A Different Non-Knee-Jerk Take On What Soros Said: Obama Shouldn't Compromise

[Turborama]

From Politico, of all places...

By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 11/17/10 9:01 PM EST Updated: 11/17/10 9:12 PM EST

Meeting with major Democratic donors in Washington this week, George Soros urged them to pressure the Obama administration to focus on liberal policy priorities including climate change and immigration reform, which are considered non-starters with Republicans set to assume control of the House.

Soros, a billionaire who has been among the most generous donors to liberal causes over the years, has recently indicated he no longer intends to fund the kind of independent political advertising campaigns he backed in 2004 and that Republican allies used to bombard Democrats in the midterm elections.

During a private session Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference of major Democratic donors organized by the Democracy Alliance, Soros reiterated the position that wealthy liberals should focus their giving on groups that will push President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats on liberal legislative initiatives, rather than groups supporting individual candidates, according to a source in the meeting.

“George was talking about how, in the context of the election, progressives are disappointed, and that they should keep (the administration) focused on certain issues that we should be promoting,” said the source, who did not want to be identified because Democracy Alliance bars attendees from discussing its conferences.

Full article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45321.html

And there's this from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/george-soros-obama_n_785022.html">Sam Stein's article in HuffPo:

Michael Vachon, an adviser to Soros, did not dispute the comment, though he stressed that there was no transcript of a private gathering to check. Vachon also clarified that the longtime progressive giver was not referring to a primary challenge to the president.

"Mr. Soros fully supports the president as the leader of the Democratic Party," said Vachon. "He was not suggesting that we seek another candidate for 2012. His comments were made in a private, informal conversation that was about the need for progressives to be more forceful in promoting their agenda. He was stressing the importance of being heard by elected officials."

I don't like the way multiple reports online are apparently going by Sam Stein's headline and just jumping on this as if it means Soros wants President Obama to be primaried. It's reminiscent of how everyone jumped on ACORN when that 'scandal' first broke. There's too much knee-jerking and not enough reading between the lines going on, again.

I wait to hear what Soros himself has to say about this...