The Right State

Both sides are doing it, so it is okay.  This kind of thinking always blows me away.

So, both are tacking away from their party’s ideological ends to appeal to this unpredictable swath in between.

McCain is moving away from the unpopular President Bush if not from the Republican Party itself. He emphasizes bipartisanship while pressing two issues that resonate strongly with voters of all stripes.

He “stood up to the president and sounded the alarm on global warming,” one McCain commercial says. Another promotes a “bipartisan plan to lower prices at the pump, reduce dependence on foreign oil through domestic drilling and champion energy alternatives.”

Barak Obama’s talking points have moved swiftly to the middle and away from the hard left since he won the Democrat nomination for President.  He moved so fast, his hair would be blowing if it were long enough.  The reaction of the left is predictable: the hard left is criticizing his move to the center while his apologists contend that both sides are doing it so it is okay.  But both sides are not doing it.  Most of the time, in most elections, Democrats appeal to their base in the primaries and then converge on the middle when the nomination is won.  For Democrats this means a lot of movement.  As John Hawkins pointed out in Right Wing News, Democrats have to lie about who they are to get people to vote for them.  Republicans, believing we are a center-right country politically, do not feel they need to reinvent themselves after a primary battle.  Therefore, Republicans move very little, if any, after a primary battles.

Barak Obama has moved drastically and dramatically to the right in order to appeal to moderate voters.  The problem is not that he moved to the center, but he moved so fast and so far.  Even liberal bloggers are asking what issue will he cave in on next (google ‘Obama moves right’ and see what comes up).  Polls asking that very question are rampant.   USA Today sums it up this way:

Barack Obama is facing a rebellion from the liberal blogosphere that helped him lock up the Democratic presidential nomination.

In recent days, Obama has criticized the Supreme Court for saying that child rapists cannot be executed and refused to oppose a decision knocking down a handgun ban. He announced a plan to support “faith-based” social work and said he would vote for a bill giving immunity to telephone companies that allowed warrantless wiretapping of their customers.

Barak Obama’s move to the center has been swift.  Going with so many of the issue important to conservatives has angered the hard left.  Despite their anger, the far left will put on their happy faces once the two candidates begin their campaigns fro real.  Moderates on the other hand may need to take a hard look at who they have been supporting.  McCain as the moderate espouses liberal stands on some issues and conservative ones on others.  Obama has just recently moved right making a McCain presidency more appealing to moderates.

John McCain, despite the APs equivocations, has not moved to the center.  He is the center on a lot of issues.  That is one of the reasons he does not have the solid backing of conservatives.  John McCain has justly earned the title of Maverick by poking his finger in the eyes of Republicans and conservatives.  He voted against drilling in ANWR before running for President.  He supported the global warming nonsense before he won his nomination.  He has always distanced himself from President Bush.  He was critical of the war in Iraq from the start when he advocated the sending of additional troops.  The Maverick has always crossed party lines much to the chagrin of his fellow Republicans (remember the Gang of 14 on selecting federal judges).  The Maverick has crossed party lines on numerous occasions much to the chagrin of his fellow Republicans and conservatives.  On and on I could go.  John McCain is and will always be a constant thorn in the flesh of Conservatives.

John McCain is and will always be who he says he is.  He does not change.  Barak Obama is who he says he is right now…, unless of course he misspeaks.  Or… his wife, Michelle misspeaks.  Or…  And then he is who he says he is now, after the redefinition.  For Obama redefining himself is a constant theme. 

Everybody does it is a poor excuse (my mom did not buy it when I was a kid either).  Besides, everybody doesn’t do it.  Obama is constantly shifting positions, while McCain has been fairly constant.  There is a huge difference between John McCain and Barak Obama.  At least there is right now.  Who knows?  There is still plenty of time for Obama to reinvent himself yet again into a new, younger John McCain.

Tags: Democrats, National Elections, Iraq, Sports //