Both left and right pile on Obama

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EPA	Road to the nomination Sen. Barack Obama becomes the first African-American presidential nominee of a major political party. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
	Cartoons: Obama MSNBC.com's editorial cartoonists weigh in on Obama's candidacy.
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The trips, the speeches, and the moments of Decision ’08. A look at the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain.

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That's certainly been the case with the left wing of the Democratic Party, particularly over the candidate's change of heart over punishing telecom companies that spied on Americans' phone and internet communications for the Bush administration.

Obama initially said that he would block a reauthorization of the Patriot Act, the bundle of anti-terrorism measures first passed by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks, if it forbade prosecution of those communications companies.

But he's changed course even though renewal of the Patriot Act still blocks legal recourse against the telecoms. The new measure, he has said, is in the overall interests of national security.

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"Not to put words in his mouth, but while it was not perfect, perfect can't be the enemy of the good," said Matt Bennett, a policy analyst for Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank.

"Moderate voters are the king-makers of American politics," Bennett says, and "at the core of his political philosophy, Obama is a moderate soul."

Statements on the issues
But questions remain about where Obama stands on issues important to Democrats and many independents, given what he's been saying of late:

Criticism of the Supreme Court for striking down a state law that called for execution of child rapists.
Equivocal support for the high court's reversal of the District of Columbia ban on hand guns.
A promise of more federal dollars to what Bush calls "faith-based" programs run by churches and other religious groups.
Readiness to re-examine his policy on the Iraq war, opposition to which has been a core issue in his campaign.

Obama also said "mental distress" should not count as a health exception that would permit a late-term abortion, saying "it has to be a serious physical issue," addressing a matter considered crucial to abortion rights activists.

A recent AP-Yahoo News poll finds that 15 percent of those surveyed call themselves moderates who are not solidly supporting a candidate. About 39 percent of voters called themselves Democratic, 29 percent Republican, and 32 percent independent in the June 13-23 survey, part of an ongoing study tracking opinions of the same group of people over the election cycle.

The Democratic edge suggests Obama may be less dependent on votes in the middle than his opponent, but Obama's courting of the political center is noteworthy, nevertheless.

And it could be risky, given that much of Obama's new centrist message doesn't flow naturally from political expectations he set while battling Clinton for the Democratic nomination. While his base may hold, there is the chance Obama's dramatic bid for centrist voters could confuse and raise doubts among the undecided instead of comforting them.

"If I were them (the Obama campaign) I would wake up every morning and ask myself how I can stay true to my brand as a politician who would change the way Washington works," said Dowd, the former Bush strategist.

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