The Left's Hypocrisy on Bush

If George W. Bush is really, as many liberals seem to believe, "the worst president ever", why is Barack Obama so eager to embrace Bush's policies?

Habeas and Handguns: The Supreme Court and the Election

According to a new Washington Post poll, 61% of Americans disagree with the Supreme Court's recent Boumediene decision, in which the Justices extended habeas corpus rights to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. In the short run, the decision seems to have helped McCain, as Obama's embrace of the Court's meddling made him look soft on national security.

Even more than Boumediene, however, the Court's upcoming decision in Heller, the DC guns case, will have a tremendous impact on the 2008 race. If, as I believe is likely, the Supreme Court affirms that the Second Amendment does, in fact, protect the rights of citizens to own weapons, Obama will be forced to take a concrete stand on this delicate issue. Given that Obama has, as an Illinois legislator, supported banning all handguns, this should be fun to watch.

I predict that Obama will waffle again. More syrup, please.

Waffles

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air reports that Senator Obama is now threatening to block the FISA compromise bill that just passed the House. This would be the Junior Senator's third flip-flop on the issue (impressive even by Democratic candidate standards). First, Obama opposed any authorization of warrantless wiretapping. Next, Obama signalled that he supported the current compromise. Now, however, Obama is flipping yet again under sustained criticism from MoveOn.org and the liberal "netroots."

This looks like just another example of Mr. Obama's commitment to change. Pass the syrup.

Opportunity for McCain

The New York Times has just reported that Barack Obama has officially decided to opt out of the public financing system, thereby freeing himself to raise unlimited amounts of donor money. Given the Obama campaigns efforts to portray McCain as a tool of the Washington establishment, this presents Big Mac with an opportunity. Obama promised earlier in the campaign to accept public funding. By reneging now, it is he, and not McCain, who looks like a conventional pol.

New Politics or New Pandering?

So, Barack Obama has just admitted that his anti-NAFTA rhetoric while campaigning for the votes of those bitter-clingers in Ohio and Pennsylvania was "overheated."

Is this an example of the vaunted New Politics? Is blatant pandering less offensive if the candidate admits afterwards that he was, in fact, pandering?

Still, I'm glad that Obama has come around and is not as antitrade as I had once feared. Looks like Goolsbee was right all along.

Obama: Vanguard of the Proletariat

This quote from Obama's Wall Street Journal interview, in which the Illinois Senator mourns the deleterious effects of globalization on the American worker, nicely sums up Obama's economic and cultural worldview:

"Globalization and technology and automation all weaken the position of workers," he said, and a strong government hand is needed to assure that wealth is distributed more equitably. He spoke aboard his campaign bus, where a big-screen TV was tuned to the final holes of the U.S. Open golf tournament.

There is a long history on the academic left of criticizing the harshness of capitalism while enjoying its fruits. Obama is in good company.

Pay No Attention to that Partisan Record Behind the Curtain

On reading this fascinating interview of Obama, I can't help but wonder whether the public will actually believe his claim to be a "post-partisan" figure. As Obama acknowledges, John McCain has a long record of opposing Republican leadership on several high profile issues. By contrast, the best bipartisan achievement Obama can point to is his support for generally uncontroversial ethics reform legislation. Pretty weak stuff. Reminds me of Obama's claim awhile back on Fox News that his commitment to bipartisanship led him to speak out in favor of the John Roberts nomination, even though he towed the hard-left line and voted against the Chief Justice.

Breaking News from Obama's Family: He is a Muslim After All

Malik Obama, Barack Obama's half-brother, today confirmed that Senator Obama was raised Muslim.

Not that this is really news. We've already had reports of Obama being raised Muslim (Islam is patrilineal, meaning that since his father was Muslim, Obama was born Muslim), he was registered as Muslim for grade school, where he received Muslim instruction (including learning how to recite the Koran in Arabic), and regularly accompanied his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, to mosque.

Now, my response to Obama being raised a Muslim is basically "So what?" There's no religious test for the presidency - I'd be fine if he were still a Muslim.

But it does bother me that his campaign insists on lying about his background, claiming that "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim, and is a committed Christian."

Now, why does the campaign insist on lying about this? No doubt because of their low opinion of the American people. To their mind, if the bitter-clingers out there knew that Obama were raised Muslim, the Bible-thumping, gun-toting rednecks who make up the country would be so outraged that Obama's chances of being president would be sunk. Note: I don't actually think this is the case, but Obama's campaign team is a group of elitists who look down their noses at average Americans.

Oh well, I'm sure that in the next day or two, Obama will disown Malik Obama, just like Jeremiah Wright, Jim Johnson, etc., etc. "This is not the half-brother I knew."

Re: Packin' Heat

I for one have had enough of politicians shooting people.

However, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Obama's comments are another example of the double standard in this race.

Remember how hot and bothered the Obama people got when Mike Huckabee made a lame joke about someone pointing a gun at Obama? I believe that on that occasion, the Daily Kos concluded that "there are no depths of viciousness or lawlessness that the modern self-styled conservative won't embrace and even guffaw about." Over at the Huffington Post, Jeffrey Feldman declared that as a result of the infraction, Huckabee should be banned from television.

One can only imagine what the reaction would have been had it been McCain, not Obama, joking about bringing a gun to a debate. Not only would the left be squawking about the "viciousness of conservatives", but no doubt we'd now be in the process of being treated to a series of lectures about how "Any time a black man gets too 'uppity' in our society, he's threatened with violence", etc., etc. Yet I somehow doubt that any of the left-wing bloggers will soon be denouncing Obama for poisoning American democracy with his violent rhetoric.