While he claims to be a moderate and a unifier, having NARAL’s endorsement over Mrs. Clinton will give independents and true moderates pause over how far left he must be. With Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain daily pointing out his inexperience, Hamas’ endorsement of Mr. Obama exploits that inexperience and reinforces why terrorists do not fear him.
The left thinks that by NARAL endorsing Mr. Obama now, it will help his chance this November. But the kisses from NARAL and Hamas may be kisses of political death. Endorsements such as these make swing voters in battleground states profoundly uncomfortable.
On Tuesday Mr. Obama lost the Kentucky primary to Mrs. Clinton by a 2-1 margin. Last week, he lost West Virginia by a similar margin. Before that, he lost the important swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Even more troublesome, exit polls from Kentucky said that Mrs. Clinton won convincingly among the state’s college-educated whites, a mainstay of Mr. Obama’s coalition.
So the left is its own worst enemy. It needs a Supreme Court to ensure that people cannot vote on abortion restrictions. It needs a president who promises to appoint activist jurists who will enshrine these priorities in national policy. The left needs Mr. Obama. But their embrace of him will make it unlikely that he will ever close the sale with Middle America.