Flip-flop-flip

[Tigermike 3,046]

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS A PRESIDENT WHO FLIP-FLOPS?

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Was this fast enough for you?

Obama: Media response to Iraq remarks overblown

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer Sat Jul 5, 6:41 PM ET

ST. LOUIS - Barack Obama celebrated "active faith" as an obligation of religious Americans and a chief agent of societal change while speaking Saturday to a nearly all-black roomful of churchgoers, but hoping to reach far beyond them.

Making a less than two-hour stop in this battleground state, the Democratic presidential nominee implored the thousands attending a national meeting of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the nation's largest and most politically and civically active black denominations, to help fix national and local ills.

He preached individual responsibility, saying he knew he risked criticism for "blaming the victim" by talking of the need for parents to help children with homework and turn off the TV, to pass on a healthy self-image to daughters, and teach boys both to respect women and "realize that responsibility does not end at conception."

But Obama's main message was the government's duty to address what he said are "moral problems" — such as war, poverty, joblessness, homelessness, violent streets and crumbling schools — and to employ religious institutions to do it.

"As long as we're not doing everything in our individual and collective power to solve the challenges we face, the conscience of our nation cannot rest," he said.

Obama, who has made history by becoming the first black major-party presidential nominee, made frequent references to the civil rights movement and continuing struggles in the black community.

"We are not constrained by the accident of birth but can make of our lives what we will," Obama said. He was greeted when he arrived in the vast hall by the most thunderous cheering, waving and screaming that he has heard all week.

It was also his most enthusiastic delivery of late, employing preacher's cadences that were interrupted frequently by "Amens" and "yes."

Obama repeatedly referenced his religious faith in terms that would be familiar to white evangelicals as well as his black audience. Obama has highlighted faith and personal story over the past week as he campaigned in one-time GOP strongholds and talked more about God, country, and service than about rival Republican John McCain.

He hopes to draw more support from evangelical Christian voters than is typical for Democratic presidential candidates. Analysts are skeptical he can do that because of his support for abortion, gay rights and other issues.

Earlier in the day as he flew from Montana to Missouri, Obama told reporters he was surprised at how the media has "finely calibrated" his recent words on Iraq, and reaffirmed his commitment to ending the war if elected.

"I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off by what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement," he said. "I am absolutely committed to ending the war."

On Thursday in North Dakota, Obama said that "I'll ... continue to refine my policy" on Iraq after an upcoming trip there. With a promise to end the war the central premise of his candidacy, the Obama campaign has struggled over the past two days to push back against Republicans and others who say his recent statement could be a softening or change in policy.

Obama has always said his promise to end the war would require consultations with military commanders and, possibly, flexibility.

"The tactics of how we ensure our troops are safe as we pull out, how we execute the withdrawal, those are things that are all based on facts and conditions," he said. "I am not somebody — unlike George Bush — who is willing to ignore facts on the basis of my preconceived notions."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said Obama needs to "understand that his words matter."

"We are all absolutely committed to ending this war, but on Thursday Barack Obama's words indicated that he also shared John McCains commitment to securing the peace beforehand," he said.

The Illinois senator also said he and rival-turned-ally Hillary Rodham Clinton plan to raise money together in a series of fundraisers in New York during the coming week.

Two events are scheduled for Wednesday night — one for his campaign and one to help Clinton pay off debts from her primary race against him. A third, for Obama, is a cash-collecting breakfast Thursday morning with women.

The fundraisers will be the first joint appearances by the former foes since their lovefest in Unity, N.H., on June 27.

Obama said his aides and those to former President Clinton are still arranging their first campaign appearances together. What role Bill Clinton will play in Obama's campaign has been a glaring question mark ever since the former president made comments earlier this year that Obama's supporters said injected race into the nomination contest.

Obama plans to campaign next week in North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, all Southern states that have been the province of Republicans but where his campaign thinks he can make inroads — or even win — in part because of their large black populations.

It "would be pretty foolish" not to try, Obama said.

"Democrats can't shrink the map and win," he told reporters. "The solid South for Republicans is part of that shrinkage of the map. ... I want to be greedy."

