The Washington Post's Fred Hiatt has judged Barack Obama guilty - not so much for "telling the American people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear," but for not "telling the American people anything they don't want to hear." Did you follow that? And, okay: there are a handful of examples of Obama taking a tough message before an unfriendly crowd. And, yeah: it's fair to say that it's "commonly accepted that Democrats "run left" in the primaries and then shift toward the center in the general election, while Republicans perform the mirror-image dance." And, sure: in asserting that Obama has "shifted" positions on various issues, it isn't always clear where Obama is supposed to have shifted from. But, remember: "campaigning [poses] a test of character," and Obama's campaigning raises "acute" questions: "...at some point," Hiatt says, "it's no longer enough to describe yourself as courageous."
Uhm, sure! But what's the point? For Hiatt, that would seem to come buried in paragraph eleven, where he drops in a parenthetical advertisement for his favorite candidate:
But campaigning does pose a test of character: Are there any principles that a candidate holds strongly enough to take an electoral hit -- or to try to lead and bring the electorate along -- rather than follow the polls? This year and over the years, we've seen, for example, that John McCain has some such principles: on Iraq, on immigration, on curbing the influence of money in politics. With the rest of the field, in both parties, it's not so clear.
Really? We're talking about the same John McCain who made a rightward pivot in immigration? The same John McCain who the Washington Times noted had been "piling up flip-flops?" Who now opposes the lobbying reform he used to champion? Who finally realized that he'd better pander to the base on abortion and gay marriage if he wanted to fulfill his presidential ambitions? Who's found it necessary to warmly embrace the religious zealots he shunned in 2000? Whose fervent, "maverick," opposition to the way the Iraq War has been prosecuted has been continual, so long as you're willing to excuse all the times he's insisted he's fully on board? Does he even support the famous piece of campaign finance legislation he got top-billing on for years? No?
Aye, verily: at some point, it is no longer enough to describe yourself as courageous. At that point, you've got to find some ignorant op-ed columnist to do it for you.