Disappointment with Obama

When this year's election race started a loooong time ago, I was a John Edwards supporter. I thought his candidness about a mistaken vote to authorize force in Iraq, his focus on narrowing the income gap in America, and his position on universal healthcare were all spot-on. I was angry when he dropped out in January.

But given that he was no longer an option, I became an Obama supporter. I was against the Iraq war from the start, and wrote to both of my senators at the time to ask that they vote against the resolution. Hillary's unwavering defense of her position and support for other hawkish measures (declaring Iran's Republican Guard a terrorist organization for one) led me to distrust her judgment on matters of war and peace. I also considered Bill a millstone-sized weight to a Hillary presidency and a constant risk for scandal, which I was not interested in. If Hillary was really about feminism, her deference to his infidelity would have given way before now.

So Obama was my guy. Still is. But I am troubled by his recent pandering. His biggest early strength - his honesty - is now in question. First he reversed course on the FISA bill, a terrible bill that gave the President everything he wanted and trampled over 4th ammendment protections against warrantless searches. Then, just yesterday, he claimed to have never doubted that the 2007 surge in Iraq would decrease violence. His rhetoric at the time was exactly the opposite.

Barak, who are you? An agent of change? Or is the biggest change you bring a hope that becomes despair? This is not the solid footing for a good Presidential administration that we hoped for, nor does it sow the seeds for doing things differently in Washington.

While we have seen violence reduced since the surge (now 18 months into 6-month plan), it is a mistake to take correlation for causation. At the same time as the surge, the US military started to enlist the help of Iraqi groups to quell violence. It seems that this is what worked. Obama needs to give the military credit where credit is due - the surge is a red herring, and should be ignored, while enlisting the help of Iraqis to contain the violence works.