zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric: The Long Days Of Obama's Summer

Wednesday, July 02, 2008
The Long Days Of Obama's Summer

Ain't no fun being Obama these days. Just ask the candidate, who cracked to the press corps the other day, "It's not allowed."

Although his lead in the polls seems to be holding steady, he's been caught out there in the long days of summer. A lot of it is of his own making, as he moves his campaign to the right for the general election after a long primary season that was about motivating his base on the left.

Obama has riled them by refusing public financing after promising he would, reversing his position to back a law that allows the government to use telecom companies in warrantless wiretapping, and throwing Wesley Clark under a bus over his comments on McCain's time in the military.

By yesterday, folks were scratching their heads.

To recap: Obama likes campaign finance reform but refuses spending limits. He opposes government spying and media consolidation, but if the two issues come together, he'll reconsider. He says McCain's war experience does not automatically make him the best presidential candidate, but if another military man voices the same thing, it's wrong. What happened?

And on top of all that, Obama is also under fire for receiving campaign support from Chicago slumlord developers, who took advantage of weakened federal oversight and enforcement to secure federal funds to gentrify Chicago and leave affordable housing in shambles. Plus a quarter of Americans still think he's unpatriotic, and a tenth believe he's Muslim.

It's getting hot in here.

No wonder he's now begun making a point of his opposition to initiatives that would ban gay marriage. (It was the headline in today's San Francisco Chronicle.)

One initative will be on the ballot in California-where Governor Schwarzenegger holds the same position and Obama is expected to win easily. The other is in Arizona, McCain's home state, where the Republican candidate declared his support for the ban. The last will play out in Florida, and we all know about Florida.

Here's the question many Obama supporters are raising now: is he simply doing the same thing the Republicans have been doing for their conservative base for years--playing up cultural issues while backsliding on some of the most important economic and political ones? Will issues like gay marriage, affirmative action, and green jobs simply become triangulation for the same old politics of big money and bad government?

That wouldn't be change now, would it?

posted by Zentronix @ 10:00 AM 1 comments

1 Comments:

At 7/3/08, 9:06 AM, Marcus Reeves said...: Damn, you're proving Adolf Reed's criticism of Barack in The Progressive to be right: dude's gonna get caught out their like a con artist. But, hey, it's the game of politics, and Barack's trying to play this motherfucker like he's one of the Williams sisters...LOL. Keep up the probing.

Post a Comment

Previous posts
A Final Farewell To Cody's
How Korean B-Boys Took Over The World
Is The Republican Party Dead?
Breakin' The Vote! :: The Best PrObama Video Yet
Muslims, Obama, And The Potential Perils of Victory
The Politics of Identity Politics
Marc Bamuthi Joseph's "the break/s" Opens In The B...
2G2K Circus Returns! :: Talking Michelle + Affirma...
Does McCain Have A Chance?
"Baby Mama" Drama For Michelle Obama

select * from pages where handle = "BlogLinks" #content#

Archives
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009