According to the Washington Post the GOP and nominee John McCain have come up with a campaign slogan to use against Barack Obama: he’ll do and say anything to win.

Senator Lindsey Graham used the line on Meet the Press, stating:

“He’s a calculating politician,” Graham said. “The bottom line about Barack Obama, whatever the position — whether it be Iraq, campaign finance reform, public financing — he’s going to take a tack that allows him to win. He wants to win beyond anything else, even more than keeping his word.”

First off, I hardly think this makes him unique among politicians.  McCain himself has “flip-flopped” on more than one issue or at least been accused of doing so.  Politicians say things that they think will get people to vote for them.  In an ideal world, we would have politicians who felt safe standing firm on their opinions, but I supsect we’re not in an ideal world.

I do fear, however, that this charge will resonate with a lot of people.  The public financing back-out, even if you can believe the argument that so many of Obama’s funds came from small donations that it’s de facto public financing.  I don’t have the data to back this up, but a lot of people don’t spend their free hours wanding the Internet like I do, and when all you see is a headline or a brief newsclip about the story, it looks bad.

Then, of course, Obama voted for the FISA compromise, which angered many on the left, and makes me think he’s trying to move to the center for the general election and appear “tougher” on terrorism.  This is a mistake, especially if it causes him to back down on previous opinions, because it will just feed into the message that McCain and the GOP are developing.  It worked in 2004, and I fear it will work again.  I just wish, for once, a liberal politician would stand up for what they believe in, without worrying about alienating those people who are unlikely to vote for them in the first place, by virtue of the “D” next to their names.

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