Speaking on background, a source in the Obama campaign admitted to a certain frustration with the current narrative of their candidate "moving to the center" on issues where the Illinois Democrat has always staked out moderate ground. When talking about a gradual pullout from Iraq during the primary season, for example, Obama took some abuse from the "immediate withdrawal" crowd for his repeated mantra that "we should be just as careful getting out" of Iraq as we were "careless getting in." (And indeed, as represented by the "Responsible Plan" website, that kind of talk is firmly in the mainstream of activist anti-Iraq war sentiment anyway.) In the aftermath of Obama's FISA repositioning, the Obama campaign's fear, however, is that every subsequent moderate noise will be interpreted as a cynical centrist tack.
I'm worried this sounds like a campaign floating the idea that they might move their position on Iraq. They seem to be trying to prepare the ground that Obama has always been for gradual withdrawal from Iraq. Here's the thing, almost no one is for immediate withdrawal. That's a straw man argument. So, why are they now bringing up this gradual withdrawal point? I think bending on his 16 month timeline for withdrawal during the general election campaign is a terrible idea. I explain why below:
There is a difference between moving to the center and moving to the right. There is a difference between making tough choices about Iraq once you get into office and flip-flopping in the middle of the campaign. There is a difference between being moderate and being weak. Changing your position on such a central issue would be taken as a tremendous sign of weakness. They better not even be thinking about it.
Obama didn't come this far by running a traditional campaign. Why would you switch now and go back to running the same old conventional losing campaign that Democrats have run for so long? Appeasing the right brings you no political friends. It just brings you justified scorn from both sides. Go with what brought you here, not some cheap old political tricks.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 6)
1. "Why would you switch now and go back to running the same old conventional losing campaign that Democrats have run for so long?"
Hello?
Because he's the same old kind of conventional politician. He's got some of the same old conventional party hacks calling the shots. You got fooled again.
Yesterday while speaking in front of a religious group he said he'd overhaul and expand faith-based initiatives. Now who does that sound like?
The more things change...
bob at 6:34AM on Jul 2nd 2008
2. What exactly "IS" Obama's position??? If the huff n puff crowd thinks he's in their corner,,they're WRONG. Nobama isn't going to win anyway, so this is really a non-question issue. Obama will soon be chasing his own tail for all the stupid remarks he has made
POLITICAL SPIT at 7:53AM on Jul 2nd 2008
3. Obama has pissed off the far left crowd ie. Huff moveon and Turks, by first going on the dreaded FOX and now by pandering to Evangelicals.. Hmm seems like your George Soros candidate is turning on you guys.
Don at 9:08AM on Jul 2nd 2008
4. If the oil contracts are continued to be made in Iraq and there is a threat of the oil wells being tampered with there will be no withdrawl. Even Obama knows that. The far left anti war crowd can whine all they want, but Obama will continue to change with the wind.
Diane at 9:15AM on Jul 2nd 2008
5. Hey there Big Guy,
Arianna Huffington....I've often wondered that when she goes back home to Greece, if she dumps on the Greek government and politicians the same way she dumps on the American government and politicians.
Willet at 9:22AM on Jul 2nd 2008
6. Clearly in Barrack Obama we see a guy with no core values, except for Marxism. He's a man in love with the sound of his own voice who makes it up as he goes. And if you wait long enough he'll change his position on just about any issue.
This man is woefully deficient when it comes to Presidential qualifications. He's the great pretender. And when you get past the "hope" and "change" and all the flashy rhetoric, you realize that this man's resume is a bit like cotton candy. Lots of fluff, but very little substance. God help us if he's elected.
Dave at 10:17AM on Jul 2nd 2008
7. obama is the typical LYING attorney, he say and promise nything to get elected. He is so just like Bush. If you truely want change, you MUST vote for McCain
frankr4century21 at 10:45AM on Jul 2nd 2008
8. Obama
Iraq policy statements by him have been a constant over many a year. While recently he had spoke of immediate withdrawal of out troops in Iraq, surrender, he has for a longer time talked about a reasonable withdrawal of the troops in Iraq and/or keeping a number of troops in Iraq or the area to help keep Iraq stable.
Cenk ha nt looked at Obama's stated policy from over the years. Cenk, MoveOn, Soros, and other Left Wingnuts want immediate withdrawal of US Troops and that is all they heard from Obama, or better put, wanted to hear from Obama.
If Obama gets elected, it is more likely he will have a reasonable withdrawal of US Troops from Iraq, or what he considers reasonable, than the immediate withdrawal, surrender, the Cenk, MoveOn, Soros, and other Left Wingnuts want. That will not be a flip flop for Obama has, for a long time stated he would do a more responsible withdrawal than a surrender that the Left Wingnuts want.
robert okane at 11:15AM on Jul 2nd 2008
9. So, Cenk, it's OK for Obama to go back on his word AFTER he's elected, just not before as that may tarnish his image and his "brand".
Is the whole Obama movement this morally bankrupt, or is it just you?
Starting to Consider McCain at 11:45AM on Jul 2nd 2008
10. A slow deliberate withdrawal is the only way to go.
Dennis at 12:14PM on Jul 2nd 2008
11. Knave, I mean Dave.
Rather than repeating that right wing drivel that leftys are communists please provide real, genuine proof that Obama is a Marxist. And don’t give me that nonsense about social programs, this is a mixed economy and it always will be as evidenced by the fact that dems and reps alike always defend pork by characterizing it as helpful in either providing jobs or alleviating poverty and our penchant as a nation for providing corporate welfare and using taxpayer money to bail companies out of trouble.
Meanwhile, don’t think I forgot this little gem you wrote the other day on another one of Cenk’s post because I didn’t, in fact i got so stemead I promised myself I’d throw it back in your face.
