Please Address This Concern

I'm watching MSNBC, as per usual, as the results of the Potomac Primaries (is this usually what it's called when DC, Maryland, and Virginia vote, or is it a new snazzy name for 2008?) come in. Chris Matthews just interviewed the DC mayor, who described part of Obama's appeal as the only one who can be every American's President.

Call me partisan or divisive, but I'm not sure I want my President to be promising to also be the President who will cater to Dick Cheney's needs, or Merck's needs. Part of what I liked about John Edwards was his honesty about the fact that it might sound nice for us all to unite and make friends, it's not actually possible. Sometimes it's about fighting long and hard, not about cooperation.

If you are for the drug companies and insurance companies, you cannot possibly also be for the uninsured and the underinsured. If you are for people who make more than $200,000 per year and want deep tax cuts, you cannot possibly be for people who are trying to raise 3 kids on $20,000 per year and aren't sure how to pay for rent and food at the same time. If you are for the Bible-belt evangelical whose aim is to ensure that gays are never granted all the rights and privileges of citizenship, you cannot also be for those who believe all people really are created equal and should be treated as such.

So, Obama supporters, please address this concern: what does it mean that Obama promises to be every American's president? What's the difference between uniting people and talking out of both sides of your mouth? How can you be my President and Dick Cheney's President at the same time?