TABLE FOR ONE : Just you look
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008
It appears that both Barack Obama and the Bush administration are flip-flopping. "Appears"may be the key word here. Actually, it's the rigid stay-the-courseand-never-admit-you're-wrong Republicans who invented the flip-flop card. To a conservative thinker even informed change is flipflopping. That's the way they think. If George Will changed his helmet hair William Kristol would scream "flip-flopper ! "They nailed John Kerry with that tag in 2004 and the voting public fell for it. Now they are trying to stamp that same tag on Obama, assuming the flip-flopper tag is a detriment.
It doesn't bother most broad-minded liberals that Obama is willing to adjust his positions as conditions change. We think he's smart to shift as the months go by and situations change on the ground. It is still very clear that he wants to end U. S. involvement in Iraq as soon as possible. He hinted that he would discuss it with military commanders, and McCain screamed "flip-flopper !"
But wait a second. Guess who was voted Flip-Flopper of the Year just last week. Guess who flip-flopped last week on two of the most debated issues in the Middle East: diplomacy, and a "time horizon"for bringing home the troops. The Bush administration, that's who ! It was hilariously embarrassing for McCain. Right in the middle of a speech berating Obama (as usual ) for his obvious "naiveté"in stating his willingness to talk with Iran - a country who wants to wipeout Israel - the Bush team announced that an undersecretary at the State Department would sit in on negotiations with the head of the Iranian nuclear program. Oops ! Flip-flop !
Naturally Condi Rice had to go on Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room"to carefully point out that this "diplomacy"was not actual diplomacy per se, and the administration had not moved to the center very near the position of Barack Obama. For that is exactly what Obama has been proposing for months. "Let's talk to somebody about our differences," he states freely.
Change ! "Let's change the way we've been doing things"has been the theme of Obama's entire campaign. Millions of people agree with him. To not talk to dangerous enemies is absurd. During the Cold War President Reagan talked to Gorbachev and most people believe that was the ice breaker that eventually led to the meltdown of the toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball stand off between the Soviet Union and the United States.
I sometimes wonder if one of our brilliant presidents had talked to Fidel Castro during the last 50 years that things might be very different today in Cuba. Obama will talk to Cuba when he's president. Why not ? Oh, but they are commies ! We can't talk to commies ! That's the old conservative arrogant American rightor-wrong thinking of the past 100 years. Look where it's gotten us. Let's CHANGE !!
Obama has received rants of criticism from McCain and Bush for his determination to bring the troops home. Bush has stated a million times that their can be no timelines. McCain bitterly accuses Obama of "wanting to lose the war in Iraq by setting a timeline. "So what happened last Friday ? Bush talked to Iraqi President Nouri al-Malaki by phone. And what did they discuss ? A "time horizon"for getting our troops out of Iraq. Bingo !
Flip-floppin', bop-boppin' Flip-floppin', everybody doing the flip-floppin' Condi had to go back on the "Situation Room"and'splain to Wolf Blitzer and the rest of us idiots that a "time horizon "was far, far different from a mere "timeline. " "And besides," she added," we have always been working toward a time to pull out our troops. "What ? Everybody doing the flip-floppin'.
Honestly, is Bush flip-flopping ? Only if you use the overly anal conservative's own definition. I think it's the best thing I've heard to come out of his mouth in eight years. He's finally shifted a failed position because things on the ground are changing for the better. It's the smart thing to do. For the administration to admit to some "asperational goals "and send a representative to talk to a perceived threat is a positive step in the right direction. I pray Bush will become a good flip-flopper and flip-flop every one of his disastrous policies. But I won't accuse him of flip-flopping, not out loud.
Let's have a moratorium on the flip-flop card. If Obama shifts his stance slightly as he receives more information while on his tour of the Middle East then more power to him. If Bush is finally seeing the light and attempting to shift some of his policies because of new information then more power to him, too. And when Condi goes on TV to adamantly deny any CHANGE - a curse word to conservatives - in Bush's policies, we can all smile and under our breath whisper... flip-floppin'. Bop-boppin'. Everybody doing the flip-floppin'.
Grady Jim Robinson lives in Fayetteville. His column appears on Wednesdays.
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