Obama’s Libya Campaign May be Expensive — Politically

President Barack Obama’s vaguely defined military campaign in Libya may cost him dearly politically. The fact that he has alienated not only conservatives, who already oppose him but also moderates and liberals could be a big factor in next year’s presidential campaign, The Hill reports.

“There is little doubt about the fact that his military involvement in Libya has put him at great risk politically,” Lara Brown, a political science professor at Villanova University, told The Hill. A nuanced foreign policy doesn’t play well in political campaigns.

The president’s alienation of his liberal base may be particularly costly. “The progressives who made up Obama’s 2008 base are more ideologically and philosophically motivated than they are motivated by their party affiliation,” Brown said. “They would rather keep their principles and lose, rather than lose their principles and win.”