PrintJuly 17, 2008
Campaigning for versus serving in office
Obama apparently isn't much of a cyclist. But he is a runner. In fact, Obama is a world-class runner.
Jim Geraghty at National Review's Campaign Spot blog put together an impressive list, chronicling the amount of time Obama has spent campaigning over the past ten years in office. It is evdience of a certain kind of audacity. Geraghty concludes:
If you begin counting from September 1999, there are 112 months between then and November 2008, and Obama has been campaigning for higher office in 52.6 percent of those months.
Say whatever you want about the man, but Obama knows how to successfully run for office.
But let's take a look at some specific examples of what Obama does while campaigning for office and once he's in office.
Obama apparently published no articles or notes while a member of the Harvard Law Review.
Obama voted "present" nearly 130 times as an Illinois state legislator.
Obama won't release a number of records, such as state legislative records, his application to the Illinois bar, his complete health records, records of his work at a law firm including which clients he worked with, or his birth certificate.
Obama has chickened out on town hall debates with John McCain.
Obama has not held a single hearing pertaining to the war in Afghanistan in the Senate subcommittee he chairs which has oversight responsibilities that include NATO.
Obama has never been to Afghanistan, though he did consider himself informed enough to claim that the US is "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians" there.
Obama has not been to Iraq in over 920 days, and only arranged a visit after being taunted by McCain.
Obama has never sought a meeting with General Petraeus, and only arranged one after being taunted by McCain.
Obama plays the "distraction" or "divisive" card to shield himself from having to address difficult, substantive issues.
Obama ducks difficult questions from the press by deploying the chagrin defense with phrases like, "Come on guys. I answered like eight questions?" and "Why can't I just eat my waffle?"
Obama's entire life is centered around successfully running for office *and* running from anything and everything else that might compromise his efforts to get in or stay there.
There's only one problem.
None of that provides any evidence that he could run the country. In fact, it argues against it.
Jeff Dobbs blogs at The Voice in My Head