Before leaving Montana, Obama spoke via satellite to a conference of the National Education Association, the largest teachers union.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080705/ap_on_el_pr/obama

That last bit, feigning shock that people are paying close attention to what the Democratic nominee says about the signature foreign policy issue of the campaign, must be the most precious bit of shinola to escape his lips since his rousing refusal to disown Wright a few weeks before he disowned him. But note the boldfaced part echoing what he said on Thursday about tying withdrawal to Iraq’s stability. The nutroots line over the past two days is the same as Obama’s, that what he said isn’t a jot different from what he’s been saying all along and any assertions to the contrary are McCain camp propaganda. In that case, meet McCain camp propagandist Tom Hayden, fretting at HuffPo over what Obama’s recent comments portend for escalation. Or revisit Michael Crowley’s post at TNR, calling the stability bit “a pretty significant new principle” — and having written this long recent analysis of Obama’s Iraq rhetoric, Crowley would know. Or just compare his new emphasis on stability to the statement on withdrawal at his website, which is not only unqualified but clearly imagines no reason for keeping troops in the country except (a) as a token force to protect U.S. diplomats, and ( to target Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda only.

[tiger88 934]

My guess is obama screwed up by letting the cat out of the bag in the first press conference. He knows what he has been saying about Iraq is stupid, so do his handlers. They are planning that after he comes back from iraq they will announce that after much thought and closer scrutiny that their policy may need refining. Obama couldn't keep his mouth shut about it though and let out his blurb prematurely.

[RunInRed 16,454]

While we are talking about flip flops...

www.flipfloptracker.blogspot.com

[TheDrewYouKnew 3]

While we are talking about flip flops...

www.flipfloptracker.blogspot.com

Would you please post this trash a few more times? I haven't seen it enough yet.

[tiger88 934]

Whats funny is that he posts it as though we value his opinion enough to follow his link.

[RunInRed 16,454]

Just keeping TM fair and balanced.

BTW - Obama's response to this latest BS:

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama, speaking on board his campaign plane as it headed to St. Louis on Saturday, continued to defend his position on Iraq -- and questioned reporters' parsing of his words.

"I am surprised at how ... the press ... I'm not trying to dump on you guys, but I'm surprised at how finely calibrated every single word was measured," Obama said.

"I wasn't saying anything that I hadn't said before. That I didn't say a year ago. Or when I was a U.S. senator. If you look at our position, it's been very consistent. The notion that we have to get out carefully has been a consistent position," he said.

"The belief that we have a national security interest in making sure Iraq is secure, I've been saying consistently," he added. Noting "the worst-case scenarios and the parade of horribles that has been trotted out by [sen.] John McCain and others about genocide if we left," he said he has always reserved "the right to protect people from genocide."

"So a lot of these statements that I've made have been entirely consistent," Obama added.

Late Saturday afternoon, McCain's campaign responded to Obama's comments.

In a statement, campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said, "We are all absolutely committed to ending this war, but on Thursday Barack Obama's words indicated that he also shared John McCain's commitment to securing the peace beforehand. What's really puzzling is that Barack Obama still doesn't understand that his words matter."

In North Dakota on Thursday, Obama denied that he's shying away from his proposed 16-month phased withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq, calling it "pure speculation" and adding that his "position has not changed."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/05/cam...wrap/index.html

[autiger4life 3]

I will once again re-iterate what I already said:

I want a President, republican or democrat who is willing to admit they were wrong and change their mind.

If Obama goes over to Iraq and finds out his plan makes no sense, then I hope he changes it. I hope he does flip-flop on it, just as I hope McCain would. Would it be nice for them never have to get it wrong and change their mind, sure, but that is not going to happen. There are too many complications to get it right every time and admitting it and changing it is the next best thing.

This is the problem with politics today in America. People are no longer concerned with getting a candidate who is best, or praising a candidate when they make the right choice, they are only concerned with praising their own and beating down the others.

Republicans and Democrats alike beat down the other person on a position, and then when the person realizes that they were wrong and change their policy, they get beat down for flip-flopping. Why is it that no one on this board praised Obama for saying that he might be wrong and he would fix it if he were. Is that not a good thing? Is that now what we want and should expect? Is that not the new politics we all want, whether you want it to come from a democrat or a republican?

The flip-flop term is stupid. It is usually used on out of context votes or statements, but more so it encourages politicians to never change their mind for the better. They will get it wrong, McCain and Obama, they will make the wrong call sometimes and the right call sometimes. I want the person with the balls to say, "You know, I was wrong, and I am going to do what is right." If we had that now I think we would be in a different place. JMO

[TitanTiger 20,506]

While we are talking about flip flops...

www.flipfloptracker.blogspot.com

Would you please post this trash a few more times? I haven't seen it enough yet.

Gooses, ganders and all that stuff.

If you can't take it, don't dish it out.