Obama's For 'Change' Alright
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
You know what I mean. During the primary, candidates walk a pretty thin party line. But after they become the nominee, they abandon the hardline positions that motivate the fringes of the party and lean more toward the middle of the political spectrum.
Bill Clinton called it the "vital center" and he was correct. Nobody on the far left is going to vote for McCain, and nobody on the far right is going to vote for Obama. The only votes to be swayed are those in the "vital center."
It's the way to win elections.
So I knew it was coming. All candidates do it. But this Barack Obama character is off the charts.
Honestly, in a week's time he went from being one of the most liberal Senators - if not the most liberal, depending on whose list you read - to sounding positively conservative.
As recently as February, Obama said he supported the D.C. gun ban and thought it was constitutional. But after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban was unconstitutional, he said, "I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures. The Supreme Court has now endorsed that view."
In 2004, the Associated Press reported Obama opposed letting people use a self-defense argument if charged with violating local handgun bans by using weapons in their homes. The bill was a reaction to a Chicago-area man who, after shooting an intruder, was charged with a handgun violation.
And as a state senator, Obama voted against a popular bipartisan bill that would have prohibited prosecution of otherwise law-abiding citizens for violating local gun prohibition ordinances in Illinois if the gun was used to stop a home invasion by violent criminals.[[In-content Ad]]Doesn't sound like a big 2nd Amendment guy there. But he is now?
One must wonder.
He voted in favor of the revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, agreeing to extend retroactive immunity to telecoms that help the government spy on us. In an earlier bill, he spoke against immunity provisions.
But now, "The issue of the phone companies per se is not one that overrides the security of the American people," Obama said.
He backed away from his support of campaign finance spending limits in the upcoming election and opted out of the campaign finance system after he said he wouldn't.
During the primary campaign he railed on Hillary Clinton over her support of the North American Free Trade Agreement and said the pact must be renegotiated.
He said he would use the threat to "opt out" of NAFTA as a "hammer" to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate.
But last week he told Fortune magazine that he was "not a big believer in doing things unilaterally." He said he wasn't going to force a renegotiation.
His explanation of the flip-flop?
"Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified." He might as well have said, "Never mind."
He broke ranks with most members of his party when he chastised the Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty case in Louisiana.
The court's 5-4 decision struck down a Louisiana law that allows capital punishment for people convicted of raping children under 12. It spared two guys who raped girls ages 5 and 8.
Obama objected to the ruling. He said there should be no blanket prohibition of the death penalty for the rape of children if states want to apply it in those cases.
He and John McCain see eye to eye on that one.
And then there's the linchpin of his campaign - Iraq.
Obama repeatedly pledged to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, one brigade every month until all are out in 16 months.
Last September he said, "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops."
Let the establishment of wiggle room begin.
Susan Rice, a top Obama foreign policy adviser, told MSNBC on Tuesday that "we absolutely have to draw down and redeploy our forces from Iraq. But he has said over and over again we have to be as careful getting out as George Bush was careless getting in. So he will redeploy our forces responsibly, at a rate that our commanders say is safe and sustainable."
That's the first time an Obama person has mentioned letting commanders have a say in the pace of withdrawal. What do you suppose the commanders are going to tell Obama? The same thing they've been telling W.
Anthony Lake, a senior Obama foreign policy adviser, told the Financial Times Obama would maintain a "residual force for clearly defined missions" in Iraq. Aren't those the same troops that he's going to pull out?
Lake said this would include "preparedness to go back in if there are specific acts of genocidal violence."
Lake compared Iraq to Vietnam, saying that the Iraqi government needs to be functioning before we leave.
"It is common sense that we could not leave Vietnam successfully unless we left behind a government in Saigon that could govern successfully," he said.
All the troops out in 16 months? Forget about it.
Hey, this Obama guy's starting to sound like somebody I could vote for, if I could believe anything he says.
He's shifted his positions on everything. Maybe that's the "change" he's always talking about.
