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How Low Will Obama Go to Win?

Barack Obama is habitually saying one thing to one group, then something entirely different to other people. That is, if he thinks they want to hear it, or if it will benefit him.

Duplicity, which Webster's dictionary defines as "doubleness of heart or speech; the act or

Floyd and Mary Beth Brown

practice of exhibiting different or contrary sentiments, at different times, in relation to the same thing," perfectly describes this character flaw in Obama. However, a more commonly used term is "two-faced."

If this were a one-time occurrence, it would be one thing. But Obama wants to win so badly that he is willing to do almost anything -- to win. His celebrated trip to Iraq serves as a recent example of Obama's duplicity.

"While campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence," the New York Post said in an article covering this latest controversy.

In the Post piece, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Obama's primary theme in his discussions with Iraqi leaders was that of delaying withdrawal of U.S. troops. "He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the U.S. elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said. Obama told the Iraqi leaders it was in both sides' interests to wait and not negotiate with the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion." Instead of reaching an agreement with Bush, Obama advised Iraqi leaders to request an extension of the U.N. mandate.

What Obama really meant but didn't say, is that it is in his own self interest, not America's or Iraq's, to wait until after the election, so that he can look good by pulling out the troops as the new president.

Besides Obama's oft-repeated line about pulling the troops out of Iraq, in the past he frequently liked to boast that his campaign was going to be above board, saying, "We're going to have a campaign free of the usual manipulations and distortions, we're going to run a campaign we can be proud of."

Is ridiculing a war veteran's disabilities sustained while a POW something of which Obama is proud? Obama mocks Sen. McCain in a recent campaign commercial for not being computer savvy. A sarcastic voice in the ad says, "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."

If Obama had not been so quick to make fun of McCain for not using email, he would have found out the reason why the Vietnam War veteran is not able to use a computer keyboard. His war injuries keep him from being able to do according to the Boston Globe.

His smacks at Sen. McCain over the recent troubles on Wall Street also ring as two-faced. Senator McCain has tried to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Sen. Obama is on record as opposing these reforms. He received large financial support for his campaigns from the executives in these firms because of his steadfast refusal to support real reforms of these broken firms.

Obama is the darling of these and other troubled firms on Wall Street if you judge their wishes based on the cold hard cash they are pumping into his campaign.

Moreover, let's not forgot Obama's now-famous quip about people living in small towns that he said behind closed doors at a fundraising event in wealthy Marin County /San Francisco, thinking those small-town folks would never hear them.

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest… it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them."

With the election drawing close and November right around the corner, it will be interesting to see in the coming days just how low Obama will go to win.

©2008 Floyd and Mary Beth Brown. The Browns are bestselling authors and speakers. Together they write a national weekly column distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. For more info call Cari Dawson Bartley at 800 696 7561 or e-mail cari@cagle.com

Floyd's latest book (with Lee Troxler) is "Obama Unmasked," from Merril Press. Mary Beth's latest book is featured at www.condibook.com. Time magazine wrote of Floyd: "Brown has stature among devoted conservatives that almost matches his physical heft (6 ft. 6 in. and 240 lbs.)" See more at Floyd's blog at www.2minuteview.com. To comment on this column, e-mail browns@caglecartoons.com.