As I have written, Obama is jogging to the political middle at a rapid pace. I cited several decisions by Obama in the last month or two. Among those decisions are Obama’s solemn undertaking to protect Israel, in a speech to the leading pro-Israeli lobby (AIPAC); Obama’s nuanced welcome of U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions affirming the right to bear arms by individuals, and the right of appeal to Guantanamo detainees, and gentle disagreement with the Supreme Court’s decision rejecting death-penalty for child-rape; Obama’s acceptance of the compromise in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which contains a provision granting telecoms companies immunity from lawsuits for co-operating in a surveillance program that conducted wiretaps without warrants;Obama’s efforts to lower the rhetoric on free trade and NAFTA, and increased recognition of the importance of trade and markets; Obama’s support and even a call for expansion of faith-based initiatives and programs, and recognition of faith-based community groups; Obama’s recalibration his own Iraq policy; and finally, Obama’s specification of conditions for late-term abortions.
We would not know how the electorate is going to react to all this. Related opinion in http://kalyanaramgurumurthy.wordpress.com/
The New York Times (at least its editorial’s board) does not think well of Obama’s rapid jog to the political middle. Here is the editorial –
“Now there seems to be a new Barack Obama on the hustings. First, he broke his promise to try to keep both major parties within public-financing limits for the general election. His team explained that, saying he had a grass-roots-based model and that while he was forgoing public money, he also was eschewing gold-plated fund-raisers. These days he’s on a high-roller hunt.
The new Barack Obama has abandoned his vow to filibuster an electronic wiretapping bill if it includes an immunity clause for telecommunications companies that amounts to a sanctioned cover-up of Mr. Bush’s unlawful eavesdropping after 9/11.
The Barack Obama of the primary season used to brag that he would stand before interest groups and tell them tough truths. The new Mr. Obama tells evangelical Christians that he wants to expand President Bush’s policy of funneling public money for social spending to religious-based organizations — a policy that violates the separation of church and state and turns a government function into a charitable donation.
On top of these perplexing shifts in position, we find ourselves disagreeing powerfully with Mr. Obama on two other issues: the death penalty and gun control.
We are not shocked when a candidate moves to the center for the general election. But Mr. Obama’s shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics, the man of passionate convictions who did not play old political games.”
Tags: Barack Obama, The New York Times, FISA, AIPAC, Public finance, Late-term abortions
