The Emperor's New Clothes

Happy Friday infidels. Some interesting reading for your Friday:

Juan WIlliams has a great piece in the WSJ where he tells Sen. Obama, that he needs to have another speech to answer those questions his 100 earlier speeches did not answer. Read it here.

Kim Strassel also writes in the WSJ today a great piece about Who is this Obama Dude. The more he's around, the less you know who or what he's about:

We've learned Mr. Obama was so good at his message that we still don't know much about the man. It was March before the press excavated his longtime pastor, and only last week when it dug up Father Pfleger. Their ugly black-vs.-white preaching, deeply at odds with the candidate's transracial message, has left some voters wondering if Mr. Obama shares these views. It's left others suspicious he allied himself to these powerbrokers for Chicago political gain, but has now cynically thrown them over. Mr. Obama created these question marks for himself, and they're not going away before November. Mr. McCain need only watch.

We've learned that the Obama campaign's main message still has no clothes. The senator has had nearly a year-and-a-half to explain how his new brand of politics and bipartisanship would work; the optimists among us are still waiting. Quizzed on how he'd reach across the aisle, Mr. Obama likes to mention that he might, maybe, perhaps, possibly, if caught on a good day, negotiate on "merit pay" for teachers. That ought to soothe a fractured American soul. The Clinton campaign never hit him on this, since Mrs. Clinton herself had no pretenses toward bipartisanship. But if Republicans can't figure out a way to capitalize on this gap between the spin and substance, they'll deserve backrow seats at his inauguration.

We've learned Mr. Obama has a shifting definition of reform. He deplored big money in elections, but is now sitting on big money and backing out of a pledge to accept public financing. He rails against special interests, but supports bloated farm bills while he does union bidding on trade. One of Mr. McCain's strengths is his reputation for bucking interest groups; this is an opening.

We've learned that on domestic policy, Mr. Obama is as liberal as any Democratic nominee. But he's also a decent populist. He'll raise taxes, but promises to give back to middle-class voters. He'd like government-run health-care, but for now promises simply to help pay soaring private doctor's bills. He'll punish companies that take part in the global economy, but reward those who stay at home.

These "buts" make it harder for the GOP to pigeonhole Mr. Obama. Mr. McCain will also have a tough job explaining why his more purist conservative views – lower taxes for all, lower health-care costs for all, more trade – are better.

We've learned Mr. Obama's weak spot is, as expected, national security. His backpedaling on which dictators he'd engage is one example. His attacks on Mr. McCain for being inflexible on diplomacy, even as he inflexibly calls for troop withdrawals – no matter how great the Iraq success – is becoming another.

Read the whole piece here.

Posted by Cigar Mike at June 6, 2008 09:24 AM

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Posted by: Henry Louis Gomez at June 6, 2008 10:52 PM

Posted by: Cigar Mike Pancier at June 7, 2008 08:06 AM

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