Obama And Partisanship

A reader writes:

I'm a longtime daily reader who hasn't written you much, if ever, but I wanted to make two quick points about this post:

Yes, there was definitely a sharper partisan message when he talked about McCain in Iowa yesterday.  And yes, that's exactly the type of thing he's promised to avoid, thus attracting a lot of independents such as yourself to his candidacy. But for those of us who are Democrats, who held their noses and voted for Kerry in 2004, you have to realize how unbelievably refreshing it is to hear the Democratic candidate speak the way he did last night.  You've touched on it before - he doesn't respond to attacks from a defensive position, he punches right back. He believes that his arguments are the better arguments, not that his position can be framed in a way that will appease 51% of the electorate.

And secondly, a lot of Obama's supporters did support Bill and Hillary in the 1990s (sorry, Andrew, but this is the Democratic party). And while we've been appalled and ashamed over the last year and a half as the Clintons' true character (or lack thereof) revealed itself in so many ways, it's never felt completely right to view the Clintons as the enemy (not that it stopped us). To be finally able to put the intra-party squabbling behind us and focus our attention on a candidate that supports the Iraq War, supported the Military Commissions Act, favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and is beholden to a chorus of socially backward special interests just by virtue of his party affiliation - it's refreshing like you wouldn't believe.