Politics
Is anyone remotely surprised the Right Wing is once again breaking out the flip-flops? The halls of Congress and the RNC echo chamber are alive with the sound of rubber slapping skin, the sound of futility. This time they're on about Obama's supposed 'flip-flop' on offshore drilling and even some of Obama's posse are taking up the Republican war cry.
What does Obama have to say?
"My interest is in making sure we've got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices. If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well-thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done."
Does that sound like a policy flip? I don't think so. This is the sound of pragmatism, people. This is the sound of a candidate who knows, that come January 2009, a storm of Republican cries for offshore drilling will be deflated by a Democratic congress. Anyhow, the real issue here isn't offshore drilling, but the tone of America's political discourse, which, if the Republicans have their way, will once again devolve into a rancorous din rather than evolve into a reasoned discussion.
The right wing is attempting, once again to paint an unfavorable caricature of the democratic candidate rather than offer us a clear picture of their own, using the exact same strategy that worked against Kerry: 'All right now', says Rove, 'everyone cry flip flopper on the count of three!' And then they do and they scream and scream in the hopes of starting a fight, because they fight dirty and if they can shift the tone from discursive to combative they know they can win. It's imperative that Obama defuse the issue, which he appears to be doing, because whenever something like this turns into a fight, the Republicans end up looking like democratic heroes, i.e. their little protest, to a good portion of the voting population.
Obama knows he's insulated against the flip-flopper label if McCain wants to toss it around since McCain actually did 'flip-flop' on offshore drilling. By showing a willingness to compromise and making it clear he's not going to get into a fight over the issue, Obama is essentially taking the issue out of the ring. Hopefully, Obama will come across looking like the pragmatic leader he is as opposed to a hardline lefty ideologue, which is how the Right aim to portray him. This is a good thing, right? Aren't most Americans weary of ideologues? I know I am.
In the end, to even talk about policy shifts as 'flip-flops' feeds into the Right Wing political model of taking multifaceted issues, rendering them in black and white and turning what should be a discussion into a political wrestling match. Instead of diving into the mud pit with them we should be setting a round table for discussion with a strict dress code: no flip flops allowed. This seems to be what Obama is doing, which is consistent with his calls for a 'new kind of politics'. We should be proud of our boy, put on our finest shoes and head for the table.
