Now That's Nuance!

I wondered whether my mad lefty brother was getting a little upset with Senator Obama as he tacked to the right. He's not angry enough to be a Kos kid, but he is true believer in collectivism.

Well another email thread pried out the truth. He applauds the Junior Senator from Illinois for his (wait for it...) "nuance."

I don't want to beat up my brother here, but the reviews are rolling in, and they're not too good. It seems all those mad right wingers: Mark Halperin, Ted Koppel, George Stephanopoulos, Mara Liasson, and Juan Williams were all critical. Here's Juan Williams:

My sense is, though, along the lines of the Wall Street Journal editorial this week that said who would have guessed that Barack Obama is legitimizing George Bush’s — and the whole notion of George Bush’s position on Iraq, and the whole notion of a third term for Bush, because he’s picked up not just on Iraq, but on things like faith- based initiative, even on the abortion question, which I — it was befuddling to me. He says suddenly, you know, mental distress is not a basis for a woman to have an abortion. I mean, that’s going to outrage people on the left. So what it seems to me is you could say on Iraq it’s a matter of emphasis. All along he has said he would take into consideration the position of the commanders in the field. But the heart and soul — I mean, the heart of his campaign has been to say, “This is an unpopular war. It’s a war that was ill- conceived. We never should have gone in there. We have put too much money in there. We have spent too much of our precious blood there.” And suddenly he’s saying, “No, no, you know what? I’m going to refine my position.”

I watched Williams make that statement on FOX News Sunday yesterday. I was struck by the fact that four, fairly bright pundits (Fred Barnes, Mara Liasson, Bill Kristol, Juan Williams) who do this for a living -- none of the four had any idea what direction a President Obama would take. Liasson quotes Paul Krugman:

I mean, Paul Krugman, who’s a liberal columnist, wrote this week, “Gee, is he a centrist just masquerading as someone who’s a transformational progressive figure or is he really the opposite?” You know, people just don’t know. He’s a blank slate.

Dude promised change.

Dem2008 Primary Posted by jk at July 7, 2008 12:50 PM