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A Disturbing Almost Trend
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For those of you who have been readers of my column, you have probably figured out that I support the candidacy of Barack Obama for President. There are some differences on domestic and social policy that I will identify over the coming months (abortion and increasing the budget of the national government) but overall I believe he is the best candidate and should win in November. However, that does mean he will get a free pass on issues where he is wrong or that Senator McCain will not get credit for what he does correctly.
For example, several months ago both Obama and McCain agreed in principle to only use public financing for general election expenditures. Last week, Obama shifted gears and decided not to limit himself to the approximately $85 million dollar campaign cap. I understand the campaign logic behind the choice: Obama will destroy all previous fundraising records and leave the Republicans and McCain grasping at ways of trying to match his coffers. Simply put, this was the wrong decision for Obama to make if he is trying to convince the American people that he is going to change how politics works in this country. McCain can come back at Obama and correctly challenge him about his flip-flop of “Doing as I say but not as I do.”
If this was an isolated incident, there would not be cause for alarm, but there was another switch in position that may signal a trend with which I am not comfortable: Saying what you need to say to win the nomination but changing the story for the general election.
Senator Obama made a pledge to filibuster any wiretapping bill that had retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that let the feds listen in. The bill that passed the House last week has a retroactive provision for telecom companies. Obama has stated that he supports the bill but will seek to have those provisions removed. The floor proceedings of the U.S. Senate will be very interesting to watch over the next couple of weeks. Will Obama keep his word or back down in the name of political expediency? His credibility as a candidate for change may ride on one bill in June.
Baseball, Humidity and Wiretapping…just another summer’s day in D.C.
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2008 Election ·
McCain ·
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campaign fundraising ·
U.S. Senate ·
filibuster ·
wiretapping
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