Anti-war democrats

This couple belong to an anti-war group in Chicago. They come from the Vietnam War generation and they voted for Lyndon B. Johnson because they thought he would end the war, but when he escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam, they became disillusioned and stopped voting altogether. Then Barack Obama came along. Obama attended one of their anti-war rallies in Chicago and they voted for Obama for the first time in 40 years. Four years later, the couple says he’s decidedly less excited about Obama. They’re not alone in their skepticism, and editors of the liberal magazine �The Nation� have written an open letter to Obama which offers support for Obama against McCain but also puts his war policies on notice. One of the co-authors says he’s worried about Obama’s waffling factor. He says he’s most impressed with Obama’s statements about rising above the militaristic mindset that got the US into war with Iraq, but that appears to be against odds with how Obama talks about Afghanistan. He wants to help Obama get elected but he also wants to keep pressure on Obama. The choice of Biden as VP might stoke these worries. Biden voted for the 2002 authorization for war in Iraq. The tension amongst Democrats is the anti-war group that helped propel Obama to Denver and now Obama’s messages of bridging divides in the Democratic party. If enthusiasm wanes amongst anti-war voters, that may be a problem for Obama in a close election. One of Obama’s top foreign policy advisors says Obama is sticking to his 16-month time table in Iraq, but he would send more troops to Afghanistan, while also increasing our aid to Afghanistan. Obama has mentioned that many of his supporters project their own beliefs onto him.