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Obama says one thing, his advisors say something else

So where does Barack Obama really stand on these three issues?


Comments (9)

Three issues?
w/e those issues are they most likely are answered on his website. Also if those issues are those that Hillary has been pushing, its just old politics of misrepresenting what he or his advisor's have said.

You have been missinformed.

I'd like to know that too!
I want to what he plans to do and how he plans to do it!
Not being obtuse, I really want to know!

barackobama.com

avatar

THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!

I've not seen a single case of this. Everytime the media has reported a headline like this, it's because someone has chosen to take the advisor's comments out of context.

Have any specific examples?

For some reason, the body didn't post, and I don't see a way to edit the original. Maybe this will work:

PMO: Officials only got briefing from Obama campaign (The Canadian Press) OTTAWA — Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton never gave Canada any secret assurances about the future of NAFTA such as those allegedly offered by Barack Obama's campaign, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office said Friday. With the NAFTA affair swirling over the U.S. election and Canadian officials skittish about saying anything else that might influence the race, it took the PMO two days to deliver the information. After being asked whether Canadian officials asked for — or received — any briefings from a Clinton campaign representative outlining her plans on NAFTA, a spokeswoman for the prime minister offered a response Friday. "The answer is no, they did not," said Harper spokeswoman Sandra Buckler.

In the case of the Obama campaign’s briefing, it’s not just an allegation. We have the document prepared afterward: “[Obama senior economic advisor Austan Goolsbee] suggested that of the Democratic candidates, Obama has been the least protectionist (unintelligible). HOM asked whether we could expect to hear more of this as the elections progressed, Goolsbee thought not. In fact, he mentioned that going forward the Obama camp was going to be careful to send the appropriate message without coming off too protectionist.” Judging from the use of the word “unintelligible”, one might think the interview is on tape somewhere. In other words, Obama is dog whistling.

And there are other examples of Obama saying one thing and his advisors saying another. See the next two excerpts, below.

Obama Adviser: I ‘Strongly’ Believe Telecoms ‘Should Be Granted Immunity’ Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has consistently spoken out and voted against granting retroactive immunity for telecoms that participated with the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. This stance was part of the reason he won the support of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), a leader on civil liberties issues. One of Obama’s advisers on intelligence and foreign policy advisers, however, is someone who “strongly” supports telecomm immunity. John Brennan is a former CIA official and the current chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. In a new National Journal interview, Brennan makes it clear that he agrees with the Bush administration on the issue of immunity.
Power on Obama's Iraq plan: "best case scenario" (Politico) For all the chatter about Obama adviser Samantha Power's calling Clinton a "monster," another set of remarks made on her book tour in the United Kingdom may be equally threatening to the Obama campaign: Comments in a BBC interview that express a lack of confidence that Obama will be able to carry through his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months. "He will, of course, not rely on some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator," she said at one point in the interview.

As the Clinton Fact Hub points out, “Sen. Obama has repeatedly criticized Hillary for not having a ‘firm’ and "clear" withdrawal deadline.” (Thanks to No Quarter.) He did it again Friday, in Wyoming.

Carolyn Kay
MakethemAccountable.com

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Good examples, and fair enough - thanks.

Here's the thing - Obama's advisers need not parrot his policy positions. Why? Two reasons:

1. Any plans promised during an election can't possibly be grounded fully in practical reality. There are resources and information simply not at one's disposal until they take a seat in the Oval Office. Few plans promised during a campaign will ever see the light of day, as promised.

2. I see nothing wrong with advisers who have different ideas about how things should be done than the candidate does themselves. Why? Because a plurality of opinions on a subject can only help a President make a better informed decision. One of the worst things a leader can do is surround themselves with yes-men.

Certainly advisers can disagree. We certainly don't want the kind of yes men (even the women) that Bush had around him.

They should disagree and fight things out in private, but in public not say anything that's diametrically opposed to what the candidate is saying.

And in the first and third examples, it looks suspiciously like the advisers are telling one group of people not to worry about what the candidate is saying on the campaign trail because he doesn't really mean what he's saying.

That's not exactly transformative politics. It's more like the same old crap.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

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