Posted on 06/27/2008 9:47:51 AM PDT by Josh Painter
John Kerry, you're off the hook. Mitt Romney, we're giving you a well-deserved break. You guys were great flip-floppers in your day, but now you've been seriously upstaged. All hail the new King of Flip-Flop - Barack Obama.
As a rookie flip-flopper, Obama first drew the attention of the environmental lobby about this time last year:
Although summer hasn’t officially begun, flip-flop season is well underway and it appears Senator Obama has joined the club. Typically flip-floppers are criticized for their inability to stay firm on an issue, but in Obama’s case, his flop has many environmentalists flipping back his way.For the Candidate of Hope and Change, there were bigger and better flip-flops yet to come. As his campain began to toss Obama's positions on issue after issue under the bus, the Senate's most liberal member made quite an impression on the Washington Post. Back in February, WaPo cited these "Top Obama Flip-Flops":On Tuesday Obama, whose support for coal-to-liquid has been widely criticized by environmentalists, sent out a press release clarifying his position on liquid coal:
Senator Obama supports research into all technologies to help solve our climate change and energy dependence problems, including shifting our energy use to renewable fuels and investing in technology that could make coal a clean-burning source of energy…However, unless and until this technology is perfected, Senator Obama will not support the development of any coal-to-liquid fuels unless they emit at least 20% less life-cycle carbon than conventional fuels.
This “clarification” is an important step for the Obama campaign in trying to gain support from environmental organizations and voters.
1. Special interests In January, the Obama campaign described union contributions to the campaigns of Clinton and John Edwards as "special interest" money. Obama changed his tune as he began gathering his own union endorsements. He now refers respectfully to unions as the representatives of "working people" and says he is "thrilled" by their support.Top flip-flops? Pshaw, that was nearly four full months ago, and the man was just getting warmed up. And Obama's squirming on campaign finance hadn't even gotten off the ground. The New York Post recently ripped Obama for flipping on this and some other issues as well:2. Public financing Obama replied "yes" in September 2007 when asked if he would agree to public financing of the presidential election if his GOP opponent did the same. Obama has now attached several conditions to such an agreement, including regulating spending by outside groups. His spokesman says the candidate never committed himself on the matter.
3. The Cuba embargo In January 2004, Obama said it was time "to end the embargo with Cuba" because it had "utterly failed in the effort to overthrow Castro." Speaking to a Cuban American audience in Miami in August 2007, he said he would not "take off the embargo" as president because it is "an important inducement for change."
4. Illegal immigration In a March 2004 questionnaire, Obama was asked if the government should "crack down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants." He replied "Oppose." In a Jan. 31, 2008, televised debate, he said that "we do have to crack down on those employers that are taking advantage of the situation."
5. Decriminalization of marijuana While running for the U.S. Senate in January 2004, Obama told Illinois college students that he supported eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana use. In the Oct. 30, 2007, presidential debate, he joined other Democratic candidates in opposing the decriminalization of marijuana.
This isn't the first time Obama has, um, "changed" political lanes:That Obama is now the King of Flip-Flop will come as a surprise only to his devoted followers who have been too busy swooning over him to notice. Those of us not so easily smitten could have predicted this turn of events. In fact, some did. Consider this blogger who - in a post from August of 2007 titled "Obama The Anti-War Candidate NOW Says He’ll Invade Another Country!" - predicted:* He ripped Hillary Clinton for months for voting to list Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Days after Clinton conceded, Obama flipped and said he supported the definition.
* Obama repeatedly vowed to meet with various heads of terror states - most notably Ahmadinejad of Iran - "without preconditions." Then, with the nomination in sight, he zigzagged: "There's no reason why we would necessarily meet with Ahmadinejad. He's not the most powerful person in Iran."
* In October, he supported NAFTA expansion. In March, campaigning in the Ohio primary, he called for a "reopening" of the trade pact's terms. This week, he called his own primary rhetoric "overheated" and said NAFTA has had a positive effect on the US economy.
* Yesterday, after signaling opposition to nuclear power, he told Democratic governors he's open to expanding it.
I guarantee this guy is going to turn into the flip-flopping candidate just like his buddy Kerry did in 2003, 2004.Obama's flip-flop on campaign finance was one did that manage to capture the attention of Mark Shields, a liberal columnist who, unlike most of his peers, still has some integrity.
Barack Obama made history this week. He became the first presidential nominee since Richard Nixon in 1972 to state that his campaign will be funded totally by private donations with no limits on spending.Hat Tip: NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard Name an issue. Chances are, Obama has flipped on it. Jerusalem?It was a flip-flop of epic proportions. It was one that he could not rationalize or justify. His video was unconvincing. He looked like someone who was being kept as a hostage somewhere he was so absolutely unconvincing in it. It could not have passed a polygraph test.
I mean, coming up with this bogus argument the Republicans have so much more money -- the Republicans don't have so much more money. He's raised three times as much as John McCain has.
