HE CARES ABOUT RE-ELECTION, NOT ABOUT ISSUES:

Liberals frustrated with President Obama; angry their issues took back seat to health care reform (David Saltonstall, 10/18/09, NY DAILY NEWS)

"The advocates of choice are starting to get disillusioned with President Obama," said UCLA law professor Adam Winkler.

Winkler was lobbying on Capitol Hill with Planned Parenthood recently and was dismayed to be told by a key Democratic congressman that the Obama White House isn't pushing for abortion services in the bill. The reason? It would drive away prospective Republican and conservative Democratic votes.

"For the pro-choice community, it's going to be Barack Obama's 'no new taxes,'" Winkler predicted. Conservatives famously cried betrayal after President George H.W. Bush reneged on his 1988 read-my-lips campaign pledge not to raise taxes.

Abortion rights activists aren't alone. Immigration rights groups marched on Washington last week demanding that Obama live up to past pledges to tackle comprehensive reform this year - a highly unlikely prospect at the moment.

And gay rights proponents remain unhappy that Obama has yet to overturn the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bars gays from serving openly in the military - a policy Obama has long said he opposes.