Liberals Decry Obama CompromisesBy JONATHAN WEISMANWASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's decision to maintain Bush-era military commissions is the latest in a series of compromises and delays that allies on the left see as a disappointing shift away from campaign pledges.
On everything from national security to climate change to immigration, liberal groups are saying the president's recent actions contradict his soothing ability to convince them that he will move dramatically on their issues. It follows a first 100 days in which Mr. Obama largely avoided any compromises on pressing his economic agenda.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said over the weekend that liberal critics were overplaying the extent to which Mr. Obama had changed his views on handling suspected terrorists. He said any compromises on other policies serve the broader purpose of keeping the big priorities moving forward.
And supporters of the president's more compromising stance say his positions will help liberal causes in the long run. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), for instance, said Mr. Obama's stand in favor of tribunals will make it harder for Republicans to oppose closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and could help coax Republicans into a more cooperative stand on issues such as Social Security overhaul.
Still, Tyson Slocum, energy-policy director at the liberal watchdog Public Citizen, called an emissions-control bill that should come to a committee vote in the House this week "very meek, very ineffective legislation." Mr. Obama had wanted any company emitting greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide to obtain permits to do so, and to purchase all of those permits on a trading market. Instead, the legislation as it stands now would give away more than two-thirds of the permits in 2012, the first year of the trading regime.
The climate-change legislation may not be the bill candidate Obama envisioned, Mr. Emanuel said, but it's moving, and progress is "the one thing I hold over everything else."
He noted the areas where Mr. Obama seemed on track to claim victories. Mr. Emanuel said the White House has a firm commitment for a vote this summer in the House on a national health-care plan. This week, Mr. Obama expects to sign legislation overhauling Pentagon procurement rules, slapping new restrictions on credit-card companies, helping homeowners and imposing new financial-fraud regulations.
But questions loom on some of the biggest issues. Advocates of an overhaul of immigration laws -- including a pathway to citizenship for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the country -- are growing especially restive.
