Reply #65: Not necessarily

[PurityOfEssence]

What if they forced him out over this, promising to keep it quiet? Not only would that not be above the fray, it'd be pretty creepy.

Obama's campaign is based on an extreme altruism and the sheer glory of his sterling personality. He's already played the "I didn't know about what my subordinates did" card a few times; the disillusionment could be quite a hit to his mystique.

His supporters are right in one respect that he's a "different kind of candidate": he's going to be held to a different standard because that's what he claimed set him apart. This is why the disillusionment crops up when he tacks hard to the right on the death penalty, abortion rights, drilling, spying and other non-liberal policies: he was supposed to be incorruptible and engaging in "new" politics, not the same old maneuvering.

Sadly, the threshold of disappointment will be lower for him because he claimed that it should be so high.

Let's hope he can keep up the momentum, and let's hope he either had nothing to do with this or doesn't get caught.