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Oct
27
The arguments that this ABC Political Punch column suggests John McCain is about to use against Barack Obama are not simple.
Presumably McCain will go after Obama in ways some on the conservative bloggosphere are today, accusing Obama of calling it a “tragedy” for not venturing into “the issues of redistribution of wealth” — though Obama’s campaign says that’s a twisting of his words.
“In this interview back in 2001, Obama was talking about the civil rights movement – and the kind of work that has to be done on the ground to make sure that everyone can live out the promise of equality,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton says. “Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with Obama’s economic plan or his plan to give the middle class a tax cut. It’s just another distraction from an increasingly desperate McCain campaign.”
Burton continues: “In the interview, Obama went into extensive detail to explain why the courts should not get into that business of ‘redistributing’ wealth. Obama’s point – and what he called a tragedy – was that legal victories in the Civil Rights led too many people to rely on the courts to change society for the better. That view is shared by conservative judges and legal scholars across the country.
“As Obama has said before and written about, he believes that change comes from the bottom up – not from the corridors of Washington,” Burton says. “He worked in struggling communities to improve the economic situation of people on the South Side of Chicago, who lost their jobs when the steel plants closed. And he’s worked as a legislator to provide tax relief and health care to middle-class families. And so Obama’s point was simply that if we want to improve economic conditions for people in this country, we should do so by bringing people together at the community level and getting everyone involved in our democratic process.”
The comments that McCain supposedly wants to pull out have to be placed in context or, as a campaign in its last several days might be want to do, pull it so out of context that it will be easily torpedoed as desperate, as well as illogical. Of course, it supposedly comes from Drudge so what do you expect.
Additionally, I can’t imagine McCain being able to pull off using anything from Obama’s comments in Septeber 2001 as an attack unless the presentation is extremely, specifically, outlined for him. The material is just too dense, theoretical, philosophical, old and has no contemporaneous connection.
Finally, what Obama said, as far as being a theory of how far the Warren Court failed to go is to assist historically discriminated against populations, is more or less accurate.
Seriously. If I were McCain, I would stay away from this line of attack. It is just too Medusa-like.
UPDATE: Ben Smith at Politico posts about a rebuff from Harvard law prof and close Obama confidant, Cass Sunstein, to the suggestion that Obama’s 2001 comments have anything to do with anything negative the McCain camp is trying to suggest.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:48 am October 27th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, John McCain, Ohio, Politics, WH2008
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7 Responses to “[update] I wouldn’t trust McCain to be able to make this attack coherently”
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In other words McCain should shut the *F*-UP?
Perhaps if they spent more time explaining Palin’s…wardrobe expense..Oy my bad, those were just props and assessories…like the stage lights and microphones, etc. Why they plan to donate all those clothes…SO the poor and disenfranchised can look stylish and hip on the soup kitchen lines or under the bridge sleeping at night. Gotta love the GOP they are nothing if not out of touch!
Is it Nov 4th YET?
I HATE the news – why don’t they post a link to the actual hour long interview so you can see for yourself?
all that plus transcript of youtube video “2001 Wealth Redistribution” over at my blog
Obama Controversy #137
Brown Man – thank you VERY much for that link and work. I know exactly what you mean – is this day and age, there’s no reason to not have links.
Nothing is taken out of context.
It is Obama just telling everyone what he told JTP only in 2001. He supports the fairness of wealth distribution.
Ben – as has been the case for the last 70 or more years. Yup.
The polls shift every time the GOP campaign releases a statement, everything they come up with is spurious, you would think that by now the they would have figured out that does not serve them well?
Not a single poll has McCain ahead, some show double digit leads.
This is a measure of character, really how you act what you say as a looser? The wealth is actually evaporating as we speak, not that much to redistribute, they are running the presses at the treasury 24/7…I really dislike Washington and I know that as all of these disgusting economic events unfold the lack of substance will raise its ugly political head.
Are we aware the auto industry is like a huge black hole for capital….
I would recommend setting the price of petroleum at $4.00 a gallon with a variable excise tax. Then mandate separation of commercial from non-commercial vehicle over 2500 lbs curb weight as commercial and then require those to have a special permit.
Then buy back all that over 2500 lb vehicles and recycle them, the price set at blue book and funded through the excise tax. The buy back should be voluntary and if the vehicle is financed it can be kept until the financing is paid off or the blue book value high enough to cover the lien on the vehicle. Commercial vehicle could be sold and or refinanced but only with a permit to have one.
Also all federal transportations projects that being roadwork froze unless life threatening. Then a federal network of roads defined, what is commercial and noncommercial. Then build a complementary system of rail to reduce the weight loads on commercial roadways.
You know I never sold out; I have worked in nearly every industry, never to work my way up or to impress the boss, just as a mole with a charter of understanding as much of what they are doing as possible.
The problem is that you have to regulate and to define a goal, then the market knows what is on the horizon and then work towards that.
I would also require the auto industry to divest of its financing, then maybe mandate that they insure their vehicles. That would prevent them from selling cars expensive to repair and dangerous in a collision.
Guess what we are a conservative nation, even the liberals are conservative thinkers, even Denis Kucinich cannot think outside of his box.
Do we think that the 50K electric car from GM is a solution? The person that does not even own a car will see the impact of that in their electric bill.
You will never live like the Jetsons, if not careful it will be more like little house on the prairie.
If you can’t see how toxic everything we are doing is…then I will wait. In the mean time if you know were the federal government suggestion box is…oh never mind, one is the loneliest number.
Cass Sunstein’s views on the Constitution scare me even more than Barack “deeply flawed document” Obama’s do.