Kiss My Welfare

Barack gets load of respect for having given a speech back in 2002, when he wasn't a member of the U.S. Senate, that opposed the war in Iraq. Now, after 3 long years as a U.S. Senator, we can look at his record and realize he's done nothing to oppose the war.

As it turns out, Barack showed similar leadership on welfare reform. He gave a speech opposing, in standard waffling Barack form, the welfare reform measure that passed in 1996.

"I am not a defender of the status quo with respect to welfare," Obama said
on the floor of the Illinois state Senate on May 31, 1997. "Having said that, I probably would not have supported the federal legislation, because I think it had some
problems."

Guess where Barack stands on the issue now.

Barack Obama aligned himself with welfare reform on Monday, launching a
television ad which touts the way the overhaul "slashed the rolls by 80
percent." Obama leaves out, however, that he was against the 1996 federal
legislation which precipitated the caseload reduction.

How does Barack get away with this, time after time?

Obama's transformation from opponent to champion of welfare reform is the latest
in a series of moves to the center. Since capturing the Democratic nomination,
Obama has altered his stances on Social Security taxes, meeting with rogue leaders without preconditions, and the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.'s, sweeping
gun ban.

Is the welfare reform flip something new?

The shift in Obama's rhetoric on welfare reform has proceeded in stages. When
Clinton was poised to sign welfare reform while running for re-election in 1996,
Obama called it "disturbing." A decade later, as an underdog running for
president against Clinton's wife, he spent 2007 avoiding the subject. By the
time Obama emerged as the Democratic frontrunner in the spring of 2008, he began
leaving the impression that he was for it all along.

Oh, this guy is sooooo slippery.

When implementation of welfare reform came before the Illinois state senate in
1997, Obama cited a lack of job training, insufficient oversight, and provisions
blocking legal immigrants from receiving benefits as his reasons for opposing a
federal welfare overhaul imposing work requirements and time limits.

Ready for more Obama Profiles in Courage?

While campaigning for president in 2007, Obama refused on two occasions to say
if he would have signed the same welfare-reform bill approved by the husband of
his top rival.

Don't you just love the new kinda politics?