Is this a Flip? Or a Flop?

By Rick Moran

What I wouldn't give to be Barack Obama for a day.

Imagine being able to tell your wife on Wednesday that you would love to go to the opera with her on Saturday and then being able to change your mind and all she says is "That's fine dear, anything you say."

Or perhaps you could envision telling your 15 year old teenage daughter on Thursday that of course she can go to that unchaperoned party on Saturday night at the frat house only to put your foot down at Saturday and have your kid tell you "You're absolutely right, dad. You're the greatest."

Life would be sweet, yes?

Well this is the feeling I'm getting watching the press as Obama does a back somersault, triple flip with 1 and 1/2 twists on the issue of offshore drilling:

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said today he would be willing to open Florida's coast for more oil drilling if it meant winning approval for broad energy changes.

"My interest is in making sure we've got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices," Obama said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post.

"If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done," Obama said.

But wait just one minute. Hold the phone. Just a few months ago, you were singing a different tune, Mr. Messiah:

Obama has opposed exposing more coastline to drilling, saying that oil companies have not fully explored the areas open to drilling now and insisting that it would have little immediate impact on prices at the pump.

So what happened to change The One's mind? It seems that John McCain is slaughtering Obama and the Democrats on this issue in the polls. So Obama, fully aware that the press will never call him out on his shameless, pandering flip flop, suddenly jumps on the drilling bandwagon - and has the audacity of shamelessness to pretend to get out front of the issue by calling for a "comprehensive" energy policy - something McCain has been calling for all along.

The press will never call him out on it, of course. They will go along with the fiction that Obama's feet have been solidly planted in the pro-drilling camp all along as Obama tosses his environmental supporters under the bus.

All I can say is, "Wish I were you, buddy" - if even for a day.