"Incredibly, Dems insist that somehow, they really "support" the military, but would rather take the dubious word of self-centered lout John Kerry, while recklessly impugning the integrity of hundreds of Swift Boat Vets who have put their reputations on the line to say that Kerry Lied."
I get it.
Our brave soldiers are self-centered louts but the integrity of your lying ass, scum sucking douche bags whose accounts of Kerry’s actions were refuted by other swift boat veterans
(INCLUDING EPUBLICANS) are brave.
Gee Knave I hat to break this to you, but did you know that those “brave” soldiers had as their counsel a lawyer who was working for the Whitehouse. Did you know that it is illegal for anyone closely associated with a campaign to be involved with a 527 group? How did the Whitehouse explain this away? By saying that he was not involved in the official campaign even though he worked closely with Karl Rove while at the Whitehouse.
That would be the same Karl Rove who was running Monkey Boy’s reelection campaign. That’s right, your precious Swift Boat ass-wipes were essentially just a bunch of trained monkeys themselves doing Karl Roves bidding.
The Moebius strip logic you employed in which you blamed Dems for attacking someone’s military record is hilarious in light of the fact that you did so by actually defending the very assholes that started the fucking practice of high profile, mainstream groups and individuals attacking a candidate’s military record in the first place.
That post if you’ll remember was about what General Clark said about McCain, the one that got you Neokooks all worked up.
What did Clark actually say? Clark said McCain’s military record does not NECESSARILY qualify him for the presidency AS FAR AS military POLICY is concerned something that McCain HIMSELF has said in the past about other candidates.
Clark also said McCain was BRAVE and a HERO and yet you motherfuckers felt compelled to besmirch Clark’s military record and credentials which just reveals that you neocunts are practiced in the typical Rovian tactic of smearing your opponents with your own sins and faults.
The word Hypocrisy should be illustrated with the Republican elephant in all picture dictionaries.
By the way, Dems support the military to the point that they’re trying to expand benefits for veterans in spite of Monkey Boy’s plantation attitude toward them.
Uncle Meat/formerly Rabidmccain.
PS. I’m the son of a Vietnam vet So don’t try to say I don’t like military people myself because I’ll shut your sphincter (your mouth that is) by pinning my father’s Purple Heart to it.
Uncle Meat at 12:21PM on Jul 2nd 2008
12. "Will Nobama Fli-Flop?" What the hell HASN'T he Flip-Flopped on to date? He threw his own Grandmother under the bus early on, then tried to dust her off for the remainder of his campaign, he FINALLY threw The "Rev" Wright away, he waffled on his original stance on confiscating firearms after The Supreme Court finally made a sane ruling, etc. etc. etc.
The liberal press is so enamoured with the "Magic Negro" that he has a carte blanche pass on every faux pas he makes. Gimme a friggin' break!! The cool aid drinking leftist DESERVE what they'll get if this Marxist is elected. Unfortunately, the rest of the country will be along for a VERY rough ride!
urkiddinmee at 12:34PM on Jul 2nd 2008
13. Obama flip/flops on basically everything because he is the worst type of politician who will say and do anything to get elected. Even his Rev. Wright said that in a speech that Obama is a politician and will do and say anything to get elected.
sam at 1:11PM on Jul 2nd 2008
14. Mcsame is the undisputed emperor of flip flop.
He holds double standards on the war, voting for funding and against veterans benefits.
Bush lied when he included mccain among those who supported the GI bill upgrades.
Mccain voted against it as he has always done with GI benefits.
And womens' rights.
Obama is now threatening the neocon lock on evangelicals and nicely dividing them by luring dobson into a cul de sac.
It's going to be a successful strategy. It already is.
A lot of people won't forgive atheists like Rove in the bush administration for trivializing them after getting their vote.
If they lost a son or daughter or uncle or niece or mother or father or neighbor or parishioner in the war, that would salt the wound to put it mildly.
You might wonder about your own candidate who has conveniently flipflopped into the neocon hard line with continued tax cuts for billionaires, more outsourcing of America, even less regulation for corporations, more redistribution of your earnings to multi millionaires, free trade giveaways, legal torture, foreign control of security and infrastructure, keeping the enron loophole open and oil prices accelerating, 100 years of iraqi occupation, a draft, more debt to communists and Muslim nations, collapsing dollar, the same hippy dippy free ride for the most powerful entities in America at the expense of her citizens, their health and education, the nation's infrastructure, security and SOLVENCY.
Yes, democrats do call on a wide camp. It's possible to be an evangelical and still know what fascism is, and not to want anything more to do with it.
You can oppose excessive government regulation and still want the Truth In Lending Act and the protection of the commercial and consumer credit codes.
You can hate excessive government but still want access to the court, and reparation for grievous permanent injury perpetrated by negligence.
For now, the fourth amendment compromise is only for feasance of tort.
Felony investigation, prosecution and conviction of felons within the phone company or the government is still alive and well.
Even the tort loophole can be closed again in a democratic legislature and it puts the patriotism red herring off the table and over near the cat's dish near the babymama and fistjab toys.
For the black and white republicanist thinker, a democrat standing in one place, looking up and seeing a piano falling on him and stepping aside is a flipflop.
To a republican, being for it before you're against it before you were for it again but voted against it and lying about the entire thing is the essence of the republican governing strategy, which in reality is indistinguishable from their 24/7 campaign strategy.
Who's sane?
Clif Kuplen at 1:17PM on Jul 2nd 2008
15. Rather than repeating that right wing drivel that leftys are communists please provide real, genuine proof that Obama is a Marxist.
xxx
and meanwhile, kindly explain why the government's bailout of Bear Stearns wasn't 'distribution of wealth according to need', comrade.
Clif Kuplen at 1:21PM on Jul 2nd 2008