The Perils of Coalition Politics

Political coalitions often unite people who otherwise want nothing to do with each other. Thus, in today's Democratic Party, we get one of the oddest of all coalitions -- Jews, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic; and left-wing anti-Semites, who blame Israel (and Jews in American government) for all the world's ills.

Enter Obama, whose base is his party's hard-left wing (home of the party's anti-Semitic minority), doing what all party nominees must do in the general election -- moving to the middle.

Israel, whatever its faults, is by far the most rationale, humane state in the Middle East. And a would-be president ought to be able to say as much. But for Obama, it's tricky, because doing so means alienating his fan base in the left-wing blogosphere.