Revisionist Politics

It is bread and butter of presidential politics, the practice of appealing to your party ideological base when seeking the nomination, then the never-imperceptible rush back to moderation for the summer run-up to the general election. Our system of selecting a president makes it mandatory.

To get the nomination you’ve got to become the darling of your hard-core party activists. They are the ones who always vote in the primaries and the ones who always contribute to the campaign coffers. Gotta have the bucks and gotta have the primary votes. So, for Dems it means promising handouts to everyone, socking it to the wealthy (whoever they are,) and supporting the troops while demanding loss of the wars (whichever war is currently ongoing.) For Reps, it means Constitutional amendments prohibiting abortion, flag-burning and gay unions while actively supporting school vouchers, gun rights, return of Christian prayer to schools and censorship of the Internet. Throw in some stereotypical advocacy on illegal immigration cures to complete a package.

This whole charade ignores the incontrovertible fact that winning in November takes not only your partisan base, but the majority of those pesky, ill-disciplined moderates, AKA independents. These are the realists who recognize that any policy needs compromise and consensus before it has a prayer of being adopted. They generally know what is important and what can be safely ignored in a laissez-faire, live-and-let-live modern world. Both ends of the political spectrum revile them.

Now we see this sort of highlighting of the flip-flop parade:

Call It Evolution

Notice anything about that list of McCain and Obama “flips”? Take another look. Did you recognize that McCain is busy “flip-flopping” by diligently repairing the mis-perceptions of his voting record and his positions? He’s attempting to undo the stereo-typing of his past by talk-show hosts who found him insufficiently conservative and Democratic opponents who have enjoyed excellent returns on their campaign to paint him as Bush/Cheney redux.

Slithering into the mix is John Kerry, dutifully singing from last month’s DNC talking points and still not getting it that the Swift Boat campaign was about his very well documented treasonous behavior—something we can’t find in the McCain dossier no matter how hard we scrape. The blatant hypocrisy of trying to retrench the Kerry position (unlikely as it was) from four years ago into today’s distrust might be too much even for modern America to ignore.

A Change We Can't Believe In

Conversely, Obama isn’t fighting to correct misperceptions fostered by an enemy. His policy “refinements” are a battle against his clearly stated positions. He isn’t fixing something Al Franken said on Air America or slurs from the right side of the aisle. He is bringing forth new and opposing positions on his own issue statements. It’s Dr. Jekyl time.

What I Meant But Didn't Say But Should Have

Throughout this whole business there is one critical thing to keep in mind. It flies in the face of what has been drilled into us, but it is worthy of consideration. There is nothing wrong with changing your position on an issue when either the conditions of the issue change or you learn more about it.

A man who will not change his mind when faced with a compelling argument is a fool not worthy of elevation to the leadership of a Cub Scout pack let alone the Presidency of the United States. A man, however, who changes his mind to fit his audience, leaves us with a strong suspicion that there is no principle or conviction operative within that shell.