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The Note: Obama Shifts Give McCain Opening
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ShareJune 27, 2008 8:21 AM
ABC News' Rick Klein Reports in Friday's Note: It’s not about guns -- it’s about ammunition.
Thursday’s landmark Supreme Court may or may not have plopped gun control into the campaign. But it does place Sen. Barack Obama’s careful, cautious, sometimes contradictory (and dare we say Clintonian?) approach to tricky policy positions squarely in the center of the race.
An appropriate day for Obama to wrap himself in the Clinton legacy: As Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton seek unity in Unity, N.H., the emerging portrait of Obama, D-Ill., is of a politician who is racing for the centrist approach, and choosing his words mighty carefully.
Name your issue -- on trade, taxes, guns, the death penalty, campaign finance reform, FISA -- Obama may well be taking the politically smart position for a Democrat in these early days of the general election.
But the point is that he’s taking positions that are at least shaded differently than those he’s taken in the past, if not outright flip-flops. These are political calculations that make a dangerous assumption for Obama: that he’s willing to risk being called a “politician” at all.
“From the beginning, Barack Obama's special appeal was his vow to remain an idealistic outsider, courageous and optimistic, and never to shift his positions for political expediency, or become captive of the Inside-the-Beltway intelligentsia, or kiss up to special interests and big money donors,” writes McClatchy’s Margaret Talev. “In recent weeks, though, Obama has done all those things.”
Read the rest of The Note -- and get all the latest on the 2008 election, Congress, the White House and the wide world of politics every day -- from Rick Klein by bookmarking this link.
The post-primary migration is looking like a sprint: “In the last week, Mr. Obama has taken calibrated positions on issues that include electronic surveillance, campaign finance and the death penalty for child rapists, suggesting a presidential candidate in hot pursuit of what Bill Clinton once lovingly described as ‘the vital center,’ ” Michael Powell writes in The New York Times. “Mr. Obama has executed several policy pirouettes in recent weeks, each time landing more toward the center of the political ring.”
“His reactions to this week's controversial court decisions showed yet again how he is carefully moving to the center ahead of the fall campaign,” Massimo Calabresi writes for Time. “Politicians are always happy to get a chance to accuse opponents of flip-flopping, but McCain's team may be more afraid of Obama's shift to the center than their words betray.”
This is audacity of a different variety: “Since securing the Democratic presidential nomination, when confronted with a series of thorny issues the Illinois senator has pursued a conspicuously conventional path, one that falls far short of his soaring rhetoric,” Kenneth P. Vogel writes for Politico.
“Obama passed up opportunities to take bold stands and make striking departures from customary politics. Instead, he has followed a familiar tack, straddling controversial issues and choosing politically advantageous routes that will ensure his campaign a cash edge and minimize damaging blowback on several highly sensitive issues.”
Continue reading today's Note by clicking HERE.
ABC News' John Santucci and Alexa Ainsworth contributed to this report.
June 27, 2008 in Bush, George W., Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred, Veepstakes | Permalink | User Comments (33)
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There is a reason they call McCain Mr Flip Flop Rick.It is obvious you are a very bias "reporter".
Posted by: Jen | Jun 27, 2008 8:47:40 AM
What about McCain's FLIP FLOPS?
McCain has FLIP FLOPPED this past year FAR MORE times than Obama has.
McCain is NO LONGER on the straight talk express but the double talk express.
Posted by: Paul | Jun 27, 2008 8:51:04 AM
Obama is UNELECTABLE!
His position on guns is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!
He is so far out of touch with the American people and the US Constitution.
McCain '08
Hillary '12
Posted by: USVet | Jun 27, 2008 9:02:01 AM
A phony is a phony who never could hide his phoniness - too many boneheaded mistakes, too little too late. BTW he, the Bo, even looks phony.
Posted by: skinny dog | Jun 27, 2008 9:03:14 AM
If ABC would do a LITTLE RESEARCH, they would find numerous quotes from Obama where he says there is a right to own a gun, but not an *absolute* right.
And this is EXACTLY how he responded to the Supreme Court's decision!
