Opportunism knocks, Part (I forget how many)

Barack Obama will support the FISA re-write that, though labeled a compromise, is actually a victory for President Bush and the telecommunications industry. As the Washington Post acknowledges, this amounts to a reversal of position for Obama. It follows on the heels of his reversal of position on accepting public funding of his presidential campaign. In both cases, Obama has made the smart move, while confirming that he is not remotely a man of principle.

As I’ve said before, Obama is a default hard-leftist with a streak of opportunism as big as all outdoors. Some, notably David Brooks, take solace from that streak of opportunism on the theory that it will serve the country well if Obama becomes president. There’s something to do this. For example, it’s likely that a President Obama would want the powers that the FISA re-write confers. But it’s also true that if Obama becomes president, and (as is likely) has a solid Democratic majority in Congress, his opportunism will not constitute the same constraint on his hard-leftism that it is today.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses