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I think there is a strong case to be made for Barack Obama being another candidate in the same vein as John Kerry, except perhaps with better oratory skills. Kerry became infamous during his campaign for President in 2004 for trying to take both sides of every issue. Unfortunately, he found himself in that position thanks to the influence of organizations like MoveOn.org which have made it all but impossible to attain the Democrat nomination for President without catering to the farthest-left of leftists. Kerry had to be far left to get the nomination, and then had to come back to the middle to try and make himself appealing to mainstream Americans. Which required a series of now-famous flip-flops that ultimately cost him the election.Obama, I think, is stuck in this same vein. And not only did Obama have to go to the left to placate the Democrat base and win the nomination, but he also has ties to far-left extremists like his minister for twenty years Rev. Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright and Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers. He needs to distance himself from these people, and the candidate he was during the primary race, in order to be appealing to mainstream American voters who are just now starting to pay attention to the Presidential race. And that means some creative position shifts on certain key issues.Consider the flip-flops Obama has already engaged in. Back when Obama was running in the primary he was all for the gun ban in Washington DC. But now that he’s in the general election and the Supreme Court has struck down that ban as unconstitutional the self-proclaimed Constitutional scholar is saying he was never in favor of the ban.And then there’s FISA. Obama was originally against any FISA legislation that would exempt telecommunications companies from lawsuits or prosecution for cooperating with federal anti-terror efforts. Now he’s just fine with such legislation.Obama has also flip flopped on his dedication to unilateral diplomacy with Iran. He once was in favor of talking to Iran without any sort of preconditions (like maybe halting the sponsorship of attacks on US/Iraqi troops), now he’s saying he wouldn’t talk to Iran without preconditions. Obama promised to take public financing. Now he’s not taking public financing. During the primary race Obama accused John Edwards of taking special interest money from unions. Now Obama is taking money from unions. Obama said the embargo of Cuba wasn’t working. Then he told a group of Cubans in Florida that he wouldn’t lift the embargo because it was an “important inducement for change.” When he was running for the Senate in 2004 Obama said he was for decriminalizing marijuana. During a debate which aired on January 31st, however, he said he was in favor of keeping marijuana use criminal. Also when he was running for the Senate in 2004 Obama said he was opposed to tougher sanctions on businesses which hire illegal immigrants. During that same January 31st debate Obama said that we should go after businesses that are taking advantage of illegal immigrant labor.Now Obama appears to be poised on the edge of the biggest flip-flop of them all. Obama has been adamant in his descriptions of Iraq as a failure we should retreat from as soon as possible. Now things in Iraq appear to be going quite well, and he’s about to go on a tour of the country during which he’ll be unable to deny this success, so what will happen? Will Obama do a reverse-Kerry and say that he was against the war before he was for it?Time will tell, but the simple truth is this: For a candidate who seems to be campaigning on his authenticity and status as a genuine person amidst a sea of political cynics, most of Obama’s positions seem to be stunningly calculated.Meaning that, despite being advertised as the opposite, Obama is very much a “politics as usual” Democrat.
By Rob
As in the days of Noah....
