
 |
|
May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
July 11, 2008
/ 8 Tamuz, 5768
Slouching Toward the Center
By
Linda Chavez
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The Senate has finally passed the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), 69-28, after months of dithering, but one vote among the yeas comes as quite a surprise. Sen. Barack Obama, who just a few months ago threatened to filibuster the bill, had a change of heart or was it just a change in campaign strategy?
The legislation authorizes continued warrantless wiretaps of suspected terrorists' overseas communications, so long as they are not U.S citizens, and gives retroactive legal immunity against lawsuits to telecommunications companies that assisted the government in earlier warrantless searches. In December 2005, the New York Times exposed the National Security Agency's secret program to monitor overseas conversations and e-mails of suspected terrorists drawing howls of protest from Democrats and groups like the ACLU. Ever since, Democrats have been trying to rein in the government's ability to eavesdrop on our adversaries, and Sen. Obama has been among the most vociferous critics.
Back when he still had to worry about winning the Democratic nomination, Sen. Obama said he "unequivocally oppose(d) giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies" and would support a Senate filibuster to keep such immunity out of the bill. But that was then. Now that he is the party's presumptive nominee, well, it's time to do a little repositioning.
"Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I've chosen to support the current compromise," Sen. Obama wrote in a letter to his left-wing supporters posted on his website earlier this week. "Now, I understand why some of you feel differently about the current bill, and I'm happy to take my lumps on this side and elsewhere," he added.
Yeah, right. Translated into plain English, what he's saying is, "Deal with it. You guys have nowhere else to go, and I need the votes of centrist Democrats and Independents if I am to close the deal in November, so grin and bear it."
Now, there's nothing new about a presidential candidate moving to the center after the primaries; that's what politicians traditionally do. What is so galling about Sen. Obama's actions is that he self-righteously denies he's doing it. He told a group of supporters in Atlanta this week that they shouldn't believe "this whole notion that I am shifting to the center … The people who say this apparently haven't been listening to me," he claimed, referring to himself as "a progressive."
Yet his FISA vote is just the latest in a string of policy reversals aimed at moving him from the left fringe to the center of American politics. On the District of Columbia's all-out ban on handgun ownership, the New York Times reports that "(a)s recently as four months ago, he seemed to speak in favor of the law; two weeks ago, however, he seemed to applaud the Supreme Court ruling (striking down the law) without precisely saying so."
On the issue of late-term abortions, Time reports that Obama seems to have shifted positions. The magazine says Sen. Obama told a Christian publication that late-term abortions must contain "a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother," adding: "Now, I don't think that 'mental distress' qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term." But he not only voted against legislation prohibiting partial birth abortions because it did not have a liberal health-of-the-mother exception, he condemned the Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal law banning the procedure.
Even on his signature issue of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq immediately after he's sworn in as president, Sen. Obama has begun to waver. His website claims he "will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months." But just last week, Sen. Obama said that he will use his forthcoming trip to Iraq to make a "further assessment" of whether "conditions still hold" to withdraw troops that quickly.
The one thing Sen. Obama remains consistent on is that he's the candidate of change. Now we know that this means he intends to change his positions as often as he feels necessary to win more votes.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity. Her latest book is "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)
Linda Chavez Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|