Finally, an Obamacon — sort of

For the better part of a year, some of Barack Obama’s cheerleaders have been touting the concept of the “Obamacon,” a conservative who support for Barack Obama for president. Efforts to identify a specimen or two have been quite unpersuasive.

But now, two weeks before the election, E.J. Dionne finally have a colorable candidate – a reasonably well-known mainstream conservative who is not well past his sell-by date and who says he will vote for Obama. He is Kenneth Adelman, director of arms control during the Reagan administration, and until recently a long-time ally of Vice President Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and other foreign policy and defense “hawks.”

But Adelman’s enthusiasm for Obama is underwhelming. He states that he “truly dread[s] the notion of a Democratic president, Democratic House, and hugely Democratic Senate.” Why, then, is he voting in favor of that outcome? Because of his disaffection with John McCain. This disaffection, he says, is based on McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate and on his “impetuous” response to the latest financial crisis.

This is hardly Joe Lieberman bucking his party due to fundamental policy disagreements and a deep respect for the other party’s candidate. In fact, the best Adelman can say about the man for whom he will vote is “I sure hope Obama is more open, centrist, sensible–dare I say, Clintonesque–than his liberal record indicates.” It strikes me that Adelman ought not be calling others “impetuous.”

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