Obama criticizes MoveOn.org in patriotism speech
I understand that Obama is going to move to the center during the general. It's a fairly common practice, but to go after MoveOn which supported him so stongly is a bit much.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday, in a major speech on patriotism, criticized MoveOn.org for referring to Gen. David Petraeus as General Betray Us last year.
The Illinois senator said politics too often seems "trapped in old, threadbare arguments" that he called "caricatures of left and right." The Democrat argued that "given the enormous challenges that lie before us, we can no longer afford these sorts of divisions."
MoveOn.org, a powerful left-of-center interest group, endorsed Obama in the Democratic presidential race.
"None of us expect that arguments about patriotism will, or should, vanish entirely; after all, when we argue about patriotism, we are arguing about who we are as a country, and more importantly, who we should be," Obama stated in his speech from Independence, Mo. "But surely we can agree that no party or political philosophy has a monopoly on patriotism."
Obama also said that he would "never question the patriotism of others in this campaign." The senator made clear, however, that he would "not stand idly by when I hear others question mine."
I agree completely that he has to stand up strong against the smears that are coming have been raining down on him by the right so far. And we haven't seen nothin' yet. We all want him to win very badly in the fall, but he's moving much more to the right than I would have thought this early. We'll have video shortly...
Obama has the nomination in the bag, and he's counting on the fact that we don't want McCain in the White House to propel him to victory.
Not if people start feeling like he led them on and decide to stay home. Which is how this is beginning to feel to me; like I've been fooled...again - after promising I wouldn't be fooled again.
Obama is correct on this. Using juvenile, non-clever, pejorative nicknames is a stupid crutch used by the foolish or lazy. Democrats should be above this sort of laziness. Surely the insinuation is that he should not criticize Move On because they support him! How utterly Neocon that would be!
It's precisely this kind of political triangulation-attack MoveOn, gut the 4th Amendment via FISA rewrite-that leads me to believe Obama will NOT hold this Administration legally or politically accountable for anything after he's sworn in as President.
This talk from far too many of Obama's supporters, that "he'll fix (FISA) after he's in office" is not supported by Obama's tacking to "the center" with these strategies, as NO President willingly gives up power once taking it.
There's also been the meme from these same supporters that the country won't approve of "revenge against the Bush Administration" once Obama is President, which fits in well with his arguments decrying "partisan rhetoric" and how we need "light not heat" in taking care of our country's problems, every single one of which has been made immeasurably worse under this Administration and it's bipartisan lackeys in Congress.
The reason there MUST be legal and political accountability for those who have driven our country in the ground the past seven years is to ensure that it does NOT happen again.
At this point, the only reason I can see for voting Obama is out of pure spite aimed at those pushing obvious BS arguments, like "Obama's a secret Muslim who will encourage further terrorist attacks against us".
At some point, it would be nice to have a candidate worth enthusiastically supporting, as opposed to the always-in-play "lesser of two evils".
He race to claim the center before McCain does runs the grave risk of him being labeled a "flip-flopper" (which has more legs withthe MSM if you're a Democrat), as well as risks alienating lots of Liberals that could end up deciding justto stay home this November if he keeps it up. :(
So who wins if Liberals just stay home in November? Who wins if McSame as Bush is selected? Not our troops or our country that's for sure. Obama is just doing a preemptive strike on the right wing and the media, whom I'm beginning to think are one in the same. He is doing what he has to do because of the political climate being fostered by the right wing media.
I would not call attempting to rise above the petty smears of politics a "move to the right." Come on. When you exaggerate and generalize like that you are doing precisely the same thing as the right. This election should be about the ISSUES. Not name calling, not twisting words and petty personal jabs. Just because Obama doesn't AGREE with a tactic of Moveon.org doesn't mean he is SMEARING them. Give me a break. Are there any two people on the planet who agree on EVERY SINGLE thing EXACTLY? Much less organizations agreeing. Let's be mature here. We NEED a democrat in the White House. Period.
