Did Obama Protest Too Much?

President Bush took his political opponents on in Israel by comparing them to those who tried to placate Hitler in the days leading up to World War II. Barack Obama quickly rose to the occasion by protesting "I resemble that statement." Okay, not those exact words, but Bush didn't point the finger at any particular person and Obama quickly assumed he was talking about him. I guess "if the shoe fits, wear it."

The protest reminds me of situations that break out in my house. I find a mess in the kitchen that you can tell was caused by kids and ask "who is responsible for..." and, of course, before I even finish, the most guilty party yells "not me." I'm afraid Obama protests too much.

Obama is a traditional "progressive" and has described himself in those terms -- "jobs, peace, and freedom" (although I have no idea how his policies will generate any of the above). Many Democrats are talking about appeasement as well, but they are doing it for pragmatic reasons. Many initially supported the war (e.g., Hillary Clinton) and argue they based that decision on the data they had seen. It was, in their opinion, the right decision at the time. Some, like Dennis Kucinich, made an ideological choice. No matter how bad the data looked (and it obviously had some credibility because much of the international community came up with similar results), he would vote against it. All along, Obama claimed he would have done the exact same thing.
Obama used this commitment as a wedge between Clinton and the most liberal forces that dominate his party. Clinton implies that it was easy for Obama to criticize since he was in the Illinois Legislature as a State Senator when she voted for the war. I guarantee you, he was telling the truth. He is an ideologue. A pacifist. He would vote "no" regardless of what he say. And those are dangerous positions for the leader of the free world to hold.

It requires a certain degree of pragmatism to be President, in my opinion. You have to be philosophical, but you have to be able to make decisions based on political, economical, and national security realities. Obama is proving over and over again that he doesn't have that ability. What do we expect from the man the National Journal calls the most liberal in the US Senate? Obama reminds me of Neville Chamberlain, a progressive in his own right who believed humans had evolved too much for Hitler to drag the world into conflict. Chamberlain was wrong and so is Barack Obama.

The above article originally appeared at RedState.com. It was edited for BizPlusblog.

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