The American Spectator : Stop Believing Obama

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Stop Believing Obama

By Philip Klein on 5.12.08 @ 12:08AM

The Illinois senator's dance on Hamas is the latest blow to his credibility.

(Page 3 of 3)

While Obama did eventually criticize Carter's trip, it was only after much prodding, and he still didn't consider the question important enough to disrupt his waffle-eating experience.

On a number of other issues, there has been a pattern of Obama saying one thing on the campaign trail that was undercut by his advisers. We saw that when his economic adviser assured the Canadians that Obama wasn't really serious about the anti-NAFTA rhetoric he was spewing in Ohio.

We saw that when former adviser Samantha Power, speaking of Obama's plans to withdraw troops out of Iraq, said Obama wouldn't "rely on some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate." And now we have Obama's public opposition to Hamas undercut by the fact that an adviser is meeting with them.

SO IS IT REALLY a stretch to wonder whether Obama would eventually support talks with the terrorist group, despite his public pronouncements to the contrary?

This is not a theoretical matter. Ahmed Yousef, the same Hamas adviser who said that the terrorist group supports Obama, wrote a Washington Post op-ed last June arguing for engagement with Hamas.

The group is obviously embarking on a strategy, similar to the one Arafat pursued during the Oslo peace process, of making public overtures of peace abroad, duping naive Western leaders into granting them legitimacy and the financial aid that comes along with it, while continuing to support terrorism at home. Clearly, Hamas views Obama as an easy mark.

The interesting thing about Obama's candidacy is that his lack of experience, and the mixed messages he sends, enable close observers to come to drastically different conclusions as to what kind of policies he would support as president.

Michael Lerner, editor of the left-wing Jewish magazine Tikkun, said, "Based on my conversations with Obama, I have a very strong belief that he shares the Tikkun perspective..." But the staunchly pro-Israel Marty Peretz assured "friends of Israel" that they could trust Obama.

Abunimah, the Palestinian activist from Chicago, is disappointed that Obama has sold out to the pro-Israel Lobby, while Hamas adviser Yousef chalked up Obama's pro-Israel statements to election year posturing, and declared that the terrorist group still wants him to win.

Obama is running for the most powerful job in the world without much of a public record of which to speak. Yet those who demand to know a little bit more about the candidate by scrutinizing his statements and relationships are arrogantly dismissed as engaging in "smears" and being divisive for refusing to simply take him at his word.

Welcome to the new kind of politics.

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topics:
Foreign Policy, John McCain, Barack Obama, Iraq, Iran, Israel, NATO, Nuclear Weapons

About the Author

Philip Klein is The American Spectator's Washington correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Philipaklein

Letter to the Editor View all comments (6) | Leave a comment

Cybercorrespondent| 10.28.08 @ 8:24PM

Questioning the American Bolshevik views
1. Is wealth redistribution taking money from stockholders and redistributing it to those who don’t pay taxes?
2. Is it more important to make sure that illegal votes are not disenfranchised or making sure that groups like ACORN do not nullify honest votes.
3. Would premature U.S. withdrawal from Iraq grand jihadists a victory and make all of our accomplishments, money spent and lives lost a big waist?
4. Can this country afford to grant socialist Democrats total control of the government and allow them to sacrifice our safety by cutting the military budget by 25%?
Now comes the big question. How do we stop socialism from ruining our lives?
The answer is simple. Don’t vote American Bolsheviks into power and boycott the socialist propaganda media into bankruptcy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjvBEKrGkDI
Cybercorrespondent
cybercorrespondent@gmail.com

