From a couple of Obama’s staunchest supporters this week:
Markos from THE DAILY KOS: Maybe what looks like cowering to me is really part of that “moving to the center” stuff everyone keeps talking about. But there is a line between “moving to the center” and stabbing your allies in the back out of fear of being criticized. And, of late, he’s been doing a lot of unecessary stabbing, betraying his claims of being a new kind of politician. Not that I ever bought it, but Obama is now clearly not looking much different than every other Democratic politician who has ever turned his or her back on the base in order to prove centrist bona fides.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: As we’ve recently seen, Barack Obama is not immune to the seductive call of the Conventional Wisdom sirens. And it’s a call that’s only going to get louder. He’ll hear it from the chorus of pundits standing outside his window. He’ll hear it from some of the advisors inside his campaign. He’ll hear the siren call from inside his own head. So, to counter the conventional wisdom pundits, the cautious campaign advisers, and his inner cautiousness, I’m offering Obama seven tips for staying true to the message that took him from longshot to presidential frontrunner — and for avoiding the fate of the many before him who fell prey to the misguided belief that the path to the White House runs down the middle of the road.
Hey, maybe now, since even they’re saying it, we might find it okay for ourselves to stop making excuses for him, too!
Related posts:
- Cool Dabkeh, I Mean Like Frigid Cool
- Are Arab-Americans Cool?
- It’s totally cool, because we like totally solved poverty
- Zionism Must be Defended (or, Barack Obama’s AIPAC speech)
- The Chemical Arsenal of Democracy
Obama will be the best friend Israel will have ever had. Jewish donations are financing 40% of his campaign and 40% of the Democratic National Committee, though Jews are only 2% of the population.
Best
Friend
Ever
He wants to get reelected, right?
That horrible sound you’re hearing is the crushing of Hope and Change. No, America will not help you wipe out the Jews of Israel. Not now, not ever.
Posted by Firouz | July 2, 2008, 6:16 pmThat part wher Arianna Huffington is acting all offended that Barrack Obama changed his tune is pretty funny. I’m old enough to remember when Arianna Huffington was a right wing extremist and was all over the television being just as abusive with democrats as she is with “neocons” now. Guess in her case she had a sincere change of heart. 180 degrees worth. But Obama – he’s just pandering.
Posted by programmer craig | July 3, 2008, 12:28 amYeah, that’s the thing. It’s OK to change your mind. Who never changes their mind? Retarded people. The point is the reason for the change. Incidentally, right wing to left wing is a more common change than vice versa. Why? Because it fucking makes sense. As Stephen Colbert says, reality has a well-known liberal bias.
Posted by safiyyah | July 3, 2008, 4:10 pmIt’s true that people who get into politics tend to drift more left wing in general. However, the reason for this is not at all positive.
People in government begin to see government as a tool with which to solve every problem, and naturally wish to expand the authority of government (i.e. their authority) to make this possible.
They forget or choose not to remember that they were not elected or selected to expand their own authority, merely to effectively manage the affairs and duties of their office.
It takes a very special kind of person to go to work every day with the spirit of making his job obsolete. The War on Poverty has lasted for 40 years now, with little to show for the trillions pumped into subsidizing hundreds of thousands of middle class civil servants, who have only helped to perpetuate poverty, despite their good intentions.
This is why government programs never shrink; they expand, even in the face of failure, for the only solution these people understand to any problem is… more government.
Posted by Firouz | July 3, 2008, 6:56 pm