Today my 22 year old son learned he was REJECTED from getting health insurance "due to multiple medical issues." He just graduated from college an doesn't have a full time job yet and since he is no longer a student we can't claim him as a dependent and keep him on our plan. He will have to use up his nest egg savings to qualify for state sponsored health insurance. This totally sucks. Solving THIS HEALTH CARE CRISIS is much more important than name calling and generalizing. Come on folks keep your eye on the REAL issues: the war(s), the economy and health care.
The democrats won Congress in 2006 by running Left and immediately began governing Right. Now, they're back to their loosing DLC strategy of running Right. Now, Obama has made the fatal political mistake of going defensive, eating his own and apologizing to people who never apologize for anything and consider doing so a sign of weakness. Harry Truman commented on dealing with republicans when he advised, " Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive. And don't ever apologize for anything."
Obama is doing exactly what he needs to do.
And that's move to the center to get elected to the White House!!
OBAMA 08
Obama had better be careful. He's such a bad shot continually shooting at his foot and missing that one of the stray bullets might hit his head instead.
Obama may have a point here.We should be smarter than the Neocons.He needs to move to the center.Obama is thinking of others feelings.Unlike Ralph Nader who only cares about his ego,and the big pay check he gets from McCain.
Moving to the right? I think you and the other Obama-bots don't get it. He's not what you projected him to be and now your chickens are coming home to roost.
To be fair he projected differently back in January then what he projecting now. Obama has pretty much rescinded on his promise of protecting the constitution and now going after Move on.org when their one main platform is to bring back all of the bill of rights.
I think Move on.org should consider a new campaign and dump Obama!
I'm sorry. Did I miss something? Since when does not agreeing with 'MoveOn' suddenly mean veering to the right? We've suffered for eight years under the Great Divider. What this country needs now is a unifying presence as President. I know it hurts to hear the truth at times, but our beloved Blue Blogs are equally capable of the same petty vindictiveness as any Neo-Con site. How Republican of us to act offended when we're actually called on our childishness. Haven't we learned ANYTHING from the past eight dreadful years? I hate to tell you folks -- but it's time for us all to grow up if we want to win this thing. And becoming the new party in charge doesn't entitle us to act like the New Republicans. It obliges us to act like the New Example.
He's absolutely right though.. Ads like both the Betrayus ad and the more recent one not only make people cringe, they're ineffective. What does questioning someones patriotism even mean? Its just a generic buzzword thrown around to either discredit your opponent or attempt to sound more "American." If interest groups want to play a role.. it should be to represent a specific interest in a cogent and effective manner. These generic attack ads are like someone sending their second cousin to badmouth you...
Yes it may hurt him in some way in the election.. but isnt the fact that he's doing it despite that fact demonstrate that he's the type of different candidate he claims to be? In truth though, I dont think he needs them anyway. He seems to be raising enough money to easily finance plenty of his own ads and even without the money advantage MCCAIN would have still have a hell of a time beating him in November.. its a perfect storm for democrats right now which makes this the ideal time to recapture the principles we've sacrificed for the sake of electability over the years.
Obama can spend all of this energy criticizing those who support him. But could not come out against blanket eavesdropping and telecom immunity.
Yeah, Obama, destroy your supporters...and weapons against the far right.
The center sucks. The center supported Iraq. The center swallowes any lie the media peddles. The center is ignorant of everything but how to spend money and have an orgasm. Obama's move to the center is a slam on the net-roots, on the folks who propelled him to the nomination, on his so-called stance as a change agent. He is just another lieberman, in his own way. His stance on fisa is just untenable -- on any level. It is basically a stance that says the Bush administration has done no wrong and there will be no accountability. Those who defend Obama defend nothingness -- the same crap we have contended with the last 8 years. He is the real McSame - Pale McSame -- all lies during the election season. Bush was the uniter, Obama the change-agent. Both full of shit.
Everyone has been praising Obama because he is "above the fray". Well, I'm sorry, but "betrayus" is "The Fray". Calling out childish attacks like this on all sides, is what he, and every politician should do.
Obama is smart enough to control the dialog (talk issues, not perceptions). I don't see this as any indication of moving to the center, But keep an eye on the the FISA vote. This better be "Change you can believe in"
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