Obama Wants to Change Washington Politics?
That’s the image that Barack Obama wants to project but I’m having trouble seeing how he’s any different than any other Washington politician. Granted, he’s a more polished speaker but that’s where the differences begin and end.
He could’ve withheld finalizing an opinion on Iraq until after he’d listened to Gen. Petraeus. He didn’t. He could’ve denounced the MoveOn.org ad in the NY Times. He didn’t. He could’ve visited Iraq to find out for himself what was happening. He didn’t. Had he visited Iraq with an open mind, he might’ve changed his mind like Brian Baird and Keith Ellison did. That would’ve taken real courage. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
For all his talk about his representing a new generation of politicians, I don’t see proof of it. It would’ve taken real courage for a Democrat to excoriate MoveOn.org for their vicious advertisement against Gen. Petraeus in the NY Times. Instead of writing a profile in political courage, Sen. Obama instead chose to write a chapter in political cowardice.
Jumping on MoveOn.org would’ve been the right thing to do. It also would’ve said to people that he wouldn’t tolerate the sliming of an honest man. He didn’t do it, thereby giving people the opportunity to question his sincerity about changing the tone in Washington.
According to this AP article, Sen. Obama wants us to immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq:
Obama Outlines His Troop Pullout Plan
The Associated Press | September 12, 2007By MIKE GLOVER
CLINTON, Iowa — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is calling for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. combat brigades from Iraq, with the pullout being completed by the end of next year.
“Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq and there never was,” Obama was expected to say in a speech Wednesday at Ashford University.
“The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq’s leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year…now,” the Illinois senator was to say.
I’ll admit that that type of thinking is new to top tier presidential candidates but it isn’t new to Democratic Party politics. After all, it’s what Dennis Kucinich and John Murtha have been saying for a couple of years or more.
For someone proclaiming to represent a new type of Democratic thinking, Sen. Obama’s policy sounds almost identical to the McGovernite thinking of the 1970’s.
For all his talk, the evidences says that Sen. Obama is a typical liberal with a smooth delivery and a fancy suit. I’d doubt that people would define that as a different type of politics.
Technorati Tags: Obama, New Democrat, George McGovern, John Murtha, Dennis Kucinich, MoveOn.org, Profiles In Courage, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog