…and a lot of others. Obama Heartache Syndrome:

Far from needing encouragement, his supporters were energized by the New Hampshire defeat. My kid kept bugging me to get behind Obama. I tried to tell him as a political analyst for Fox News I had to stay neutral. He wasn’t buying that and reminded me that his grandfather (my dad) had been involved in the civil rights movement and “if granddaddy was still around he would be for Obama”. That was followed by “you’re a wuss”. So I was a little surprised last week when my son asked me, “What’s wrong with Senator Obama?” I asked why. “Because he sounds different”, he says. Thinking the kid was referring to Obama’s recent moves to the center on some issues I tell him every candidate for president repositions for the general election. My son gives me one of those teenage ‘what planet are you on’ looks and says, “never mind.” It took awhile but I realized my point about Obama’s repositioning on Iraq, FISA, etc meant nothing to my kid. All he knew was that the “Obama of Summer” was somehow different than the Yes We Can “Obama of Winter” – and it bothered him. To my kid it wasn’t a question of issues, but a perception that somehow Obama had changed. As Barack Obama learned this week it is a perception shared by thousands of his supporters who do understand the issues and, unlike my son, can vote.