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The Two Obamas
Author: BobR    Date: 07/09/2008 05:17:32

If you bounce around the internets and the news, it seems like there are two Obamas out there. One is way too liberal; one is way too "centrist". One is staying true to his message; one is flip-flopping. How can he be both of these things? Perhaps this should be a clue as to the right-wing's tactics for this campaign.

I found it odd that there were so many contradictory news reports about Obama. These aren't opinions (per se) - they are actual news items that seem almost contradictory. Here is a prime example:

Obama courts conservatives with new faith program:
Taking a page from President Bush, Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday he wants to expand White House efforts to steer social service dollars to religious groups, risking protests in his own party with his latest aggressive reach for voters who usually vote Republican.

Obama to scrap Bush's faith-based office:
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) plans to slam President Bush’s faith-based program as “a photo op” and a failure on Tuesday, and says he would scrap the office and create a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that would be a “critical” part of his administration.

Obama, unveiling a plan to overhaul and expand Bush’s faith-based program during remarks at a community ministry in Zanesville, Ohio, said the White House Office of Community and Faith-Based Initiatives — which Bush founded during his second week in office — “never fulfilled its promise.”

“Support for social services to the poor and the needy have been consistently underfunded,” Obama says in prepared remarks. “Rather than promoting the cause of all faith-based organizations, former officials in the Office have described how it was used to promote partisan interests. As a result, the smaller congregations and community groups that were supposed to be empowered ended up getting short-changed.”

Careful reading will show that the two stories are essentially the same. So what's going on? The story being told to the right-leaning moderates is "Obama is scrapping the faith-based initiatives". The story being told to the left-leaning Democrats is "Obama wants to steer money towards religious groups". It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the strategy. If they can disillusion the left enough to not show up, and scare the middle-right enough to vote for McCain, they might be able to win this fall.

The same thing is going on with Obama's position in the political spectrum. He is getting tagged with the same label as Al Gore: "The Most Liberal Member of the Senate". Naturally, this will cause concern among certain people, despite the fact that it isn't true. At the same time, the meme that Obama is "tacking toward the center" is being used to alienate him from the left. The term "tacking right" is being used everywhere, including news stories. I wonder who first put that phrase out there and leaned on it hard enough for it to become part of the zeitgeist?

The most insidious thing is: the idea of Obama "tacking right" cuts two ways - it makes the left feel used, and it makes the right consider him to be a flip-flopper without specifically saying so. It's subtle, it's deadly, it's an idea we need to quit perpetuating.

We all need to look beyond the story headlines, beyond the pundits' interpretations, and actually read the words coming from his mouth - in context - and see what he's saying. It's time we all take a few minutes to actually read his platform, and then we may not be as surprised when a story floats by describing how he has once again left those who brung him to the dance sitting on the bleachers while he dances off with the popular girl.

It's time to stop letting the right-wing define who he is. When we buy into their spin, they win.

 

289 comments (Latest Comment: 07/10/2008 12:52:04 by capt)
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