Change you can, er, believe in

Sunday, 6th July 2008

Barack Obama’s voting record in the Senate and the positions he struck when battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination placed him as arguably the most left-wing presidential candidate in living memory. Now he is running for the presidency itself, and aware that the white working class in particular view him with intense suspicion, he is shamelessly tacking to the centre, ruthlessly throwing overboard hitherto... ahem, deeply principled stands. So extensive are these flip-flops that Charles Krauthammer has written not one but two articles listing them.

Here's a cut-out-and-keep guide to the ~~same old~~ exciting new politics of triangulation that will take us in to the brave new dawn of a freshly principled era.

Old leftie Obama:

*No flag pin as ‘not truly patriotic’
*For ban on handguns
*No support for bill giving telecom companies blanket immunity for post-9/11 eavesdropping.
*Rubbished NAFTA
*Against private financing for presidential candidates
*Wants to meet Ahmadinejad without preconditions

New centrist Obama:

*Patriotic flag pin
*Against ban on hand guns
*Support for bill giving telecom companies blanket immunity for post-9/11 eavesdropping.
*Supports NAFTA
*For private financing for presidential candidates
*Wants ‘preparations’ or effective preconditions before meeting Ahmadinejad

Even the New York Times has paused in its swoon to issue a heart-breaking cry of pain:

We are not shocked when a candidate moves to the center for the general election. But Mr. Obama's shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics, the man of passionate convictions who did not play old political games.

There there, dears.

I think this is called ‘change you can believe in’.