It isn't the Thing That I Bought

This latest song from Max and the Marginalized puts words to something that's been rattling around in my brain lately -- that Barack Obama's positions on a number of issues seem to be "softening." That's a polite way of saying that he doesn't quite seem to be standing on the same principles he espoused in his successful primary run, and that made him my preferred candidate during the primaries.

I have no problem if a candidate openly changes a position on some key issue based on changing facts and his or her honest reassessment of that issue. While sticking to one's beliefs and convictions is usually noble, there are times when circumstances demand reconsideration. But wholesale abandoning of your principles strictly to attract more of "the middle" is blatant pandering, pure and simple.

It boils down to telling people what they want to hear, rather than what you believe. Of course, that's what politicians do, but I thought that Obama was more of a statesman than the typical politician.

Now I'm not so sure. I'm going to be watching both candidates closely to see if I can really tell what they believe as opposed to just what they say. If we can't discern the difference, how can we know what they'll do once they get in office?

We can't afford to have another individual in the White House like the current occupant. Our issues are way too pressing.

Jerry