Interviewed on the Today show this morning, Barak Obama was asked to provide examples of how his recent shift to the right is not really a shift - that he has been saying these things all along. He rattled off the usual list of centrist-right positions that he has articulated in recent days, on gun control, the death penalty, and faith-based initiatives, and reiterated that he has held these views all along.There are two problems with this defense. First, this is NOT what he campaigned on during the primary season, when he promised "change you can believe in." It's not change to embrace Bush's plan to give money to religious groups, or to embrace the right wing positions that individuals have a right to gun ownership and favoring the death penalty. Obama tells us he's a progressive, but progressives do not hold these sorts of beliefs.
Second, what about his recent waffling on the Iraq war, and his flip flop on the FISA compromise bill? These are shifts to the right, Mr. Obama.
It would be better if Obama were more honest. I'd prefer that he simply state the truth. Yes, he is taking more centrist positions so that he can win the general election. His progressive supporters would still be angry, but at least they would not feel like he was taking them for fools.
Jim
PHOTO: Cherry Grove in miniature
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