He has every possible committee, except Republican National Committee, Democrats at the Senate level, congressional level have this lopsided edge over Republicans. They spent three times as much, did Democratic leaning 527s, in the last election as did Republicans.
So what Obama didn't admit was, up until February of this year, when he told Tim Russert that not only would he aggressively seek an agreement on public financing, that he personally would sit down with John McCain and work it out, then, all of a sudden, they realized that all these small contributions were coming in and he was going to have a financial advantage in the fall against the Republican, and they grabbed it.
Within 24 hours of expressing his firm support for a united Jerusalem in a speech to a pro-Israel lobby organization, US Senator Barack Obama found himself forced to backtrack in the face of Arab anger on Thursday.Debates with John McCain? Here's Obama before McCain challenged him to a series of town hall debates:
If John McCain wants to meet me anywhere, anytime, to have a debate about our respective policies in Iraq, Iran, the Middle East or around the world, that is a conversation I am happy to have.Here's an Obama spokesperson after:
Mr. Plouffe called the McCain campaign’s offer “appealing,” but said they would prefer a format that is “less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.”Oh, well. So much for "anywhere, anytime." Obama fears going mano a mano with McCain on McCain's terms. No one would blame Obama for holding out for a more favorable deal, if only he had not said, "Anywhere, anytime."
If campaign finance was the most opportunistic of Obama's flip-flops, this one has to be the most disingenuous:
In 2007, his campaign told the Chicago Tribune he believed the Washington, D.C. gun ban was constitutional. Now they say that was an "inartful" explanation. Now, the public is supposed to be believe the message of the day from the Obama campaign, which is that of course he knew the gun ban was unconstitutional.So now the King of Flip-Flop seems to want to run up the score. That worked so well for John Kerry in 2004, don't you think?Obama seems to be working hard to make John Kerry look like a straight-shooter.
Now plenty of people oppose gun rights (I am not one of them), and if Obama really is one of these, why play politics with such a fundamental issue?
Oh wait, playing politics with issues is what Barack Obama does.
-snip-
-- Obama wants to reimpose a federal gun ban. -- Obama voted against the sale of almost all ammunition used regularly for sport shooting and hunting. -- Obama opposes Right to Carry laws. -- Obama supports a complete ban on hand-gun ownership.
- JP
Ping
Wow!
Now, now, people...
This is not “flip-flopping” this is merely “running to the center.” A well-recognized ritual after the primaries are concluded. Standard operating procedure for Democrat candidates that will be winked at by the usual suspects.
Remember the chortles in Hollywood in 2000 as Gore and Lieberman went through their rote denunciations of entertainment industry immorality?
Expect the Messiah to visit the usual stations of the cross, taking the standard potshots at unwed motherhood, gay marriage, rap lyrics, child pornography, etc. even as he struggles to keep a straight face. And as Michelle goes about soto voce reassuring everybody that it’s just for show.
Mr. Obama is an introspective candidate, and perhaps the best analyst of his own political style. “I serve as a blank screen,” he wrote in “The Audacity of Hope,” “on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
i.e. I stand for everything and nothing.... except getting myself elected.
He wants power, and once he gets it, the real Hussein will come out...and it will not be pretty for this Republic because in rality, he is not a blank screen at all, that is just a construct and tool to get him elected. In reality he ia a virulent anti-American and abject Marxist in his ideoloy.
Well, he’s the candidate of “change”, isn’t he?
Logically, he’s changing all the time!
I hate it when candidates change their minds, just because of new info or to gain an edge in the election.
Robert Wexler was on with the Friends this morning pushing his new book Fire-Breathing Liberal. According to Bob, it's the liberal time in America! He said--what did conservatives ever give us...budget deficits, the Iraq War and policies that don't benefit middle America. While liberalism brought Social Security, Medicare and prosperity of the 90s. (rolling eyes)
Brian said—well, Obama is a lib but he doesn't like the title. Oh, Obama is a something SPECIAL...he transcends all categories...he brings people together.
Now I get it, the “Change” obamarama talks about his his own change of mind, on every subject.
I like what Jim Geraghty at National Review is saying: All Obama policy statements come with expiration dates. All of them. Every time McCain is asked to respond to an Obama statement, McCain should ask the reporter: “Did Senator Obama give you the expiration date for that statement?”
Do NOT want the Obamanazi for President!
My favorite of all time...
“I am like a Rorschach test,” Obama said
Ba’rorschach Obama
Barack Obama: Hope and Change - HOPE nobody notices when you CHANGE your position.
....and HOPE we have CHANGE left when he gets done screwing up the country.
Don’t worry. We can all go on welfare and the selfish rich and the evil corporations will pay for it!
Don’t worry. We can all go on welfare and the selfish rich and the evil corporations will pay for it!
Instead of the change candidate, Hussein ObamaMessiaHamas, will be known as the Ooops Uh Flip-Flop Candidate, who couldn't tell the truth!
Quit your whining about my Flip Flops, Waffling and Lies, you God Loving, Gun owning and Bitter White Patriot Racists!
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