With the preposterous likes of Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, ACORN and Farrakhan taking up the headlines as of late, it’s surprising—although still not reassuring—to note that Senator Barack Obama is indeed capable of straight up, old-fashioned, traditional political sleaze.
You could actually argue that it’s a case of “the pot calling the kettle black”—although we won’t use that analogy given the liberals’ rabid propensity to make racist mountains out of race-less molehills. Therefore, let’s call it a “do as I say, not as I do” moment.
Actually, “barefaced hypocrisy” works just fine.
Now flashback a week ago to last Tuesday night’s debate between the Illinois Senator and his challenger, John McCain. In a campaign proposal heard ‘round the world—especially in the Republican party—Senator McCain offered to purchase failing mortgages straight from homeowners and mortgage companies and substitute them for government-supported fixed-rate mortgages. As Senator McCain said:
“Is it expensive? Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we’re never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing the economy.”
Since announcing his $300-billion plan, the Republican presidential nominee has taken flak from conservatives—including Americans for Limited Government—for proposing yet another Big Government solution to free-market issues. And conservatives have every right to be cautious. As the Los Angeles Times describes, the specific plan carries a lot of weight:
“According to the outline of McCain’s newest proposal, the federal government would pay borrowers and lenders in full, regardless of how wise or fair the original transaction was. Lenders would be able to remove the bad mortgages from their balance sheets, and borrowers would be able to refinance into government-guaranteed loans. Mortgage holders would have to prove they lived in the home and had good credit at the time of the original loan.”
The Republican backlash, however, is not the real news. After all, everyone knows John McCain has gotten plenty of that throughout his years. The real story here, however, is the aforementioned “barefaced hypocrisy” of Barack Obama with regards to McCain’s mortgage plan.
In an effort to score political points last week, Barack Obama criticized McCain’s proposal, saying the taxpayers would be made victims if such a plan were enacted. As a Fox News article summarized:
“Obama said McCain’s plan would force the government to absorb the full cost of renegotiating mortgages to prevent borrowers from losing their homes. Lenders should share some of the costs, he said.
“The Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign also criticized McCain’s mortgage plan in a new 30-second ad to air nationally on cable TV, a relatively inexpensive way of drawing media attention to an issue.”
In Obama’s own words, he said the plan:
“…punishes taxpayers, rewards banks, and won’t solve our housing crisis”
However, the $700-billion bailout bill, which Obama voted for, already gives the Treasury Department the authority to buy mortgages. The very thing Obama decried last week is the same thing he voted for on October 3rd.
If his own vote isn’t enough to reveal Obama’s naked hypocrisy, perhaps his own words will do a better job. As the Los Angeles Times piece describes:
“Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said [McCain’s mortgage] idea was not a new one and noted that the Illinois senator had raised it. On Oct. 1, in a news release, Obama said he intended to “encourage Treasury to study the option of buying individual mortgages like we did successfully in the 1930s.”
It seems Mr. Burton didn’t get the memo about his candidate being for the mortgage buyouts before he was against it.
It’s apparent now that Senator Obama would rather maintain his lead in the polls than maintain his dignity—or better yet, his political positions. Although, with more and more news of Obama’s ties with Ayers, Wright, and ACORN surfacing, one can’t be sure Obama has any dignity left at all.
At least it’s interesting to note Senator Obama is capable of “normal” political sleaze—like barefaced hypocrisy.