Joe| 7.25.09 @ 10:54AM

Isn't anyone paying attention!, Mr Obama is starting to show his true colors as a socialist and a racist! Why are we, the working-tax paying public allowing him to destroy this country. Maybe we should ban together and not pay our taxes - he is supposed to be for the people, ALL people! He is dividing this country, he is using us; the hard working educated Americans as his class to blame for hardship, yet pay for everything. I implore the American people - please change the balance of power in the next election so there is more pressure on the President to work for you. He has forgotten he was elected to WORK for all of us. All he has shown is he likes to be on TV, he likes to come up with multiple plans hoping one works, he likes to spend money, he likes to point fingers at someone to blame and then he likes to pretend he is an average "Joe", sorry Mr. Obama, we don't want a President who wants to sit down over a beer - we want a leader with conviction, integrity and experience - You Mr. President are proving you lack all three. Please, vote against him and change the balance of power in the House and Senate this coming election!

David| 7.29.09 @ 8:24AM

I am not a nutcase or a conspiracy theorist but Obama’s birth certificate is a fake. Keep in mind that documents change over the years and may not contain 100 % of the original info. But there is one thing that will never change and I have not found a site that points this out. The numbers on a B.C. from the time they started using a form rather then hand written start with a state code number usually 3 digits then a 2 digit date code and then the individual document serial number. I have been doing a lot of research on this all the birth certificates I have seen online( have seen 2 from Hawaii) mine my wifes and my childrens all have this type of numbering. Not until the late 90’s did they change the system of numbering. Why is Obama’s 151-1961. Now the big question why would they change his number? They never change!

cybercorrespondent| 8.18.09 @ 5:37PM

Fix healthcare by throwing self-serving politicians out of office

Why did Barack Obama attack pharmaceutical companies before and now he has teamed up with them to promote his health care plan? Why are all the tort lawyers big democratic supporters and multi-millionaires? Obama’s true intentions are so obvious that even the left is starting to express concerns. For example, on August 10, CBS Evening News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson filed a report stating that “the White House agreed not to seek price controls on drugs for seniors on Medicare and would not support importing cheaper drugs from Canada.” According to Attkisson, “The pharmaceutical industry is now so firmly in the President's camp it's developing plans to spend up to $150 billion promoting it with TV ads.”
According to the acting president of Public Citizen and founder and director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, “An all sort of off the record deal was reached that is very bad for the American public.” Other experts say that for their cooperation, Obama is allowing pharmaceutical companies to charge $50 for a $2 pill and is assuring them that there will be no changes to the laws that make it near impossible for less expensive generic drugs to reach the American market.
Unless tort lawyers, the pharmaceutical lobby and other special interest groups like the AMA, ADA and the AARP are dealt with to preserves the Constitution and the free market system, while also protecting the medical provider and consumer, no healthcare plan can work. Please view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe2bpV1QlkE
Cybercorrespondent
http://cybercorrespondent.blogspot.com

cybercorrespondent| 8.23.09 @ 3:38PM

ABC television has banned http://www.newsmaxstore.com/co...../video.htm from airing on its network. Stand up for your freedoms and start boycotting ABC and other state run media into bankruptcy.
cybercorrespondent

cybercorrespondent| 8.27.09 @ 10:28PM

Save yourselves while you still can. This is the most important video you will ever watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

George Soros and the progressive democrats he has in his pocket have a goal to destroy the dollar and to push for a global currency. As a result, George Soros would make billions just as he did from his attempt to destroy the British Pound. To accomplish his goal, George Soros and his team of democrats have chosen a messenger who via teleprompter will spread their message and will not oblige to his constitutional obligation to prove that he is a US citizen. Please view
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe2bpV1QlkE To help George Soros push for global dominance, the democrats have created legislations such as the Stimulus Bill, the Equal Pay Bill, the Global Poverty Bill, the Tobacco Bill, the Climate Change Bill, the upcoming Health Reform Bill, the UN sponsored Bill that will force Americans to pay a global tax and whatever else they have hidden in the bills no one has read. If George Soros and the democrats are allowed to succeed, it will increase the deficit by trillions, make the dollar worthless and cause this country to self-distrust.
Wake up America before it’s too late. Please watch this video
cybercorrespondent