The Primaries Produced the McCain and Obama Flip-Flops
I commend to you a very thoughtful critique of the Obama flip-flop question in today's New York Times by op-ed columnist Paul Krugman. He considers the type of policies an Obama administration might support, coming to the (unstated but implied) conclusion that it's kind of hard to divine, because the candidate has changed substantive positions so many times:
Mr. Obama looks even more centrist now than he did before wrapping up the nomination. Most notably, he has outraged many progressives by supporting a wiretapping bill that, among other things, grants immunity to telecom companies for any illegal acts they may have undertaken at the Bush administration's behest.
As is well known, Sen. John McCain is widely accused of flip-flopping on major issues, such as offshore oil drilling, immigration, and how to wind down the Iraq war.
The rush of flip-flop charges during this political season makes one wonder whether something endemic to our primary system produces candidates who must reverse course in order to (A) secure the party nomination and then, (B) be competitive in the general election.
Political observers understand candidates cater to their bases during the primary season, which means going to the extreme right for Republicans and the extreme left for Democrats. Once they win the nomination, candidates must then veer back toward the center to woo general election voters who tend to be more mainstream than primary voters. This leads to a rash of changes in position that has now crescendoed to the point where every candidate has to reverse course on almost every major issue in the campaign.
The Democratic Party adjusted its selection process in the early 1980s—that in response to complaints by then candidate Jesse Jackson, who decried the winner-take-all approach as racially discriminatory.
But this year's messy combination of unruly caucuses and primaries produced a nasty nomination process that went on too long and took a big chunk out of party unity. I'm wondering if there are other ways to adjust both the Republican and Democratic primaries to put less pressure on candidates to move from the extremes toward the middle. Any thoughts?
Tags: presidential election 2008 | primaries | Barack Obama | John McCain
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (5) | Print
Reader Comments
The battle for AMERICA...
Diversity Alliance for Sustainable America. www.earthtimes.org/ stated in it's article that if the U.S. grants amnesty and gives citizenship to 12 to 30 million illegal migrants, as Senators Obama and McCain propose. All those naturalized citizens could possibly add 120 million U.S. and foreign-born relatives to the U.S., in the next 20 years whom all consume energy.
Today Overpopulation, congestion, urban sprawl, pollution, environmental damage, crime, diminishing resources, Diseases, lack of affordable housing, depressed wages, underground economic, fraudulent documents, identity theft, tax evasion, soaring crime rate, increased tax burdens, overcrowded schools, uneducated children, overcrowded prisons, inadequate health care, the balkanization of our communities and a large and growing population with loyalty to other Nations. Just read this disturbing revelation of costs, that our government skims from our paycheck to pay an illegal immigrants. (www.eagleforum.org/sources)
Then again, if America adopted the SAVE ACT ,millions of illegal aliens would leave these shores, gas would be more obtainable. Americans must decide their children's future, your jobs by demanding restrictive Democrats sponsor the Federal SAVE ACT (H.R.4088 enforcement in the workplace) Call toll-free (2022243121 )
The Primaries Produced the McCain and Obama Flip-Flops
"I'm wondering if there are other ways to adjust both the Republican and Democratic primaries to put less pressure on candidates to move from the extremes toward the middle. Any thoughts?"
A constitutional convention that would outlaw fund raising, campaigne contrubutions, and political parties. Make it unlawful for any former representative to work for lobbies or companies that lobbied during there tenure. If we allow campaigne contributions it should only come from within the representatives districts not from political parties and special interests. National campaignes should be publically funded. Take the special interest out of the equation and stress public interests instead.
Obama and Two Muslim Women
Check out this hilarious parody of Obama's volunteers denying two Muslim women seats behind the podium at a rally.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOgrdrjWKdk
Add your thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.advertisement
