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Obama Defends Himself Against Flip-Flopping Criticism
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ShareJuly 08, 2008 1:24 PM
ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Senator Barack Obama was confronted with a question at a town hall in Powder Spring, GA that has plagued him since the start of his general election campaign: has he been flip-flopping and moving more toward the center, and can he make his Iraq position clear?
The question came from a former Republican, who worked for Bobby Kennedy when he was 15. Although the man called the flip-flopping charges, “nonsense,” he asked the Illinois Senator to clear up any confusion.
“The people who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me,” Obama shot back quickly.
Obama said there is no doubt that he is progressive. He believes in tax codes, universal health care, making college more affordable, paying teachers more, and early childhood education.
“I believe in a whole lot of things that make me progressive and squarely in the Democratic camp,” added Obama.
But, Obama countered that he does not believe that government is the solution for everything and places a high importance on personal responsibility. Recently Obama has been criticized for moving to the center on his stances on the DC gun ban, and faith based initiatives – both of which he attempted to clear up.
“When I talk about the idea that we should recruit churches and places of worship if they are willing to abide by the separation of church and state to get involved in providing critical services to communities, in faith based initiatives, that’s not something new,” Obama said. “I’ve been organizing with churches for years in the community. And so the notion that somehow that’s me tying to look like I’m more centered - more centrist - is just not true.”
On the Supreme Court ruling on the DC gun ban, Obama explained, “I actually have said I agree with that for years, even before the ruling came down. That doesn’t mean that I also recognized that we need to make sure that we’ve decent controls over the use of firearms in our community. Those two potions are not contradictory.”
Obama also attempted to also clarify his Iraq war plan as he has been shown to be shifting away from his original statements to withdraw troops in 16 months from Iraq.
“I have also consistently said that once were in that we had to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in. Because once you get in now you’ve got to make sure that our troops are safe. You’ve got to make sure that the country doesn’t collapse. And so what I’ve called for is a phased withdrawal, a phased redeployment. That is not precipitous, that is responsibly getting out combat troops out at a pace of about 1-2 brigades per month. And at that point we would have our troops out, our combat troops out, in about 16 months.”
Obama said – contrary to what Republicans are saying – there is nothing rushed about his plan for withdrawal.
"When I hear John McCain saying ‘we can’t surrender, we can’t wave the white flag’ nobody’s talking about surrounding. We’re talking about common sense,” Obama concluded. “So don’t be confused. I will bring the Iraq war to a close when I am president.”
Obama blamed his new flip-flopping title on cynicism in politics.
“One of the things you find as you go though this campaign is everyone has become so cynical about politics. That the assumption is you must be doing everything for political reasons,” Obama said, “The message I want to send everybody is: you’re not going to agree with me on 100% of what I think but don’t assume that if I don’t agree with you on something that it must be because I’m doing that politically.”
July 8, 2008 in Kucinich, Dennis | Permalink | User Comments (89)
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Ask him again in an hour and he'll have a different answer.
Posted by: McCain Dem | Jul 8, 2008 1:56:41 PM
You tell them Barack! If people would take responsiblity and educate themselves this country would be so much better off!
Posted by: Hippemom | Jul 8, 2008 1:56:53 PM
It's not that we are not listening to Obama; it's Obama not listening to us. He continues to nudge his positions ever so slightly like a dancer missing a step in a routine that cannot be detected by the untrained eye.
Posted by: young_voter | Jul 8, 2008 1:59:46 PM
I like Senator Obama. He is the right man for the job.
He will get my vote, and he will be the next President of the United States, and I CAN'T WAIT! :)
Posted by: Nobody's fool | Jul 8, 2008 2:06:39 PM
No one can guarantee a precise timetable for troop recall from Iraq. Atleast give Sen. Obama credit for being willing to call for out troops to come home. Too bad Sen. McCain doesn't agree.
Posted by: Champ | Jul 8, 2008 2:08:22 PM
Yeah, we're just too cynical, that's it, obama....
MAYBE WE ARE CYNICAL BECAUSE WE ARE SICK OF TYPICAL POLITICIANS LIKE YOU!!!!
Posted by: Foodforthought | Jul 8, 2008 2:08:41 PM
BACKTRACK Obama
or
George W. Obama
Take your pick--whatever shoe fits...
