Political negligence.
The Obama FISA flip flop is not a small, excusable event in the development of Barrack Obama as a candidate for President. Lynne hit it a few posts down pretty hard. A run at the center is normal for a presumptive nominee. The difference with Obama and the average dash to the middle is 2 fold.
1. He nurtured the idea that his campaign had elevated itself above such pandering. This has turned out to be a massive lie.
2. FISA goes to the Constitution. It's not a minor shift. It is certainly not merely a rhetorical shift. It is drastic. A 180 degree reversal regarding a basic tenant of American law.
What no one seems to be saying is this: WE CANNOT TRUST OBAMA WITH ANY MAJOR DECISION AGAIN. Who is to say Roe v Wade is not next - if it will win him a few votes in Georgia? He did not merely soften his stance. He strode to the other side of the political spectrum on FISA. What inconvenient progressive stance will Obama ditch next?
The excuse making by pundits is annoying, but to be expected. I agree with a writer at No Quarter - what surprises me is the surprise of some pro Obama commentators. His campaign has been a mass delusion. This goes without saying at this point. The feigned surprise that Obama is weaselly is borderline pathetic. Weaselly is a defining characteristic of the man. The evidence is everywhere. All those "present" votes. "I can no more disown Wright..." Until he disowned Wright 3 short weeks later. The attack on Alice Palmer - one of his his mentors no less. A weaselly Obama moment that rarely gets discussed is his refusal to be photographed with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome. Mayor Newsome stood up for gay rights. Obama would not have a snap shot taken with him. What manner of man is this?
How to respond? Hmmm.
Of course The response to the excuse makers is to keep hammering away with the facts. But the growing crop of the "surprised" engender contempt. They are only surprised by BHO's drastic shifts because they willfully ignored and denied the facts on the ground. They were politically negligent. Obama caved. Caving is what he does best. A cursory review of his past would have negated any current "surprise". But what Obama supporters refuse to do is examine his past.
Finally, I am getting mighty tired of the "well, he's still better than McCain." meme. I see no evidence to back this up. There is plenty I don't like about McCain's politics. But he is not a bad man. Obama's shift on FISA is duplicitous - which goes to character. He was deliberately misleading. And I repeat - this is not a minor shift nor is his switch a nibble around the edges of an issue. It is a full throttle reversal. He voted as a stalwart Republican senator. Whatever one thinks about the merits of the FISA bill, asking "what manner of man does what Obama did?" is a fair and legitimate question.
1. He nurtured the idea that his campaign had elevated itself above such pandering. This has turned out to be a massive lie.
2. FISA goes to the Constitution. It's not a minor shift. It is certainly not merely a rhetorical shift. It is drastic. A 180 degree reversal regarding a basic tenant of American law.
What no one seems to be saying is this: WE CANNOT TRUST OBAMA WITH ANY MAJOR DECISION AGAIN. Who is to say Roe v Wade is not next - if it will win him a few votes in Georgia? He did not merely soften his stance. He strode to the other side of the political spectrum on FISA. What inconvenient progressive stance will Obama ditch next?
The excuse making by pundits is annoying, but to be expected. I agree with a writer at No Quarter - what surprises me is the surprise of some pro Obama commentators. His campaign has been a mass delusion. This goes without saying at this point. The feigned surprise that Obama is weaselly is borderline pathetic. Weaselly is a defining characteristic of the man. The evidence is everywhere. All those "present" votes. "I can no more disown Wright..." Until he disowned Wright 3 short weeks later. The attack on Alice Palmer - one of his his mentors no less. A weaselly Obama moment that rarely gets discussed is his refusal to be photographed with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome. Mayor Newsome stood up for gay rights. Obama would not have a snap shot taken with him. What manner of man is this?
How to respond? Hmmm.
Of course The response to the excuse makers is to keep hammering away with the facts. But the growing crop of the "surprised" engender contempt. They are only surprised by BHO's drastic shifts because they willfully ignored and denied the facts on the ground. They were politically negligent. Obama caved. Caving is what he does best. A cursory review of his past would have negated any current "surprise". But what Obama supporters refuse to do is examine his past.
Finally, I am getting mighty tired of the "well, he's still better than McCain." meme. I see no evidence to back this up. There is plenty I don't like about McCain's politics. But he is not a bad man. Obama's shift on FISA is duplicitous - which goes to character. He was deliberately misleading. And I repeat - this is not a minor shift nor is his switch a nibble around the edges of an issue. It is a full throttle reversal. He voted as a stalwart Republican senator. Whatever one thinks about the merits of the FISA bill, asking "what manner of man does what Obama did?" is a fair and legitimate question.
posted by J -SOM at
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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