Politics / Barack Obama Lefties Livid Over Obama's Right Moves 'Element of distrust' as Dem tunes policy platform more toward center By Jonas Oransky, Newser Staff Posted Jun 24, 2008 2:28 PM CDT Copied Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., gets out of the car as he boards the campaign charter plane in Albuquerque, N.M., Monday, June 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Barack Obama’s general-election shift to the center is in full effect on issues from spy powers to taxes, and the liberal left is getting a little steamed, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Democrat's support for cutting corporate taxes, an undivided Israeli Jerusalem and—perhaps most importantly to left activists—the domestic spy-bill compromise have introduced "an element of distrust," one says. The left now has "a strong reason not to trust him or give him the benefit of the doubt," one blogger says of the man who won the primaries by running to the left of his opponent. But few insiders are surprised at the shift on Iraq (a slower drawdown) and Iran (no automatic meeting). Said one, “He can’t win if the center isn’t comfortable.” (More Barack Obama stories.) Report an error