Despite his on-camera endorsement of the ban, Obama would later obscure his support for it. He would even go so far as to claim falsely that the Supreme Court’s Heller ruling, which struck down the gun ban, was in line with his view. But in case there is any doubt, Obama’s three favorite Supreme Court justices — Stephen Breyer, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg — all voted against that ruling, to keep the gun ban in place. In The Audacity of Hope, Obama cites Breyer in particular as a model for the sort of justice he will appoint as president. He has promised to pick guardians of the Constitution who do not respect gun rights and believe that a comprehensive ban on gun ownership is consistent with the second amendment.

Senator Obama has a history of projecting a misleading moderation in his politics — and he does it very smoothly. According to his biographer, David Mendell, one of Senator Barack Obama’s greatest political virtues is “his ingenious lack of specificity. . . . While talking or writing about a deeply controversial subject, he considers all points of view before cautiously giving his own often risk-averse assessment, an opinion that often appears so universal that people of various viewpoints would consider it their own.”

		Steyn: The Superbower Blase: A Medicaid Buy-Off Sanders: Blanche Lincoln’s Balancing Act Costa: Saturday Night Fever Miller: The Man Who Would Kill Lincoln Hibbs: Just Bite Her Already Goldberg: We Need Your Help Spruiell: Welcome to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Editors: End It, Don’t Amend It Goldberg: Palinophobes Hate First, Ask Questions Later Murdock: Medicare: A Glimpse of the Future? Krauthammer: Travesty in New York Charen: Holder’s True Motive Lowry: Barack Obama’s Chump Diplomacy Spakovsky: Criminalizing Health-Care Freedom Anderson: Roadmap to Victory

In his big speech tomorrow, Obama will work to project moderation not only on the issue of guns, but also on taxes, abortion, and other issues of importance to the American public. So far, his strategists are succeeding in framing him as the moderate he has never been. After the Democratic primaries, between June and July, Rasmussen Reports found an 11 point decline (to 56 percent) in the number of Americans who even believe that Obama is a liberal.

Then again, the polls also show growing public suspicion about Obama’s “ingenious lack of specificity.” A New York Times/CBS poll found last month (PDF here) that 51 percent of Americans believe Obama says “what he thinks people want to hear” rather than “what he believes.” That number had grown dramatically over the previous July, from 32 percent.

As the voters become more restless, Democrats will try to put the halo back on Senator Obama’s head by juxtaposing him with more moderate members of his own party. But as the moderates endorse Senator Obama, bear in mind that Obama disagrees with them on the issues.

— David Freddoso is a staff reporter for National Review Online and author of The Case Against Barack Obama.

< Back  1    2