Some of the new president’s most ardent supporters already feel let down

ANY decision Barack Obama makes can cause a stir. He invited Rick Warren, a popular pastor, to say a few words at his inauguration. The aim was to stroke conservative Christians, thereby fostering a warm feeling of national unity. But some of Mr Obama’s gay supporters were appalled. Though hardly a fire-breather by the standards of Southern Baptists, Mr Warren holds old-fashioned views about homosexuality. Bloggers lamented Mr Obama’s “betrayal”. Dan Savage, a gay columnist, urged his readers to protest by coining a new meaning for “Saddleback”—the name of Mr Warren’s church. Many of the suggestions were unprintable. To soothe sore tempers, Mr Obama invited a gay bishop, Gene Robinson, to speak at an inaugural concert.

It has been only two-and-a-half months since Mr Obama was elected, but his “Yes, We Can” coalition is already fraying at the edges. In his appointments and pronouncements, Mr Obama keeps hinting that he is neither as radical nor as pure as his progressive supporters dared to hope. Anti-war activists, who rallied round him in the Democratic primaries because he was the only top-tier candidate to have opposed the Iraq war from the outset, now see worrying signs that their hero is a closet hawk. On the stump, he used to say things like: “I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused.” Now he says it might take a bit longer. To make matters worse, he has kept George Bush’s defence secretary, Robert Gates, in his job. “Not a single member of Obama’s foreign-policy [and] national-security team opposed the war,” fumes Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of the Nation, a lefty magazine, adding that Mr Gates is “a terrible pick”. ...