Many on political left giving Obama a pass

CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama's appointments have tilted so much to the political center that they have drawn praise from the likes of Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh. That alone would seem enough to set off a liberal revolt. But a month into Obama's transition, many on the left are holding their tongues.

In assembling his team, Obama has largely passed over progressives, opting to keep President Bush's defense secretary, tapping a retired general close to Sen. John McCain and recruiting economists from the corporate, free-trade, deficit-hawk wing of the party. The choices have frustrated liberals who thought Obama's election signaled the rise of a new progressive era.

But they are mainly muting their protest so far, clinging to the belief that Obama meant what he said on the campaign trail and remaining wary of undermining what they see as the most liberal president in a generation. They are quietly lobbying for more liberals in the next round of appointments. And they are banking on the idea that no matter whom he installs, Obama will be the driving force for the change they seek.

"It's a great question -- one that many of us have been trying to avoid," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., the incoming co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, when asked how liberals viewed Obama's team. "The euphoria of the election is still there -- and still there for me. It's not a question of benefit of the doubt. It's a question of trust, and I trust that we're going to be moving in the right direction."

As it happens, Grijalva is the focus of some of that trust. The Obama transition team has let it be known that he is under consideration for Interior secretary, and many liberals have made that possible nomination a litmus test for whether Obama is serious about including them in the top echelon of his government.

Others are swallowing concerns about personnel to concentrate on policy. Some see a New Deal for the 21st century in Obama's plans to push an economic recovery program that would devote hundreds of billions of dollars to infrastructure projects, social safety-net programs and environmentally friendly industry.

"He ran on such a progressive agenda. If he's not breaking away from that, if he's getting centrists to implement it, we'll take that," said Robert Borosage, president of the Institute for America's Future.

Markos Moulitsas, founder of the influential Daily Kos site on the Internet, said it was way too early to begin judging Obama. "Some people may be nit-picky about his choices, but at the end of the day, he's going to make better choices than John McCain would have made," Moulitsas said. "There will be a time to push him. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm going to wait to see what it means on a policy basis, not on personalities."

Some bloggers have been less patient. "Why isn't there a single member of Obama's Cabinet who will be advising him from the left?" asked Chris Bowers on his site, OpenLeft.com. Kevin Drum, writing on the website of the liberal magazine Mother Jones, echoed that sentiment: "I mean, that is why most of us voted for him, right?"

In an opinion article for the Washington Post on Sunday, David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, wrote that "progressives are -- depending on whom you ask -- disappointed, irritated or fit to be tied." But he added that "there's no rebellion yet at hand" because the left still is hoping that Obama will hijack the establishment to advance liberal causes.

Obama loyalists have appealed for calm. "This is not a time for the left wing of our party to draw conclusions about the Cabinet and White House appointments that President-elect Obama is making," Steve Hildebrand, one of his top campaign aides, wrote on Huffington Post in a message to progressives on Sunday. "Some believe the appointments generally aren't progressive enough. Having worked with former Senator Obama for the last two years, I can tell you, that isn't the way he thinks and it's not likely the way he will lead."