“Change You Can Count On” Isn’t Just A Campaign Slogan, It’s a Character Trait.
Here’s Barack Obama, Yesterday: “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided”.
And Barack Obama, Today:
“Well, obviously, it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations…
…as a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute [the city's division]…And I think that it is smart for us to — to work through a system in which everybody has access to the extraordinary religious sites in Old Jerusalem but that Israel has a legitimate claim on that city.”
What happened between then and now? Well, our brave would-be President got backed down by some sharp words from a mouthpiece for Islamist killers. He flipped so fast that even John Kerry took notes.
In the Gaza Strip, where Abbas’s Islamist rivals in the Hamas movement seized power a year ago, a Hamas spokesman also condemned Obama’s stance on Jerusalem: “Obama’s comments have confirmed there will be no change in the U.S. administration’s policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Sami Abu Zuhri said.
“Hamas does not differentiate between the two presidential candidates, Obama and (Republican John) McCain, because their policies regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict are the same and are hostile to us.”
Holy Flying Crapweasel, who won’t this guy pander to? If this guy becomes President, there’s going to come a point where he’s going to let fly with one of these empty yammerings only it’s going to be for real. It’s going to be binding. It will matter. Lives are going to depend on his ability to stick to one position for more than 36 hours.
One day, if we elect this shameless glad-hander the Leader of the Free World, we will find out how dangerous his overweening desire to be accepted by even the most repulsive degenerates on the planet really is. And I’m not talking about people like Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews. I’m talking about unrepentant and implacable killers. God help us when that happens.
Ace is not a little peeved by Obama’s shameless hustle, too.
Does this weakling moron think in advance about a single non-platitudinous burbling that comes out of his mouth?
I can’t wait to see what promises he makes under pressure or to please his immediate audience and thereby binds the US.
Or, who knows, given his gassy stupidity, maybe none of his promises mean anything.
Either way, I don’t see the point of sending this imbecile nancyboy to negotiate with the fucking Girl Scouts nevermind determined terrorists.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Barack Obama Really Needs to Check His Package Right Now.
- Mark Steyn On Obama’s Sensitivity
- AP Tries to Kill Hillary’s Campaign Early
Category: Fighting the Islamists, The Obamessiah
I can think of another reason he might say contradictory things: He may think he's just stating his opinion, not making promises about policy; that's not a mistake an experienced politician would make, but it's an understandable one. Based on these two sound bites, it appears that Senator Obama is approaching his campaign as the ultimate popularity contest, where the results of his choices are less important than whether everyone likes him afterward. I think he's in over his head, rather like Carter was at this point in the process.
EricH, I wonder if anyone has actually explained to him just how big the job of President really is. From what I can tell, the folks around him are either fairly new to the national scene or are holdouts from the Carter administration (since all the former Clinton people were working for her).
I don't think anyone on his team really knows the true scope of the job. Maybe he thinks it's just like being back home in Chicago, only with a bigger office.
Hmm. I suspect most political campaigns don't include anyone whose job would include giving civics lessons to the candidate… So, needed or not, that seems unlikely to happen.
Being unprepared isn't necessarily a portent of doom; a President could do reasonably well just on an ability to select, and delegate to, a talented Cabinet. So far, Senator Obama hasn't really shown himself to be an exceptional judge of character, but I suppose we can Hope he'll Change?
Well, not a civics lesson so much as a reminder that this isn't just another campaign.
Oh yes, Hope and Change. I have to say that I'm really tired of those two words. It seems to me that he's sucked all the meaning out of them in the past few months.
First of all, his position is the same as Bush's.
Second, J'lem is a "final status" issue that will only be decided by the 2 parties involved, not the US.
Third, his 2nd statement does not contradict his 1st.
4thly, he hasn't backed down from or pandered to any Islamist. Hamas "condemned" his statement and said it's par for-the-course US policy– WTF's your problem with that?!
1) Which position is the same?
2) Okay. Then perhaps he should shut up about it, shouldn't he?
3) Wait..what? "Jerusalem must never be divided" is the same as "Jerusalem can be divided"? What's the color of the sky in your world, spoots?
4) He reversed his position after Hamas, which has already endorsed him, condemned him. That's my problem with it. Alternately, you could read my post with a dictionary handy to look up the difficult words. I'm guessing you might have had problems with a couple of them.
J: "1) Which position is the same?"
Having it both ways until the 2 sides work out the details. Supporting the concept of a unified J'lem, while also supporting the reality of Arab access to their holy sites and maybe neighborhoods.
Here's McCain's equally muddy take:
This might be of interest, too:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/us/politics/07o…
"Then perhaps he should shut up about it, shouldn’t he?"
Should he? I'll let him know you important views on this topic.
"3) Wait..what? “Jerusalem must never be divided” is the same as “Jerusalem can be divided”?"
In essence, he's saying that Israel must continue to have the upper hand. Today they hold J'lem militarily. If they choose to negotiate that downward, O is fine with that.
"4) He reversed his position after Hamas, which has already endorsed him, condemned him. That’s my problem with it."
He reversed nothing. And it certainly didn't sound like that "endorsement" was still in effect when they condemned him and said he was the exact same as McCain!
"Alternately, you could read my post with a dictionary handy to look up the difficult words. I’m guessing you might have had problems with a couple of them."
I made a mistake with the chronlogy. Yes, they condemned his initial remark, not the follow-up.
We may not agree on many things, but I do respect and enjoy your vocabulary use, so that's not the issue.
Here's the problem. John McCain used the words "is undivided" while Barack Obama used the words "must remain undivided". Do you see the difference between the two?
Senator Obama was not making a statement of fact as was Senator McCain. What McCain was saying, essentially, was "Jerusalem is not divided, but it may become divided if Israel allows it to be".
That's not what Senator Obama was saying. He made an imperative statement. His two statements contradicted themselves because of that imperative. What he said, basically, was "Jerusalem has to stay undivided but it can be divided".
Only one of his statments can be true using our present laws of physics.
[...] It’s entirely possible that sometime tomorrow he’ll turn around completely on this like he did on Jerusalem after he got his dressing-down from Hamas. [...]