Saturday, August 2, 2008

Obama Concedes Point on Offshore Drilling: Change in Action

Contrary to the caricature Obamatrons have of their hero and savior, he has repeatedly shown himself to be of no particular threat to the status quo, making the massive donations flooding in from the financial sector seem less incongruous by the day. Obama has made equivocation an art form, utilizing shiny language to dress up the old guard and shiftily dodge the realization that whatever 'change' he pretends to stand for will not be realized during his presidency. This, of course, is well aided by the fact that no one ever asks him what 'changes' he might bring.

The latest slumber-inducing backtrack comes on the topic of drilling on the OCS.

“My interest is in making sure we’ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices,” Mr. Obama told The Palm Beach Post’s Michael C. Bender. “If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done.”

Carefully circumscribed? What does that mean? If, in fact, this effort in bipartisan hackery turns out like all its predecessors, those in Quixotic search for progress seem to have been sorely misled. If I may take a stab at transcribing Obama's cute elocution, I believe what he's trying to say is this: "If, in the end, I have to sign on for maintenance of the prevailing winds of bullshit on Capitol Hill, I'm game, but you'll have to excuse my manner of circumscribing logic and forthrightness in the interest of wooing some voters in the process. Don't worry, they won't bother us after November, and we can get back to the task at hand."

John McCain will undoubtedly pummel Obama with cat calls of "flip-flopper," but it has only been a few months since McCain did the same, showing that he was merely ahead of the curve.

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