Posted by: John's conscience | Jun 27, 2008 9:10:49 AM
In the audacity of hope, Obama had always voiced support for the death penalty on heinous crimes such as child rape and others. That is not a shift. The gun issue was also not a flip. That has always been his position. Remember the Philadelphia primaries and the heated exchange with Hillary on gun control. The only flip on his part was the public finance but all said and done, he is still being financed by the public and saves the Government money that could be donated to the Hurricane Katrina victims and the Iowa flood victims.
Posted by: vuzous | Jun 27, 2008 9:28:57 AM
Mccain is the head of the association of flip-flops. He has flipped on immigration,Public finance, Bush tax-cuts,off-shore drilling,Iraq war and so many others. I have stoppped counting and have accepted that he is no longer maverick.His name is now McBush flip-flop.
Posted by: vuzous | Jun 27, 2008 9:33:20 AM
Obama's problem could be that he will find the center is like a doughnut: there is jelly there or there is nothing there. Bill Clinton knows this and wisely stands back from the Obama campaign.
This could be the one election the Democrats believe they can't lose but wise minds know they should for their own good.
Posted by: len | Jun 27, 2008 9:33:23 AM
Mccain has never built a business and has never governed too. His only experience is WAR.
Posted by: vuzous | Jun 27, 2008 9:34:58 AM
The democrats will only lose if Hillary Clinton's supporters stick to their guns by not voting Obama. Obama surely needs their support to win and he is not denying that.
Posted by: vuzous | Jun 27, 2008 9:37:25 AM
McCain demonstrated his business skill, or LACK thereof, last fall when his campaign nearly went backrupt.
Does anyone remember the news stories about how ANGRY he bacame when he realized how fast his organization was burning through money?
What kind of chief executive is that? The kind who who wants to burn through HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars in Iraq.
VOTE FOR BANKRUPT JOHN McCAIN!
Posted by: John's conscience | Jun 27, 2008 9:43:49 AM
There you go "Thinking" again.
Posted by: rockthebleachers | Jun 27, 2008 9:45:29 AM
Whahhhhh, Whahhhhhh, Whahhhhhh -
The sound of all of the Obama cry-babies because poor BHO is being exposed for the fraud he is. This guy swindled a bunch of voters in the Democratic primary into thinking that he was above-politics, the one who would bring us change we can believe it, who would bring us to new levels.
He's a typical Chicago politician -- whatever it takes to get elected.
Thank goodness there are still 4 months left before the election. Time for America to wake up before it's too late.
Posted by: Sean | Jun 27, 2008 10:08:39 AM
FACTS ARE FACTS:
Obama says, AND HAS ALWAYS SAID, that the 2nd amendment grants a right to own a gun, but not an absolute right, and that *common sense* restrictions are legal.
ABC owes Obama a major apology for misrepresenting the facts.
Posted by: John's Conscience | Jun 27, 2008 10:32:11 AM
Gallup Daily: Obama, McCain Still Tied, Now at 44%
Posted by: david from texas | Jun 27, 2008 10:40:27 AM
Compared to Obama, Mitt Romney is a man of character and a man of his word.
Posted by: Roger Miller | Jun 27, 2008 10:46:18 AM
mccain is the president of flip flops the man dont know what he supports or opposes from one day to the next i cant keep up with him and i want him for president yeah right thats like me wanting bush to stay president forever please president of flip flop mr john mccain ladies and gentlemen the only thing hes good at FLIP FLOP FLIP FLOP
Posted by: angie | Jun 27, 2008 11:14:18 AM
Shifts? That's being kind. He's a serial flip-flopper.
Posted by: Mack | Jun 27, 2008 11:32:54 AM
Yes. Change you can believe in in short for "SERIAL FLIP-FLOPPING".
Posted by: Roger Miller | Jun 27, 2008 11:49:11 AM
Why is it conservatives love catch phrases. First it was "liberal" and when that played out it has morphed into "flip-flop". Why is it so hard for some people to believe that the world is dynamic and we are better served by people that are willing to change their view and positions in response to changing times. I for one am just about filled up with politicians that "stick to their guns" no matter how far the country falls into disarray.
Posted by: Bon Vivant | Jun 27, 2008 12:50:07 PM
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