You know what I mean. During the primary, candidates walk a pretty thin party line. But after they become the nominee, they abandon the hardline positions that motivate the fringes of the party and lean more toward the middle of the political spectrum.
Bill Clinton called it the "vital center" and he was correct. Nobody on the far left is going to vote for McCain, and nobody on the far right is going to vote for Obama. The only votes to be swayed are those in the "vital center."
It's the way to win elections.
So I knew it was coming. All candidates do it. But this Barack Obama character is off the charts.
Honestly, in a week's time he went from being one of the most liberal Senators - if not the most liberal, depending on whose list you read - to sounding positively conservative.
As recently as February, Obama said he supported the D.C. gun ban and thought it was constitutional. But after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban was unconstitutional, he said, "I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures. The Supreme Court has now endorsed that view."
In 2004, the Associated Press reported Obama opposed letting people use a self-defense argument if charged with violating local handgun bans by using weapons in their homes. The bill was a reaction to a Chicago-area man who, after shooting an intruder, was charged with a handgun violation.
And as a state senator, Obama voted against a popular bipartisan bill that would have prohibited prosecution of otherwise law-abiding citizens for violating local gun prohibition ordinances in Illinois if the gun was used to stop a home invasion by violent criminals.[[In-content Ad]]Doesn't sound like a big 2nd Amendment guy there. But he is now?
One must wonder.
He voted in favor of the revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, agreeing to extend retroactive immunity to telecoms that help the government spy on us. In an earlier bill, he spoke against immunity provisions.
But now, "The issue of the phone companies per se is not one that overrides the security of the American people," Obama said.
He backed away from his support of campaign finance spending limits in the upcoming election and opted out of the campaign finance system after he said he wouldn't.
During the primary campaign he railed on Hillary Clinton over her support of the North American Free Trade Agreement and said the pact must be renegotiated.
He said he would use the threat to "opt out" of NAFTA as a "hammer" to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate.
But last week he told Fortune magazine that he was "not a big believer in doing things unilaterally." He said he wasn't going to force a renegotiation.
His explanation of the flip-flop?
"Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified." He might as well have said, "Never mind."
He broke ranks with most members of his party when he chastised the Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty case in Louisiana.
The court's 5-4 decision struck down a Louisiana law that allows capital punishment for people convicted of raping children under 12. It spared two guys who raped girls ages 5 and 8.
Obama objected to the ruling. He said there should be no blanket prohibition of the death penalty for the rape of children if states want to apply it in those cases.
He and John McCain see eye to eye on that one.
And then there's the linchpin of his campaign - Iraq.
Obama repeatedly pledged to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, one brigade every month until all are out in 16 months.
Last September he said, "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops."
Let the establishment of wiggle room begin.
Susan Rice, a top Obama foreign policy adviser, told MSNBC on Tuesday that "we absolutely have to draw down and redeploy our forces from Iraq. But he has said over and over again we have to be as careful getting out as George Bush was careless getting in. So he will redeploy our forces responsibly, at a rate that our commanders say is safe and sustainable."
That's the first time an Obama person has mentioned letting commanders have a say in the pace of withdrawal. What do you suppose the commanders are going to tell Obama? The same thing they've been telling W.
Anthony Lake, a senior Obama foreign policy adviser, told the Financial Times Obama would maintain a "residual force for clearly defined missions" in Iraq. Aren't those the same troops that he's going to pull out?
Lake said this would include "preparedness to go back in if there are specific acts of genocidal violence."
Lake compared Iraq to Vietnam, saying that the Iraqi government needs to be functioning before we leave.
"It is common sense that we could not leave Vietnam successfully unless we left behind a government in Saigon that could govern successfully," he said.
All the troops out in 16 months? Forget about it.
Hey, this Obama guy's starting to sound like somebody I could vote for, if I could believe anything he says.
He's shifted his positions on everything. Maybe that's the "change" he's always talking about.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092