Cafu07 wrote:

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I don't see how this hurts Obama at all. After 8 years of Bush, people don't want another rigid ideologue sticking to policies despite the results, incapable of reacting to changing conditions. And that is what Obama said he would endeavor to be 6 months ago, 3 months ago, and today.

Yet you accuse McCain of flip-flopping. Now Obama is saying out in four years? As said before, this poltics-as-usual is stupid mostly because of comes from someone trying to sell change.

Hence Obama has been espousing positions anathema to the left on several issues.

On Iraq, Obama said Thursday that his upcoming trip there might lead him to refine his promise to quickly remove U.S. troops from the war.

He now supports broader authority for the government's eavesdropping program and legal immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in it, after opposing a similar bill last year.

After the Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia's gun ban, the handgun control proponent said he favors both an individual's right to own a gun as well as government's right to regulate ownership.

Obama became the first major-party candidate to reject public financing for the general election after earlier promises to accept it.

He not only embraced but promised to expand Bush's program to give more anti-poverty grants to religious groups, a split with Democratic orthodoxy.

He objected to the Supreme Court's decision outlawing the death penalty for child rapists, even though he's been anti-capital punishment.

Fishbeak wrote:

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Obama is an idealist

And this is also what I see. It's what reminds me of Carter. His change on several positions are exactly what Carter didn't do. Carter tried to govern with idealism. A recipe for disaster. Obama's shift of several policies to come into line with pragmatism reminds me of Reagan.
someone running who is capable of changing positions when circumstances dictate.

LOL, Obama is not governing but running for election. The problem with your "he is just shifting his position" viewpoint is that Obama was so emphatic on his liberal stances while campaigning for the party ticket and, now that he's gotten it, he is so obviously trying to go moderate. I know you want to believe in Obama, but the timing of this change is too politically expedient for it to be a coincidence.

But I can see how you can think your viewpoint is possible. With an inexperienced candidate, he has to learn as he goes (which is what we may be seeing) and he has little history to show much of a track record. But what history he does have has been pretty liberal, going against his current stances. The thing is your bias sees the possibilities with Reagan, and my bias sees the possibilities with Carter.

I will not vote for someone based on "maybes", especially considering the lack of experience and naivete. The office of the president is not for on-the-job training.