Press spin?

Anonymous
Every recent story about Obama seems to emphasize that he is changing positions. They do not so much report what he says as look for further evidence of flip-flops.

His statement about refining his Iraq withdrawal based on what he learns when he goes to Iraq seemed to me to be a repetition of his earlier statements that his withdrawal would be better planned than Bush's entry, but the press seized on it as a big change. While he may be putting more emphasis on the "deliberate" than on the "speed" nowadays, it seems to me he always said we would withdraw with all deliberate speed.

On the DC gun question, I don't think there is a logical contradiction between saying the DC gun law was constitutional and that the 2nd Amendment gives an individual right, but it certainly seems fair to say that people would read it that way, and that more explanation is needed if he wishes to assert both positions.

In the case of health exceptions to the ban on late term abortions only pertaining to physical health, I don't know enough about earlier statements to know how much of a change this is.

On voting for FISA because it now has protections built in, I think he flip-flopped.

What do the rest of you think about these and other so-called flip-flops?

RH
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
I agree with you completely and I'm extremely frustrated by the type of reporting you are describing. The King of all Flip Floppers is John McCain who opposed off shore drilling and now supports it, who opposed tax cuts for the rich, and now supports them, who committed to public financing of his campaign, but then withdrew and is now violating spending limits, etc, etc.

It is typical for nominees to tack toward the center and Obama has certainly done that to an extent. But, the Press is blowing it out of proportion, while at the same time ignoring McCain's much more significant policy reversals.


Anonymous
Obama has gotten a free ride for tooooo long so I am glad to finally see some balance.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Obama has gotten a free ride for tooooo long so I am glad to finally see some balance.


Speaking of balance, here is an interesting article taking the opposite position:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/the-week-that-should-have_b_111983.html

RH
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