Barack Obama went out of his way to create the impression that he was a new kind of political leader — more honest, less cynical and less relentlessly calculating than most. This is why so many of Senator Obama’s strongest supporters are uneasy, upset, dismayed and even angry at the candidate who is now emerging in the bright light of summer. Senator Obama is not just tacking gently toward the center. He’s lurching right when it suits him, and he’s zigging with the kind of reckless abandon that’s guaranteed to cause disillusion, if not whiplash. He seems to believe that his shifts and twists and clever panders — as opposed to bold, principled leadership on important matters — will entice large numbers of independent and conservative voters to climb off the fence and run into his yard. Maybe. But that’s a very dangerous game for a man who first turned voters on by presenting himself as someone who was different, who wouldn’t engage in the terminal emptiness of politics as usual.

You may think that those are the words are some hardcore Republican or even some racist.

But they’re not. They’re the words of ardent left-wing New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in today’s issue of the paper.

Oh and, Mr. Herbert is black (that’s him pictured above).

Now, as Clint Eastwood used to say, you’ve got to ask yourself one question.

If, as Obama’s supporters say, the country overwhelmingly favors him and is going to give him a landslide victory in November, why does he need to do this? If he’s going to win anyway, why does he need to betray the positions he embraced in the primary election campaign?

The answer, of course, is that he doesn’t. So either his supporters are idiots (or simply lying) when they say the country loves their candidate, or else Obama is the new Bill Clinton, a person who believes in nothing except personal advancement and aggrandizement at any cost. You may remember that Clinton went on to (a) never win a majority of the popular vote in either of his two elections and (b) to have impeachment charges voted against him in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Herbert understands, even if Obama’s supporters don’t, that there’s no point in having a Democrat get elected if, like Clinton, he’s only going to enact Republican policies. He understands that such a person is only confirming the total domination of Republican ideals in the national political agenda, and doing it in a way that makes it impossible for Democrats to challenge (because he himself is a Democrat).

He understands that electing Obama simply out of blind hatred of Republicans is the antithesis of the liberal agenda, which is supposed to be about love, not hate.

He understands, too, that even if Obama tried to enact a Democratic agenda item — the way Clinton tried to enact national healthcare — his duplicity will undermine his effort and make it impossible for him to succeed.

And here’s the topper: Mr. Herbert doesn’t even mention the fact that Obama’s closest financial supporter from his days in Illinois politics just got sent to prison on a litany of corruption charges, and now the investigation is rippling out towards Obama just like the “whitewater” scandal did towards Clinton.

Will the Democratic party ever stop lying to the American people?

Democrats like to believe they are smarter and better educated than Republicans, more enlightened and civilized. Yet, their candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota is Al Franken, a comedian who proposed telling sick jokes about rape on Saturday Night Live. His supporters rationalize his action by stating:

None of Franken’s rude fantasies made it onto the air, and there is no evidence that he especially wanted them to. He was thinking out loud, an activity vital to professional comics and fatal to professional politicians. The only way a meeting to plan a comedy show can possibly work is if everybody feels free to say absolutely anything.

But the fact that he was “thinking out loud” is the whole point! That only makes it worse! We see the “real” Franken, and we don’t like what we see. We see Franken betraying the fundamental precepts of liberalism, and we see liberals defending him blindly just so they can pick up another Senate seat. We see them, just like Obama, sacrifice their core beliefs on the alter of frenzied hatred and ambition. There’s lots more about Franken, including sick Playboy sex screeds and failure to pay corporate taxes. In other words, a typical Democrat.

Maybe that’s why the Democrats have totally lost their influence on the American agenda, and haven’t reelected an an elected president with a majority of the popular vote since World War II, while Republicans have done it four times in that period.