Same song, different verse

Bill Kristol in the NYT speaking of Obama's no discernible change in foreign policy:

And he seems to be going for the no-dramatic-change-in-policy-in-the-White-House alternative as well. Consider Obama’s reaction when George Stephanopoulos played a clip of Dick Cheney counseling Obama not to implement his campaign rhetoric until he’s fully briefed on the details of the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policy.

“I think that was pretty good advice, which is I should know what’s going on before we make judgments and that we shouldn’t be making judgments on the basis of incomplete information or campaign rhetoric. So I’ve got no quibble with that particular quote,” said Obama. Usually, presidents pretend their campaign positions are more than “campaign rhetoric.” Not Obama.

You have to hand it to Obama for that moment of honesty. Admitting that all that anti-war stuff was just campaign rhetoric and admitting that Cheney is right. Because it's like this....

There was a reason the Bush administration did what it did on wire tapping, interrogation, Gitmo, and military actions. It was to keep us safe here. And it did. What Obama will discover is intelligence, operations, and knowledge that we, the American public aren't privy to because of National Security (I'm sure he has been informed quite a bit now), that tells him all those things were needed and necessary. That is why Obama is backing away from his campaign rhetoric. Because Bush was right.

Now, will we hear the howling from the left for the exact same policies that Bush relied on? Of course not.

For example, on the closing of Gitmo:

But he warned that it was “more difficult than I think a lot of people realize,” explaining that while he was committed to the rule of law, he wasn’t interested “in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.”

And at one point he returned, unbidden, to the much-maligned vice president, commenting, “I thought that Dick Cheney’s advice was good.”

I can only imagine the reaction to that over at places like Kos and Huffington Post. I'm sure they are passing the Prozac around.

More on Obama and the Middle East:

With respect to the Middle East, Obama didn’t even say we’d gotten much wrong in the past. Asked by Stephanopoulos whether his policy would build on Bush’s or would be a clean break, Obama answered, “if you look not just at the Bush administration, but also what happened under the Clinton administration, you are seeing the general outlines of an approach.” So: No break.

Who are you and what have you done with Obama??

I wonder....Will we will be hated around the world? Nah, the media will report it all oh so differently.

Friday everyone was blogging about how the Guardian reported that Obama would sit down with Hamas. Now, THAT is the Obama we knew. But hold on, not true, says his spokesperson. Obama says Hamas IS a terrorist organization and won't deal with them until they recognize Israel and abide by past agreements. Well, thank you Pres. Bush..oops, I mean Pres. Obama.

I keep posting about how Obama is letting down the left on a number of things and we on the right need to give credit where credit is due. Something the left NEVER did for Pres. Bush. So let's do that.

We should be happy that Obama seems to be following the track that has kept us safe all these years since 9-11.

But it's the domestic front that keeps me concerned. Expanding government seems to be Obama's order of the day. And we all know that when it comes to government, once expanded, always expanded. And unfortunately Obama seems to be following the main path that made conservatives so angry at Bush, throwing money at government. Obama's stimulus package could reach an unbelievable 775 billion dollars or more, surpassing the already eye popping 700 billion dollars Bush used for his financial rescue package.

And with a Democratic Congress, this will all sail through.

God help us all.

At least we will stay safe while we drown in debt.