Lurching right
“Only an idiot would think or hope that a politician going through the crucible of a presidential campaign could hold fast to every position, steer clear of the stumbling blocks of nuance and never make a mistake. But Barack Obama went out of his way to create the impression that he was a new kind of political leader — more honest, less cynical and less relentlessly calculating than most,” New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes.
“You would be able to listen to him without worrying about what the meaning of ’is’ is,” Mr. Herbert said.
“This is why so many of Sen. Obama’s strongest supporters are uneasy, upset, dismayed and even angry at the candidate who is now emerging in the bright light of summer.
“One issue or another might not have made much difference. Tacking toward the center in a general election is as common as kissing babies in a campaign, and lord knows the Democrats need to expand their coalition.
“But Sen. Obama is not just tacking gently toward the center. He’s lurching right when it suits him, and he’s zigging with the kind of reckless abandon that’s guaranteed to cause disillusion, if not whiplash. …
“’What’s he doing?’ is the most common question heard recently from Obama supporters.
“For one thing, he’s taking his base for granted, apparently believing that such stalwart supporters as blacks, progressives and pumped-up younger voters will be with him no matter what. A taste of the backlash this can produce erupted on the candidate’s own Web site.”
Saving Barack
“With 68 percent of Americans believing George Bush has done a poor job, and 82 percent saying the country is on the wrong track, the election of 2008 will turn on one issue: Barack Obama,” syndicated columnist Pat Buchanan writes.
“If Sen. Obama can convince the people he is ’one of us,’ and not some snooty radical liberal from Chicago’s Hyde Park, who looks down upon white America as a fever swamp of racism and reaction, a la the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the senator will be the next president. …
“A savvy politician, he has measured correctly the hurdle he must surmount and is moving expeditiously to alter an image of him forged by his own past associations and policy positions. In three weeks, he has jettisoned his new politics in a stunning display of raw pragmatism. …
“What is Obama up to? Having secured the nomination, he is moving to convince the nation he is neither a black militant nor a radical, but a man of the center who will even listen to the right.
“Though infuriating to readers of The Huffington Post, this may save Barack.”
A new low
The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time, according to Rasmussen Reports.
This month, just 9 percent say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52 percent) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category, the polling firm said at rasmussenreports.com.
Last month, 11 percent of voters gave the legislature good or excellent ratings. Congress has not received higher than a 15 percent approval rating since the beginning of 2008.
The percentage of Democrats who give Congress positive ratings fell from 17 percent last month to 13 percent this month. The number of Democrats who give Congress a poor rating remained unchanged. Among Republicans, 8 percent give Congress good or excellent ratings, up just a point from last month. Sixty-five percent of GOP voters say Congress is doing a poor job, down a single point from last month.
Voters not affiliated with either party are the most critical of congressional performance. Just 3 percent of those voters give Congress positive ratings, down from 6 percent last month. Sixty-three percent believe Congress is doing a poor job, up from 57 percent last month.
Bill’s comment
“Bill Clinton may be the master of the underhanded political slap — but can’t he at least refrain from smearing an entire class of his country’s war heroes in the process?
“Including, inferentially, de facto Republican presidential nominee John McCain,” the New York Post said Tuesday in an editorial.
“Sadly, self-restraint is not the thing that Bill Clinton does best; it would require just a bit too much honor from America’s reigning embarrassment-in-chief,” the newspaper said.
“’It’s like if you know anyone who’s ever a POW for any length of time,” the former president opined in Aspen, Colo., over the weekend, ’you will see that [they] go along for months or even years and then something will happen that will trigger all those bad dreams.’
“Better keep an eye on those former prisoners-of-war, in other words — you never know when they might snap.
“Maybe at 3 a.m., don’t you know.
“It’s a breathtakingly ignorant stereotype, of course — but none too surprising from a man whose chief experience of armed combat consisted of avoiding it.
“Or, come to think of it, from a politician whose party’s nominee for president happens to be facing just such a war hero in November.”
The dog vote
If the presidential election were up to pet owners, John McCain could have a blue ribbon in his future.
From George Washington’s foxhounds Drunkard and Tipsy to George W. Bush’s terriers Barney and Miss Beazley, pets are a longtime presidential tradition for which the presumed Republican nominee seems well prepared, with more than a dozen, the Associated Press reports.
Democratic candidate Barack Obama, on the other hand, doesn’t have a pet, though he has promised his daughters a dog after the election, win or lose.
An AP-Yahoo News poll found that pet owners favor Mr. McCain over Mr. Obama 42 percent to 37 percent, with dog owners particularly in Mr. McCain’s corner.
Mr. McCain has a veritable menagerie, including Sam the English springer spaniel, Coco the mutt, turtles Cuff and Link, Oreo the black and white cat, a ferret, three parakeets and a bunch of saltwater fish.
Dog owners lean toward Mr. McCain, 43 percent to 34 percent, while cat owners divide their loyalties with 41 percent for Mr. McCain and 38 percent for Mr. Obama.
Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes.com.
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