on second thought…
Every liberal has two mandates; distrust George Bush, and blindly follow Barack Obama. So what happens when these two tenets collide?
This past week President Obama surprised everyone when the White House announced their intention to continue with the practice of military tribunals for a number of detainees, just days after their reversal of the Iraq and Afghanistan prisoner photo decision. These latest moves prove the president is capable of changing course and re-evaluating his tact, however it leaves me quite confused. I admire the ability to adjust, and applaud his willingness to do what is necessary to protect this country, but it makes me question his thought process. During the campaign and soon after taking office, Obama spoke out vigorously against these tactics, he harshly criticized Bush for lowering America’s standards and for making us less safe, as justification for dismantling these tribunals and the promise of releasing the photos.
Obviously, since making those comments and taking those actions, the president has been exposed to new information (the kind only a president is privy to) that has caused him to change his mind. This about face has exposed how dangerous, uninformed, and irresponsible his campaign rhetoric was. He obviously formed those positions without the requisite knowledge and insight necessary to be so critical. He made snap judgements and assumptions all while carrying the torch and fanning the flames of the incendiary hatred for Bush’s policies. Yet today he finds himself holding to the same conclusions of that administration.
One of two things happen now; those who did not trust Bush and voted for Obama based on that distrust, will magically support Bush’s policies now only because they will follow Obama to any end, or those who distrusted Bush will have equal trepidation for Obama now that he himself supports the polices they voted against. So either Bush is partially vindicated, or Obama is partially tarnished. It would be hypocritical and intellectually dishonest to fault Bush, yet simultaneously support Obama for essentially holding to the same policies. I am also curious to see if any Democrat in congress will be critical of these decisions, or if they too will blindly follow Obama (even if that leads them to Bush), or just hold off comment altogether until the polling data catches up to the situation. I am sure there are a lot of upset liberals who now don’t know what they should think.
One thing is clear, the most recent actions of Obama the president, are an indictment of the positions held by Obama the candidate. But what confuses me is how he can invoke national security as the basis for his reversals on these two campaign promises, yet allow the top secret CIA memos on enhanced interrogation techniques to be released (as a moral imperative). It seems to me all of these matters fall under the same umbrella. Is he just picking and choosing what promises to keep (to look good to his base) and which ones to break (to look like a man capable of being introspective and intellectually flexible)? Or can he truly be this naturally inconsistent? Who is the real Obama?
This should be a broader lesson though. If you hold something to be an absolute truth, yet change your mind when contrary evidence is produced, it should make you question everything else you hold to be true. I just hope there is an economist somewhere in the White House basement right now with a hacksaw working his feet free from Rahm’s shackles so he can make it to the next presidential briefing.
Is this really a surprise? The whole reason I didn’t vote for the guy in the first place was because he turned into exactly this kind of politician after he won the primary. He was a conservative democrat when he had to be in order to beat Hilary, and then as soon as he accomplished that, he made himself an ultra-liberal to beat John McCain. His only ‘beliefs’ are what’s popular in the polls, and right now he doesn’t really have to worry about that because he knows the American people will forget about this stuff 3 years from now come re-election time.
@Smarter Than You
McCain is guilty of this also. He moved to the right from a more moderate position. He did this because he wasn’t “right” enough in 2001 and this go around he lost because he was too “right”. I find it interesting that you guys were willing to support Sarah Palin, but I suppose you must think she is a sane human being.
There is a big difference between shifting your priorities from right to left or left to right, and engaging in flat out inconsistent thought processes. The justification that Obama uses for two out of three national security policy shifts directly conflict with the justification he used for the third. I have no problem with someone shifting their policies (especially when I agree with the shift) however, the entire point of this post was to highlight the mysterious decision making process of Obama, his willingness to simultaneously hold two conflicting stances on the same issue, and the irresponsible nature of his campaign rhetoric.
And regarding Palin, I don’t really understand the hatred that is projected on her. I can understand not agreeing with her policies, but the sheer hatred and vile that her name provokes kind of upsets me. I literally feel that Obama is ruining this country and taking it down a dangerous path, however, I do not hate him as a man. Besides, I would love for anyone to explain to me how Sarah Palin is anymore or less ready for prime time than Joe Biden, who literally cannot get a sentence out of his mouth without the White House having to later clarify what “he meant to say”. As much as I dislike Obama’s policies, I shutter at the thought of Biden taking control, not because of what he believes but because he is a complete an utter moron. You may not like what Palin stands for, but out of all four candidates she was the only one who actually had any experience relevant to being the President, yet somehow she was considered “the least qualified”. I don’t get how Joe “The Human Gaffe Machine” Biden gets pass after pass from the media and public.
I assume the hatred for Palin stems from her beliefs, yet if you hate Palin because she believes in God and thinks aborting human fetuses is wrong, then you hate a majority of the country.
I personally was hoping McCain was going to pick Mitt Romney (who I was pulling for in the primaries) but the addition of Palin to the ticket had no bearing on my decision one way or the other, i may be in the minority but I would rather vote for a vice president I am uncomfortable with, than a president. I also believe that McCain picked up just as many votes as he lost as a result of choosing her. John McCain did not lose because of Palin, he lost because he was inconsistent when it mattered most on the economy, and failed to display the leadership ability required of the president, and because he was running against a mythical folk hero with the full and unbridled support of the press.
Never once in my life have I said that I supported Sarah Palin. In fact, that was my biggest hang-up with McCain and I think that choice definitely ranks above the Howard Dean yell incident as one of the worst political mistakes in recent history. Unfortunately, we vote for a President with the expectation that that will be our President for his/her entire term.
And when did McCain move more to the right? This would have been completely against the goal of his entire campaign. He definitely lost earlier on because of how moderate he is, which is exactly why he was the Republican’s prime candidate this election. They knew that an ultra-conservative didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to win with the current political climate so they chose him as the most viable moderate candidate available. They also knew that right-winger’s would be forced to vote for pretty much anybody the Republicans threw up there as an alternative to any Democratic candidate.
That’s also exactly why he chose Palin as his running mate. It was an awful move, but for some reason they thought the fact that she was a woman would play to the Hilary fans of the world, and her outspoken conservative views would play to the right that McCain wasn’t reaching.
Whichever advisor thought that one up should never work in politics again, but at least that was the reasoning behind it.