Is Obama still the reformer he promised us during the primaries? Many are voicing their disappointments that he’s seen as just another same old young flip-flopping politician who will say anything to be elected.
Seriously. Should Obama veer right as appears, he risks giving the election to McCain.
Over the last weeks, Obama’s pronouncements on various issues are met with disbelief. Whatever happened? On foreign policy Obama drank the neocon kool aid; on social domestic issues he has embraced Alito, Scalia, Roberts and Thomas; on the economy and military Obama caved to the corpgov.
After seven years of BushCheney and neocon cronies lying us into war these moves by Obama are seen as appalling and down right deceptive. He played to our angst and gave the right bromides to clinch the nomination.
Obama has veered Right – Alan Maass
With the nomination finally in hand, Obama announced he was adding a team of political advisers straight out of the pro-corporate, pro-military mainstream of Clintonism.
And to head his economic team, he chose Jason Furman–best known to labor activists for writing a 2005 article defending Wal-Mart as a “progressive success story” and denouncing the efforts of union-backed groups like Wal-Mart Watch to expose the retail giant.
Furman’s appointment was consistent with a series of right turns by Obama. The day after he claimed victory following the last Democratic primaries on June 3, Obama appeared before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where he committed himself to an undivided Jerusalem, which isn’t even the position of the Bush administration. At a Father’s Day speech, he renewed his blame-the-victim criticisms of Black men as being responsible for the problems of the Black community.
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Obama’s latest lurch came after the U.S. Supreme Court announced its 5-4 decision barring executions of those convicted of child rape. Obama criticized the ruling–which meant lining up with the right-wing extremist wing of the court: John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
Damning indeed, but Mr. Maass is not alone. Huffington Post, citing two articles in The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post headlines –
Sen. Barack Obama is risking his brand as a political reformer, according to reports today in the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. In recent weeks, he has moderated or changed positions on a number of politically-charged issues, leading to criticism from demoralized Democratic activists and charges of “flip-flopping” from conservatives.
The Times reports:
In recent weeks, he toughened his stance on Iran and backed an expansion of the government’s wiretapping powers. On Wednesday, he said states should be allowed to execute child rapists. When the Supreme Court the next day struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns, he did not complain…
…”I’ve been struck by the speed and decisiveness of his move to the center,” said Will Marshall, president of the centrist Progressive Policy Institute…
The Post reports that those who should be his strongest supporters are taking this as a wake-up call:
The switch is not without precedent. On a variety of issues, including gun control and campaign finance regulation, the presumptive Democratic nominee has shown himself willing to settle for incremental changes in the face of political reality rather than to hold out for the sweeping and uncompromising positions he initially stakes out.
But even some who should be his core constituents — in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing and the liberal blogosphere — have taken his recent maneuvers as a wake-up call. They are warning the senator that in his quest to reach voters in the middle of the political spectrum, he risks depressing the enthusiasm of the voters who clinched the nomination for him.
“American voters tend to reward politicians who take clear stands,” said David Sirota, a former Democratic aide on Capitol Hill and author of the new populist-themed book “The Uprising.” “When Obama takes these mushy positions, it could speak to a character issue. Voters that don’t pay a lot of attention look at one thing: ‘Does the guy believe in something?’ They may be saying the guy is afraid of his own shadow.”
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(BTW: Weisman apologized for his earlier racially-insensitive comment )
Until now Karl Rove, McCain’s adviser in the closet, had a tough go at defining Obama. A turtle’s snap, Grover Norquist just beat him to it.
However racially charged the remark, race baiting will be the least of Obama’s worries. He risks alienating all supporters across the color spectrum who see pass his skin tone. Obama has diminished Hope and the promised “Change we can believe in.”
He appears to forget that the internet community funded his campaign – not just with money, but heavy enthusiasm that’s quickly going lukewarm to cold. The campaign’s fund raising in May is a harbinger. June should give the confirmation that, in turn, hopefully will be his wake-up call.