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OPINIONS
Mark Caserta: Sen. Obama has serious credibility problems
I'm not concerned about Sen. Barack Obama's lack of experience to be the next president of the United States, nor am I that concerned with the fact that even though he bases his entire campaign strategy on promoting "real change" in our government, he has yet to sustain any real record of change in the Senate.
There is, however, a concerning pattern emerging.
Barack Hussein Obama is quickly mounting a track record of not being able to keep his word.
In an October 2006 interview with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," he was asked if he would serve his full six-year term as the United States senator from Illinois.
The senator responded, "Absolutely ... I will serve out my full six-year term."
Russert dialed down further, "So you will not run for the president or vice president in 2008?"
Sen. Obama affirmed, "I will not!"
Does he plan on holding down two jobs until 2010?
Perhaps "change" refers to the change in his positions.
Then there's the whole nasty ordeal with his pastor.
Sen. Obama, to this day, expects the American people to believe that in more than 20 years of having a personal and pastoral relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright; a man that in Obama's own words, "is like an old uncle;" he was unaware of the reverend's deeply embedded contempt for our government.
The Rev. Wright doesn't strike me as a man who could easily hide a fire burning so fiercely inside him for 20 years, from anyone.
Most recently, Sen. Obama re-positioned himself on the proposal he made in February 2007 to use public financing for his presidential campaign, should he be the Democratic nominee.
John McCain, apropos of his ongoing fight for campaign finance reform, agreed early on to the use of public financing in his presidential campaign, eliminating catering to lobbyists and/or special interest groups and leveling the playing field for each candidate.
In a political questionnaire sent out in the fall of 2007 by the Midwest Democracy Network, Sen. Obama said the following;
"If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
After an advisory ruling from the Federal Election Commission confirming the legality of opting out of public financing in the primary and accepting it in the general election, Sen. Obama agreed to limit his campaign dollars to the allotted public funds.
The "fly in the buttermilk" was that Obama had no idea he would be setting records for political fundraising!
This year's general election limit is $84.1 million per candidate for the two-month period between the conventions and the Nov. 4 election. Obama's position has become considerably less clear since his fundraising efforts began to exceed this allotment.
In a recent opinion piece in USA Today, Obama wrote:
"I propose a meaningful agreement in good faith that results in real spending limits." He proceeded to lay out a list of conditions and "negotiations" far from the aforementioned commitment.
So far, Obama's agreements have been far less than meaningful.
Mark Caserta is a Cabell County resident and a business consultant.
