On Flip Flops And Contrast
Posted on Sat Jul 05, 2008 at 08:49:55 AM EST
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Both Barack Obama and John McCain have a closetful of flip flops on issues. What is interesting about the flip flops is McCain has flip flopped towards the right - on the Bush tax cuts, on torture, on immigration, on everything. There is no moving to the "middle" for McCain. There is only moving to the far right. He is really running for Bush's third term. Obama's flip flops have him moving to the right as well, aligning him closer to Bush's third term, instead of making clear he will be a break from the extremism of the Bush years.
It is as if Obama has an inner Dick Morris he is listening to. McCain playing to his base will not be covered as pandering. Obama should consider that for a moment. That perhaps honoring his own base will be seen as a moment of strength for him. In Nigel Hamilton's book on Bill Clinton, "Mastering the Presidency", Hamilton describes the inner cowardice of Morris, who advised Clinton to cave in to Newt Gingrich even though Morris' own polling told him that Clinton was winning that battle in political terms:
The [1995] budget showdown was permitting the President's somewhat blurry presidential image to become clear - at last. "Bill Clinton's image had not come into sharp focus for most Americans," even his press secretary Mike McCurry, later admitted. "Who is this guy? Where is he on the political spectrum?" How does he relate to me and my needs? [The government shutdown battle] was the moment in which they finally said, 'He's fighting for these things I care about. He's fighting against these Republicans in Congress who want to take the country in a direction I don't believe in.'"
Dick Morris . . . was now hoist on his own petard. A coward by nature, he hated the shutdown of the government, which he feared might backfire politically. Yet Morris' own polls suggested the President should hold firm rather than give in. Day by day the President's approval improved as those of the Republican leaders dropped. By mid-November [1995], Bill Clinton's overall approval rating as President was over 52% - his highest for 18 months. Gingrich's favorability rating, by contrast, had dropped to 25%.
(Emphasis supplied.) Bill Clinton had appeared strong by standing up to the Republicans. He looked as if he stood for something, and he explained what that something was. It amazes me that Democrat have never understood the political significance of what happened in that episode.
Obama's inner Dick Morris is leading him down a terrible path politically. Yesterday, the NYTimes Ed Board wrote:
We are not shocked when a candidate moves to the center for the general election. But Mr. Obama’s shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics, the man of passionate convictions who did not play old political games.
There are still vital differences between Mr. Obama and Senator John McCain on issues like the war in Iraq, taxes, health care and Supreme Court nominations. We don’t want any “redefining” on these big questions. This country needs change it can believe in.
What is unstated in the editorial is the lack of confidence that there will not be changes regarding those "vital differences." Obama now appears a "finger in the wind" pol (forget whether he is or not.) He does not appear ready to stand for anything. And that is a dangerous image for a pol. Indeed, it is the typical image of the Dem running for President. Bill Clinton helped himself overcome that image by standing strong on the government shutdown against Newt Gingrich.
Obama needs to overcome his inner Dick Morris, or he could find a way to lose this unloseable election - which would make him the biggest Dem loser of all time.
By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only
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