if we are lucky, Obama will turn out to be the anti-Bush."
Perhaps there is a silver lining to some of Obama's gestures to the center after all. I'd prefer if he sticks to his base, but Presidential Politics 101 tells a different story. If Obama can bring a sizable portion of conservatives on to his bandwagon, then that will only make us stronger against McCain and bring change more swiftly than if he hadn't. If cons like Friedman want the anti-Bush, then I believe that we've found something in common.
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