Flip-Flops We Can Believe In...

The Obama campaign has long tied McCain to the "usual Washington politics" because he was connected to and has former lobbyists in his campaign. Barack Obama, however, claimed that he would not take money or be swayed by Washington lobbyists. He promised all of us that he wants to bring a "change" to Washington and that he would act in the people's best interest. This is the same candidate who was swayed so much this year that he wanted up to $300 million worth of pork-barrel spending so that our tax-payer dollars could fund projects in Illinois that we may never personally see. What a waste of money. Shouldn't states use their state citizens' money instead of hundreds of millions of others who don't reside in that state? It's sad that pork-barrel lobbying can make a politician's judgment, such as Obama's, so confused and irrational. Obama's pledge was to never accept lobbyist funding but being swayed by them to fund ridiculous projects sounds basically the same to me. To show how convoluted Obama's message is on lobbying, here is an example of funds donated by lobbyists to both parties: $3.3 million for McCain and $4.7 million for Obama. So before Obama makes attacks on McCain's lobbyist money, Obama should look at his own amount which is much higher than the amount McCain received. Just like his acceptance of money he said he would never accept, Obama has created a long list of flip-flops between running for the party and now running for president.

Here is just a glimpse into his top 5 favorite flip-flops:

(1) His reversals on "special interest" money. He pointed out, during the primary season, that both Hillary Clinton and John Edwards accepted the donations of union money. Now, Obama is happy to accept money from the "working people" of America (notice the change in language).

(2) Remaining on the money topic, in 2007, Obama said he would accept public financing during his presidential bid. However, after he won the Democratic nomination, he said he wouldn't accept this financing, which limits the amount of money you can get from the public.

(3) In 2004, Obama wanted to end the U.S. embargo on Cuba because he said it failed to overthrow the communist regime there. Now, however, while speaking to Cuban Americans in Miami in 2007, Obama said that we should keep the embargo because it will lead to "change".

(4) In 2004, Obama opposed the idea of the government cracking down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Earlier this year, Obama said that we should crack down on businesses that are taking advantage of the situation.

(5) Finally, there is the case of marijuana. In early 2004, Obama told college students in Illinois that he supported eliminating penalties for marijuana uses. At a presidential debate in 2007, Obama and his other Democrat counterparts agreed that the use of marijuana is illegal and should be punishable offenses.