Peter Hitchens goes to Chicago to report on Obama for the Daily Mail: "The Black Kennedy: But does anyone know the real Barack Obama?"
The insider recalled: "I thought he was a very talented young man. He was smart, he was willing, he was principled and he worked hard.
"He went to Springfield [the Illinois state capital] and did not become part of the more tawdry aspects of the culture down there - alcohol and women.
But Obama quickly got another reputation. "He was always in the bathroom for the really tough votes. It was not courageous."
The source explained this simply. Barack Obama knew even then that he could one day live in the White House.
"I think he understood long ago that the future was limitless for him. He made decisions in his very early political life that would enable him to be a candidate who would have very broad appeal."
These not-very-helpful remarks come from a black member of Obama's own party. What about his opponents?
One who remembers him well is Illinois State Senator Bill Brady, a white conservative Republican. The two arrived in Springfield together. In the evenings, they would gather for a friendly card game...
Brady also recalled a tendency to have it both ways and to dodge difficult votes that might hurt him later in life: "I saw great ambition in him, no question. He had an agenda."
As for his voting performance, Brady agreed Obama liked sitting on the fence. He is recalled for taking full advantage of an Illinois rule that lets you vote "present" if you don't want to commit yourself.
Brady recalled: "I learned very quickly that the 'present' vote, where the button you press is very appropriately coloured yellow, is the chicken's way out."
But that did not mean Obama lacked convictions. On the contrary, when it suited him he would vote as far Left as he could. "No one was further Left. He would do things that were unrealistic to prove he was Left.
"He was not far Left for political benefit but because he was a true believer.
"But these would be on broad-brush issues - unlike, say, detailed abortion laws - where it was unlikely to be held against him. I have never heard anyone say so little about detailed policies . . . He has moderated his tones, but I don't think he has moderated his beliefs," said Brady. [More]
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6 comments:
I'd take issue with Hitch's assertion that Obama wanted to be President even then. His statements that he wants to ban/confiscate handguns and semi-auto rifles seem political suicide outside the safe Chicago machine.
No less than Bill Clinton and Al Gore did a post-mortem in 2001 saying gun control cost Gore the election.
He wanted to "prove" he was "Left" yet not "for political benefit but because he was a true believer." What is that supposed to mean?
"Born Again Democrat said...
He wanted to "prove" he was "Left" yet not "for political benefit but because he was a true believer." What is that supposed to mean?"
It means that within the constraints imposed by his desire to "maintain his viability within the system" (as Bill Clinton put it so many years ago), he voted as far left as possible.
Lawrence Auster brought up an interesting point: in an NPR interview, Mark McKinnon - a top McCain campaign staffer, said that he would resign from the McCain campaign if Obama were the democratic nominee. This guy is a republican, votes republican, advises republicans, and works for the campaign of the likely republican nominee. But if Obama is the democratic candidate, then he'll just quit, because he doesn't think Obama SHOULD be opposed. So, in the event he is elected who will dare oppose the magical negro, "The One", the Lamb of God, whose coming was foretold in the ancient books.
There is a real possibility that, for a couple of years at least, Obama would be a virtual dictator. That no one would dare oppose his agenda for fear of being called a racist.
The fact that so many people are going gaga over this guy is reason enough to oppose him, as if being an America-loathing crypto-socialist were not reason enough.
His mother and father met on a Russian-language course at a time when the Russian language was inextricably mixed up with communism.
Taking Russian back in the days of the Cold War turned you into an instant Commie, which was why we lost due to all those CIA analysts and military officers who took Russian and went Bolshie..at least, in the alternate reality Peter Hitchens sometimes reports from.
I do think Obama is a good deal more to the left than he's letting on, but his parents having taken Russian isn't anywhere near as damning as Hitchens thinks.
Planetary Archon Mouse
So Hitch went to Chicago looking to dig up dirt on Obama...and really didn't find too much. Hell, for Chicago politics the guy is practically a boy scout.
I like this Hitch better than his brother, but he lost some credibility with me for this line:
"the perceptive Peggy Noonan..."
what must be worrying for Democrats is that the Obama parade float could deflate so quickly, although I think he will keep it up until election day because McCain doesn't have the stones to go toe to toe with him and Barry knows it just like Clinton knew it in 96
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