Clinton backers enthuisiasm for Obama curbed

Robert Novak:

"I would say he was pretty underwhelming," a longtime Democratic activist said several days after he and some 200 other big-money supporters of Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign met with the victor, Barack Obama, in Washington on June 26. Gus will support and contribute to Obama as the party's nominee, but he is not enthusiastic about it.

He is not alone. After the closed-door session in the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel's ballroom, Gus was among 20 participants who gathered for drinks to talk it over. They agreed that it was not an "exciting performance" by the candidate who has entranced monster rallies across the country. Obama was "low-key" in a perfunctory appeal to them.

The Clintonites do not feel alienated, as supporters of Edward M. Kennedy did in 1980, when they never resigned themselves to Jimmy Carter's renomination. None of these loyal Democrats talked about sitting out the general election campaign against John McCain or locking up their bank accounts. Since a donation does not indicate the benefactor's degree of enthusiasm, what difference does it make if they're not enthusiastic? It signals a lack of confidence by important Democrats in a candidate whose charisma is supposed to cancel out his inexperience.

...

I think this is reflected in polling that shows Obama still not getting the support of the majority of votes in what is supposed to be a Democrat year. McCain suffers from a similar lack of enthusiasm outside of his core group, but I think the bitterness toward Obama is probably stronger. I think many of the Clinton supporters are likely to just sit out the election. I think the McCain camp can probably count on a certain number of people holding their nose to vote for him, but they will also keep their wallet in their pocket.