OK, Obama supporters, let's think things through. Is Barack Obama actually going back on promises and taking new positions as charged by the McCain campaign and an obliging media?
Is it a surprise that Obama is articulating the middle ground and willing to compromise.
After all, he said he would be a new kind of leader, a leader for all.... not just the left.... and that we must come together in order to overcome the devastation wrought by years of extremism on both sides, and a Decider who stubbornly stuck to his radical ideology regardless of the abject failure of his policies.
Remember Obama's background as a community organizer, as someone who wants to bring people together to solve their problems.... not as just another political brand like a "compassionate conservative" full of sound and fuzzies and signifying nothing.
Yet, many Obama supporters are angry with him.... because he's compromising on the FISA bill in order to move forward and put in place needed safeguards.
Yesterday Obama released a statement regarding his position on the FISA bill that passed the House and will now go to the Senate. He admits that the legislation is far from perfect and hopes to remove the Title II portion that grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies involved in warrantless wiretapping for the Bush administration.
Still, Obama stands by his general support of this bill because, as he says, "the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any President or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court.... This compromise law assures that the FISA court has that responsibility."
This bill gives a real mechanism for accountability while still allowing the government to monitor and track individuals who want to attack the United States, which Obama feels "is a vital counter-terrorism tool."
While supporting this bill, Obama promises that once he is sworn in as President, he will have his Attorney General "conduct a comprehensive review of all our surveillance programs, and make further recommendations on any steps needed to preserve civil liberties and to prevent executive branch abuse in the future."
In the meantime, expect a lot of distortions of his positions by an increasingly devious McCain campaign and a Straight-Talk-fumes-sniffing media.... any utterance of Obama or his spokesmen that can be turned on its head, will be, and then it will be repeated over, and over, and over until.... presto, it's fact!
What you have been witnessing are the political games of "Rove's Third Term." As Paul Krugman points out in his oped in today's NY Times, there is "increasing influence of veterans of Mr. Rove's shop in the McCain operation."
Like....the recent elevation in McCain's campaign of Steve Schmidt to campaign manager. Schmidt is a veteran of Bush's 2004 campaign and worked closely with Karl Rove.... the guru of political manipulation.
Look at what happened to Gen. Wesley Clark when he said that while John McCain's war service was heroic, it didn't necessarily constitute a qualification for the presidency. McCain's campaign went ballistic.... it "went beyond condemning General Clark's remarks; it went out of its way to distort them" Krugman points out.
Swiftboat star Col. John Day, no less, said of Clark's remark... "This backhand slap against John as not being a worthy warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history." Of course, Clark said no such thing.
Hopefully the electorate will see through the distortions of Obama's positions and statements of his supporters.
Just remember, this Rovian propaganda is an attempt to divert attention from Bush's failed economic policies and disastrous war.... "both of which Mr. McCain promises he will continue if he wins."
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