Obama is not building a new Democratic identity. Indeed, he seems to be selling himself as an other-Dem, not like the rest of them. This disdain for party politics and Democratic Party branding is the essence of my complaint regarding Obama.

. . . The other bit of grandstanding, or naivete, that Obama has exhibited is his disdain for party politics. Obama's search for common ground and for civility is a wonderful idea. The Republicans won't play along. They never have. They never will. Ezra says:

I'm profoundly skeptical that the current, constant hagiographies of the senator will last long into a presidential campaign, and there's no history to suggest whether Obama can withstand and respond to the negative barrages the Republican smear machine is capable of unleashing.

What Obama would need to rely on is the very thing he is eschewing, the Democratic Party playing partisan politics. So this aspect of Obama is very troubling to me, either he is naive or more likely, disingenuous, playing a role for his personal benefit and to the detriment of the Democratic Party. That bothers me a great deal.

Jerome makes a similar point:

The issue is combating the rightwing machine in unison with Democratic candidates, but you can't partner with a candidate that not inclined to join the partisan progressive movement. In all those emails, Obama has never once even associated with the word Democrat or Democratic, not mentioning either word even once. Edwards and Clinton do. Whose nomination is Obama running for?

Finally, Jerome still hopes for a different Obama:

There is an Obama that could be the partisan leader that builds with the netroots-blogger movement, but it's not his current campaign . . .

No, there isn't. It is not who he is and not what he wants. He wants to "transform" politics. He can't. I think he will not win. We'll see.