Obama’s Ninth Major Flip-Flop is a Doozy.
Wow. It looks like Barack Obama’s taking this whole Change thing really seriously, huh?
Thus far this campaign, we’ve seen change his position radically about gun control, NAFTA, the FISA bill, financing his campaign, marijuana, the Cuba embargo, and meeting with Mad Mahmoud.
Whew! I think I got all of them, at least up to today. That’s nine major turnarounds in not all that many months. No wonder he can’t seem to remember how many states America has.
Today, the Obamessiah has issued a Revised Standard version on two more positions. Jeralyn Merritt points out that his position on late-term abortions seems a lot different from what it was when he was pandering to NARAL last year. The big one, the Mother of All Flip-Flops, though, is his statement today that he’s not necessarily going to remove our troops from Iraq “immediately” like he’s been promising through the entire campaign. Lest the Obama supporters say that he’s only promised to begin removing them and that he never promised anything shorter than 16 months to get them all out, let me quote a bit from the Politico article:
In a separate six-page Iraq plan, he says in a section headed “All Combat Troops Redeployed by 2009”: “The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq’s leaders to resolve their civil war is to begin immediately to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year — now.”
Below the jump is his new position, as voiced by David Axelrod.
…Obama has actually advocated “a phased withdrawal, with benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet, that called for strategic pauses, based on the progress on these benchmarks and advice on the commanders on the ground.”
“He’s always said that he would listen to the advice of commanders on the ground, that that would factor into his thinking,” Axelrod said. “He’s also always said that we had to be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. So he’s been very consistent on this point. …
“I think he will take the advice, not just the advice of the commanders on the ground but his general assessment of conditions on the ground in calibrating that withdrawal. He said he thought we could get one to two brigades out a month. But he’s not wedded to that in the face of events. No president would be. And he’s always said that he’s never said that this withdrawal would be without any possibility of alteration based on events on the ground. That would not be a prudent thing to do for any president.”
That, folks, is what we call a lie. He has not always said he’d listen to commanders on the ground. I’m not sure how he’s supposed to listen to those commanders when he has yet to meet, in Iraq, with the commanders who are right now in charge of the troops.
His early plan was arrogant, fantastic, and a ploy to garner the support of the vocal and bat-spit crazy nutroots who he hoped would raise a ton of money for him. Now, when he’s sitting fat and happy on a big pile of cash, he’s kicking them to the curb. Pardon me if I’m not crying giant tears of sadness over the betrayal.
On the other hand, it sure looks like there’s not a lot of daylight between Barack Obama’s positions now and John McCain’s positions. The only thing that seems to separate them is the fact that McCain’s never bothered to pander to his base. He’s spent the past ten years being contemptuous of conservatives.
(via memeorandum)
Other Posts of Interest:
- Yes, Mr. Smith. Oregon is Blue.
- “Damn the news. Send in the clowns.”
- Iraqi Foreign Minister Meets with Obama, Deems Him McCain-like
Category: Featured, The Obamessiah
This may make it hard to keep up the "I'm a new kind of Politician" persona. Additionally he is moving to quickly. If he ticks off his radical base before the convention they could turn on him. There's already the "Recreate '68" nuts. Riots in Denver will not impress the centrists. If the nutroots stay calm I will have to believe that they know his original positions are his actual positions.
He may not be a new kind of politician, but he's moving at a speed I've never seen before. It's like he's turned himself into Two Face just in time for the new Batman movie or something.
I've seen so many others complain that I feel the need to echo a few things.
First, I have no idea what McCain was doing out the country this past week. I hope it gave the campaign staff a chance to get its act together. But the suggestion recently to send a bunch of money to Mexico to assist them with border control is flushing money down the toilet.
Second, if McCain doesn't act quickly, Obama, though he's lying, will be on the right of him on almost every issue except suggesting that we be in Iraq in the first place. Obama can't go off the reservation on energy, so McCain needs to let go of his idiotic attachment to Anwar. Drill ASAP everywhere to use it as a bridge to the energy future. On top of that, he needs to come out with a list in order of priority of the energy initiatives he'll propose. Obama can't suggest nuclear because the left will go nuts; they've been stuck at Three Mile Island for 30 years. Also, McCain needs to show how in the tank Obama is with the moronic ethanol alternative. This approach will leave Obama advocating solar, wind, and futuristic "renewables" that voters will say, "WTF?"
Third, McCain has to get religion on immigration and abandon amnesty. Sorry if it's hard hearted, but it's time to round 'em and send illegals home. Some border areas are getting overrun. If the corporate farms need labor, why can't churches and community organizations coordinate an effort to ship inner-city teenagers and young adults out there to work. Sounds crazy but create New Deal era program like the Civilian Conservation Corp. Private employers would pay the wages, though the federal government might provide some administrative assistance of some kind.
In any event, I'll still be voting for McCain because I fear an Obama presidency. McCain is the only candidate that Republicans could have nominated and still be in the race. But for the past month and going to election day, it sure seems as if McCain is doing his very best to throw the election. Sorry to say, much as I loathe Obama and much as I find McCain's life very compelling, he seems to be a total rockhead.
Do pledged Obama delegates have the obligation to switch votes at the convention if they feel that he no longer represents the sentiments of those that elected him?
The DNC rules not only allow it, they encourage it:
http://www.pledgednotbound.com/
The new BHO doctrine – when the going gets tough we leave, but if the going gets easy we stay. I would think that since the surge is indeed working this would comport well well BHO’s original position of immediately pulling out of Iraq – our presence is not needed. Now he is hesitant to leave Iraq. I am missing something.