OBAMA OPENS POLITICAL CLOSET DOORS
So far (with fingers crossed) the campaigning Obama and the pragmatist Obama look like two different persons. One wonders if the real Obama is now emerging from the closet. Two more stories from the week's news certainly give conservatives reason to hope for a centrist leader. First this one posted at Amy Proctor's Bottom Line Up Front:
What a difference an election makes. Not only is president-elect Barack Obama now saying that the U.S. need take into account the consequences of a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, but he is now saying he will listen to his commanders on the ground!
REPORTER: Do you still intend to withdrawal all U.S. forces from Iraq in 16 months after inauguration? Did you discuss the possibility of that with secretary of Gates before selecting him?
Obama’s response included these points:
President-elect Barack Obama is not planning to implement a windfall profit tax on oil companies because prices have dropped below $80 a barrel, an aide said on Tuesday.
"President-elect Obama announced the policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," an aide on Obama's transition team said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."Oil prices have fallen from a record $147 a barrel in July to under $50 this week.Obama, who signaled early in his campaign for the White House that he would take an active approach to oil markets as president, had planned to use the revenue from a windfall profits tax to fund a tax rebate for low- and middle-income families struggling with high energy prices.But the aide said Obama's presidential campaign had already taken the price drop into account six weeks ago. When Obama laid out his economic plan for the middle class in mid-October, revenue from a windfall profit tax was not included because of the price change, he said.Oil companies steadfastly opposed a tax, saying it would stifle exploration and innovation.
So what do the hippie-dippie dope smoking lefties like the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post have to say about this coming out party? The Daily Kos appears to wear blinders, while the HP takes a more critical view, dismissing the so called uninspring appointments as figureheads and placing the 3:00 a.m. wake-up call squarely on Obama's shoulders. Yet, this fails to engender much hope in one Huffington pundit who opines:
I hate to say it, but in terms of U.S. foreign policy, I don't see a whole lot changing under Obama, especially with the national security team he has assembled. The biggest thing I fear is that when Obama gets that 3am phone call, his voice will sound an awful lot like Bush's.
Now that Obama held out his hand to these nutroots it remains to be seen how they may ultimately respond to his apparent centrism. Even though the buck stops with Obama, only a less than sane individual would consistently oppose his team members. A particular winning football coach once suggested that a coach is only as good as his players and other coaches. Invariably Obama holds the key to the eternal marginalization of the leftist kooks while providing a sense of renewal in a nation seemingly engaged in a social/ideological civil war. If he succeeds in bringing a political awakening to the nation he stands to gain far more than he may ever lose from the leftist hippie-dippie types. I for one, shuttered at Obama's socialist campaign rhetoric, but I'm willing to give him a chance based on his pre-presidentail behavior so far. Both public scholar Bill Bennett and radio talk show pundit Michael Medved agree. Go here and listen to Bennett's compelling interview of Michael Medved.
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