One of the few things focused on by the liberal press is the fact that Senator Barack Obama has never really faced thorough opposition in his former campaigns. The national press has largely not looked into his time before working in the Senate and largely takes his word when he says he can easily unite the country with his brand of politics.

The Mike Allen & Ben Smith at the Politico may have given us the first glimpse of what will come out during a general election campaign if Obama wins the nomination and faces opposition much stronger than that dolled out by the other Democratic candidates who have been treading lightly.

Reviewing a 1996 questionnaire filled out by Obama while a candidate for state office they find that Obama was against the death penalty, against supporting any restrictions on abortion and against the manufacture of handguns in the state of Illinois. He would also support a single-payer health plan for Illinois “in principal”.

The Politico has more on the story including thoughts about why all of these positions would be detrimental in a general election campaign.

My own personal addition? I have been suggesting for months now that the base of the Democratic Party has been operating under a false assumption. Namely that they can simply walk into the White House this cycle but also that the country is suddenly ready for a titanic shift to the left. You see it with the left’s notion that Clinton is unelectable because the opposition doesn’t like her. I don’t think the party is adequately preparing itself for a fight believing that they won’t find it.

It seems true that the Republican Party seems ready to tear itself apart over the next few months but that doesn’t mean someone won’t come out of the rubble and capture the nation, which is largely middle of the road and on many issues conservative.

All the Democrats running at the moment have their problems for a general election campaign. I just find it interesting that many Democrats are operating under the notion that almost all of them do not and so it is now time to push an extreme agenda in opposition to the extreme agenda the country has been run under in the last few years.