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Saturday, July 5, 2008

Stop Playing into the McCain Distortion Game

Here's an interesting email from me to an Obama listserv recently on the need for the left to stop hobbling Obama:

Obama is not perfect, nor should any of us think him to be.

Think about it logically. If Obama is the "unifier" that we think him to be, what does that logically require? That's right, he will need to sit down with constituencies in BOTH parties, discuss MANY points of view, and arrive at an informed and intelligent decision with respect to the issues of the day. Many times he will agree with us. In many other circumstances, which I guarantee you will be more than infrequently, Obama will disappoint us because he believes something different or needed to compromise.

Look at how John McCain played us recently. Obama gave a speech on Iraq where he outlined the position that he's always had about withdrawing from Iraq. He has always said that he will immediately sit down with his military commanders to begin drawing up plans for withdrawing troops from Iraq. He set targets and planned 2 brigades out per month -- going up until 2013!

So, he gets up and says nearly the exact same thing and then the Republican distortion machine and John McCain run around crying "FLIP-FLOPPER!" "CHEATER!" "MOMMY!" And, what do we do as good Democrats? Yup, take up the Republican talking points and start hand-wringing and moaning in public on DailyKos and other sites about how worried we are that Obama will abandon us! Woe!

I mean no offense by any of this but we need to keep perspective. We must absolutely not do anything to hobble Obama's chances in the Fall. I know this sounds like squelching but what's the alternative!? Hobbling Obama enough to get McCain elected? No thank you. I will save my public moaning and hand-wringing for tightly messaged emails to the campaign and for after the election.

Here's The Carpetbagger Report on how John McCain spun the media (and the left) about Obama's Iraq position:

The more the presidential campaign unfolds, the more it resembles a Twilight Zone episode in which reality has no meaning at all.

For over a year, Barack Obama’s position on Iraq has been entirely consistent — a flexible withdrawal timeline, over 16 months, with one to two brigades a month. He would consult with commanders on the ground about how best to execute this policy, and would consider conditions on the ground, but Obama is committed to a withdrawal policy. He’s said this over and over again.

Yesterday, when Obama repeated the exact same policy he’s emphasized for over a year, the McCain campaign and the national political media — the distinctions between McCain and his “base” continue to blur — pounced. Obama, they said without evidence or connection to reality, had changed his policy.

The problem, of course, is that McCain and the traditional media outlets had already picked the narrative in advance. Republicans decided recently that Obama would change his Iraq policy. Why? Because they said so, and proceeded to repeat the claim, incessantly, over the last 10 days. Major news outlets, demonstrating 2000-like levels of professional malpractice, bought into it. Why? Because Republicans told them to like the “move to the center” narrative, and the media is anxious to acquiesce.

Read More: McCain gets busy, the media gets spun, and Obama gets screwed

Posted by Metavirus at 7/05/2008 09:05:00 PM  

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