The Game

Problem is, he mostly plays the game.   Despite some great rhetoric, he's basically a conventional establishment politician.  In positioning himself as an advocate for change, he mostly talks about atmospheric things that are hard to pin down in practice.  These sound good, but don't really commit him to anything of substance.  When push comes to shove on actual issues, he always takes very establishment positions.  And he's highly critical of those who actually call for change.  Note that he says he "disowns" Jeremiah Wright's right-on calls for changes in American policy.

From the very beginning, in saying that it didn't make sense to war on Iraq, he emphasized that he was not for peace and was very ready to go to war.  And he has voted for every military expenditure, and his campaign position is for a larger military.  He follows the party line on the Middle East, abortion, etc.  He admits that the death penalty is ineffective, but says he supports it anyway.  He attacks speaking about institutional racism, saying that's in the past and doesn't describe contemporary America. (This is a specific from his disassociation from what Jeremiah Wright stands for.) 

by Bill Samuel (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 278 comments) on Friday, April 18, 2008 at 10:46:53 AM