Cool Off, Lefties: Obama Won't Abandon You

Barack Obama's cabinet picks may have elicited howls from the left, but he won't sell out his progressive supporters, E.J. Dionne, Jr. writes in The New Republic. For starters, Obama never was a true economic lefty—that was John Edwards' role. Like John F. Kennedy 45 years ago, Obama will probably push a progressive agenda through a team that conservatives can accept.

Lefties in Congress still like him, too. Obama knows that "the country faces more problems than at anytime since 1933," says liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders. Obama is also entering the White House as most of the country is leaning left; even conservatives want to partly socialize Wall Street these days. "Reality has moved left, particularly over the last six months," Dionne writes. (More Barack Obama stories.)