I’ve stated before that I was never really enthusiastically on Obama’s bandwagon for a number of reasons in the primary, but now that he’s the nominee, it would be nice if he held his ground as much now as he did then:
“As he’s said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain’s service, and of course he rejects yesterday’s statement by General Clark,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
I tend to agree with Josh Marshall’s characterization of this as “lame” and that this, along with his decision to vote in favor of FISA, makes Obama seem to really fear the patriosm card, and that’s just hightened by the fact that he felt compelled to give a speech on patriosm today.
Now, giving such a speech, on it’s own, isn’t a bad thing, but that, in conjunction with his FISA stance and now standing back from Clark’s non-controversial-if-you-spend-3-seconds-thinking-about-it comment about McCain really makes Obama look as if he’s on the defensive (and helps even further alienate the blogosphere who has spent all morning supporting and defending Clark). The more Obama looks like he’s on the defensive, the more the GOP is going to push the patriotism point to keep Obama there.
Oh, and saying that he disagrees with Clark’s statement gives Obama’s implicit agreement that McCain – by the very virtue of being in the military – has suprior foreign policy experience than he does. Way to go agreeing to give McCain a head start in the general election.
I realize that candidate tend to moderate their positions from the primary to the general since they’re campaigning to different audiences, but Obama didn’t seem to have much of a problem picking up support from independents and republicans during his campaign in the primary. I don’t see why he feels compelled to moderate this much, this fast, this early in the general.
Update:
I guess that means Clark is off the veep list now too. How can you choose a running mate who, by your own implicit admission, has questioned the opposing candidate’s military service?
