He Did What?

Gawd, Politico is full of crap:

He called for reducing abortions and seeking common ground on one of the nation’s most divisive issues — promises that led some on the right to think maybe, just maybe, Barack Obama was a different kind of Democrat.

But no more.

A series of decisions in the past two months — capped by an announcement Monday that he’s abolishing Bush-era limits on embryonic stem cell research — has led to a reassessment of Obama by some Christian conservative and other religious leaders, who now charge him with inflaming the very cultural divisions he once pledged to heal.  [...]

And at a time when Obama’s bid to seek greater bipartisanship on Capitol Hill already has run into serious obstacles, Monday’s decision seemed to put even greater distance between himself and top congressional Republicans.  [...]

Even at Monday’s announcement, Obama portrayed himself as he often did in the campaign — as sympathetic to those who disagree with him, calling himself a "person of faith" seeking to strike a "difficult and delicate balance." The difference between now and then, however, is that the decision is his to make as president — and by doing so, he is forced to choose sides in the debate.

To be sure, this hack-tacular article does manage to get around to mentioning that President Obama always intended to roll back Bush's embryonic stem cell research policy, but it's only in passing and tucked between so much sadness at the "inflaming [of] the very cultural divisions he once pledged to heal."

In fact, there was so much wailing in the article, apparently there was no room for comments like this from candidate Obama:

For these reasons, I strongly support expanding research on stem cells. I believe that the restrictions that President Bush has placed on funding of human embryonic stem cell research have handcuffed our scientists and hindered our ability to compete with other nations. As president, I will lift the current administration’s ban on federal funding of research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 9, 2001 through executive order, and I will ensure that all research on stem cells is conducted ethically and with rigorous oversight.

Just add this to the list of things that no one could have anticipated.