mcsnee

People might even buy it if it wasn't done for transparently political reasons. When you're running as a "new kind of politician," one who can bring hope and change to Washington, one who leads by conviction instead of by polls, changing your positions week-to-week, audience-to-audience makes you look like a douche.

Oh, no doubt. I'm pretty pissed off at Obama's change in position on the wiretap/telecom immunity bill, for instance.

My point, though, is that I can think of no instance in recent memory in which I or anyone else I know has found "I didn't flip-flop!" a convincing argument--from either party.

changing your positions week-to-week, audience-to-audience makes you look like a douche.

And presumably you agree that the same is the case when the douche in question is running as the "straight-talk" candidate?

Yes, I agree that the "straight-talk express" has very douche-like qualities :) I wish there was somebody on my side that I would be more willing to stick my neck out for running against Hopey McChangerson.

A-friggin'-Men. That's been my biggest problem with Bush. He feels that, once he's made a decision, he must "stay the course" even when new evidence is presented. It's not a sign of strength. It's a sign of bull-headedness.

He changed course in Iraq, going with The Surge.

The people who were against The Surge (Harry "White Flag" Reid) have now had to admit The Surge worked.

Reid, 6/07: “As many had forseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results.”

Reid, 12/07: "We sent other troops over there, and there are a lot of reasons the surge certainly hasn't hurt. It's helped. I recognize that."

I don't call them flip-floppers. I just call them dangerous idiots. Had we listened to Reid, Pelosi and Obama in mid-2007, Iraq would be a much uglier place in mid-2008. Thank you, Pres. Bush, for staying the course.

* * *
But, really, when you're stubborn and things turn out right, you look like a genius. When you're stubborn and they don't, you look like an idiot.

The easy way out is to keep changing course, claiming that you're trying everything to see what works. That sort of indecision is the polar opposite of leadership.

We could have bailed on WWII after the Philippines fell. We could have bailed on Europe after D-Day, citing many thousands lost (more than in all our years in Iraq). But, for all his shortcomings domestically, FDR was a good war leader.

Even a room full of monkeys with typewriters gets one page right every once in a great while.

Sorry, stubborn is not a good quality for a leader and, no, a leader doesn't change courses to "see what works." He changes courses based on changing conditions and situations and corrected/improved intelligence. To ignore that and "stay the course" is not the sign of leadership in the least. It's a sign of a president whose ego is too big for the job and who is too immature to admit he might have been wrong.

Interesting how you assume that, just because I think Bush is a lousy president I must automatically think that Obama is the great coming for our next president. You couldn't be more wrong (as usual). I'm not convinced at all that he is my choice at this point. There's a long way to go until November and a lot that's still to come out about all of the candidates.

Well, I voted for Obama when he seemed like a no-BS guy, even though I disagreed with him on most things. Since then, he's shown himself to be the biggest fraud in Presidential politics since Ross Perot, and the biggest fraud from a major party since, well, I don't go back that far.

For the record, I think Pres. Bush is an okay President. He's far better than Gore or Kerry would have been. His two biggest shortcomings were his willingness to try to please his enemies (thinking they'd appreciate the effort) and his unwillingness to play hardball with the guys on his side (letting the Republicans overspend like Democrats, showing that they weren't the alternative party they claimed to be).

Howard Dean did. That's one of the reasons I was a delegate for him. He'd say "Listen, I'm a doctor. I have to process new information and change positions if appropriate or my patient'll die."

Oh, please. The guy had a family practice.

How many life-and-death decisions do you think he made?

Honestly, who's he talking to?

Those of us following along at the level of maturity you're looking for have already largely made up our minds: Him, the other guy, or protest/abstain. Barring some truly unforgiveable scandal (the wiretap thing doesn't apply), we're not likely to change our minds.

The people who remain are, by and large, the easily swayed. Yes, it's sad that Obama is speaking to the LCD, but McCain is, too. There's an ad on TV right now (at least in Michigan) that McCain has a comprehensive program to protect the environment, including through off-shore drilling. Off-shore drilling protects the environment only through the contrast of other, more destructive options. :p

So he's going to be a politician for the next four months. So's McCain. Hopefully it ends, for better or for worse, on the first Wednesday in November. But until then, it's only going to get more juvenile.

He won't be very effective at bringing about a new style of politics by standing on the sidewalk outside the White House. *shrug*

I think there's an argument to be made, though, that the people who are easily swayed would respond to the parental tone I'm suggesting.

Possibly. But the thing about politics, like any game, is that if you play by the standard rules, you're not judged as harshly for losing as if you try gambles.

Yeah, though, I wish he'd be more honest. He changes position, and he has nuances that look like flip-flops, and that's what responsible adults are like.

I saw this and thought of your post, so I thought you might enjoy reading it as well.

Politicians can often change their minds on substantive issues when presented with new polls. That doesn't make them hypocrites or flipfloppers. It makes them politicians, and it's what differentiates them from George W. Bush, who sticks by his principles and doesn't govern by poll.