Barack Obama Here is George Will's latest column—about the coming electoral slaughter of Democrats. Barack Obama has antagonized not just conservatives (as might be expected), but so-called moderates. Many of these people stayed home in 2008. They will never stay home again. You may recall that I predicted this after the 2008 election. I said that Americans would experience progressive policies and turn against them. In the long run, I wrote, the election of Obama would be good for the conservative movement.