Posted by: Foodforthought | Jul 8, 2008 2:10:03 PM
iraq wants us out
we want us out
mccain wants us in, because theres sweet sweet oil there
nevermind drilling in our own yard, even though we have millions of acers open for that now, lets drill off our shores, continue to fight this iraq war, and win the oil there too!
then we can control the universe!
mccain
A leader from the dark side!
Posted by: bhrandon | Jul 8, 2008 2:11:04 PM
One would think that a man with his education would know when he is flip-flopping. Guess they did not teach FLIP FLOPPING 101 in Harvard. And this man thinks he is Presidential. LOL
Somebody needs to buy him a dictionary.
Posted by: Mary | Jul 8, 2008 2:14:28 PM
Obama is an empty suit --- stands for Nothing--
Obama = Bush; thinks he right and besides Obama has an arrogant attitude (just like Bush) only Bush never quite called the hard working class bitter who cling to guns and religion and have all that apathy, etc.. Give me a break.
Obama should have never been nominated--it's quite clear now-the democrats sure made a big mistake; and this is coming from a democrat, soon to be independent.
Posted by: NielPA | Jul 8, 2008 2:19:20 PM
Like he said some of you obviously haven't been listing to him.
Posted by: Joe | Jul 8, 2008 2:21:20 PM
obama is still giong to try to remove immunity from the fisa bill
Posted by: bhrandon | Jul 8, 2008 2:27:27 PM
Stop snipp'n at each other. believe what you believe and allow others to have their opinions as well. We live and vote a democracy, if you want your opinions heard, state them with tact and respect AND intelligence. There IS a difference between Debate and stupid people arguing about pointless opinions.
Posted by: krazgal | Jul 8, 2008 2:27:41 PM
Isnt that what puppets do? Flip flop.
Posted by: brigitte | Jul 8, 2008 2:31:27 PM
LOL! Well~ Honesty! I LIKE IT!
That's actually refreshing to hear.
~ by all means~
Continue slam'n each other. lol.
Posted by: krazgal | Jul 8, 2008 2:32:32 PM
The man is a bold-faced liar. Why anyone would believe a syllable that comes out of his mouth defies explanation. He no longer supports the principles that brought his followers to him in the first place. The definition of a pathological liar is someone who believes the lies he tells. That fits BHO to a 'T'.
Posted by: Aston | Jul 8, 2008 2:37:12 PM
carolyn
you and your candidate need to get out of the 60's and focus on the hear and now
you guys are so out of touch, i wont be suprised when mccain calls for the fall of the berlin wall
Posted by: bhrandon | Jul 8, 2008 2:38:39 PM
Obama's credibility has been lessened with each issue. I would rather vote for McCain, governing from a retirement home than for Obama, governing from a church.
Posted by: country_voter | Jul 8, 2008 2:41:14 PM
Only in America could someone listening to the issues as expressed by citizens in the states he visits be accused of "flip flopping".
Only in America could someone who acknowledges that he personally does not have all the answers at this very moment in time could be called "inexperienced".
Only in America could someone who puts the safety of our service men and women FIRST and timelines second be accused of "changing positions".
Only in America could someone who sees the realities of how campaigns are truly financed could someone be accused of "breaking his pledge".
Actually, only in this America... which come November, is going to change... to something we can ALL believe in.
Posted by: PJ | Jul 8, 2008 2:41:22 PM
yes anyone who is screaming that Obama is a flipflopper
has not been really listening...
all of this stuff he has consistently said during the campaign...
I saw him speak in preson many times and he has been consistent on all of this...anyone who thinks he ever promisedwe would be rigid about withdrawal and 16 months...or all of these other issues has never heard him speak and take questions...
and my advice would eb open your ears and think with your brain before you spout all of this stuff...
all the records are coming out now that show he hasn't moved on 99% of these things everyone is pointing at...
this was created by the McCain campaign and the reporters like the 2000 and 2004 sheep protocol jumped on anything they thought they heard a lot of...rather than question it and look at the history...like anderson cooper and NBC did.
both of who reported...yeah...this was created.
but some people are morons and just want to grab on to anything that might be an argument...lol
Posted by: dl | Jul 8, 2008 2:47:31 PM
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