05-12-2012, 03:58 AM
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Obama's Views on Distraction Have Evolved, Too
Obama's Views on Distraction Have Evolved, Too
Quote:
Remember how candidate Barack Obama complained in 2008 that any discussion not involving the economy was a "distraction"? This time, his entire campaign is built on distracting voters from the economy.
During his 2008 campaign, one of Obama's favorite words was "distraction." He constantly plugged it into his speeches and interviews to dismiss any controversy that might have erupted, or an issue he didn't particularly want to talk about.
Questions about how Obama could have sat in the pews and listened to Rev. Wright's anti-American, race-baiting screeds for years? Distraction. Questions about his relationship with radical Bill Ayers? Distraction. Questions about his qualifications to be president? Distraction.
Typically, Obama would follow up by talking about how we need to focus instead on "the real issues." Here's just a small sampling of Obama quotes:
• "You could see race bubbling up in a way that was distracting from the issues that I think are so important to America right now." March 2008
• "We knew that the closer we got to the change we seek, the more we'd see of the politics we're trying to end — the attacks and distortions that try to distract us from the issues that matter." March 2008
• "It's easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit for tat that consumes our politics." April 2008
• " Yes, we know what's coming. ... The same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives by pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy in the hope that the media will play along." May 2008
• "When we get distracted by those kinds of questions, I think we do a disservice to the American people." July 2008
• "Sen. McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance. ... I'm going to keep talking about the issues that matter — about the economy and health care and education and energy." October 2008
Obama even used the distraction gambit to challenge actual policies.
In 2002, for example, in his speech against the Iraq war, Obama said it was just an "attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income."
He even complained about the entire gay marriage issue in his "Audacity of Hope" book, saying that "the heightened focus on marriage is a distraction from other, attainable measures to prevent discrimination of gays and lesbians."
Of course, the media dutifully played along, challenging any Republican who brought any of this up as trying to distract the public from the important issues.
But now that Obama has to defend his record on the issues he claimed were the only ones the mattered — jobs, energy, health care — he has nothing to offer but distractions.
He goes on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" to distract the public for a while with his alleged coolness. He jets to Afghanistan to distract the country with boasts about how he courageously ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden. Then he tries to distract the public again by shifting his position on gay marriage for the fifth time.
And, naturally, the media gladly fall in line, running 5,000-word pieces on Romney's high school days, for just one current example, as if that's what Americans actually care about.
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It's a good thing Obama 2012 doesn't have to run against Obama 2008...he'd lose in a landslide... 
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