Aides Lied About Obama’s Role In Survey?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, HistoryDuring his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion — positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he has projected during his presidential campaign.The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.
Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama’s answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he “never saw or approved†the questionnaire. [...] They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who “unintentionally mischaracterize[d] his position.â€
But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago nonprofit group that issued it. And it found that Obama — the day after sitting for the interview — filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama’s own handwritten notes added to one answer.
Here’s the campaign’s response…
Through an aide, Obama, who won the group’s endorsement as well as the statehouse seat, did not dispute that the handwriting was his. But he contended it doesn’t prove he completed, approved – or even read – the latter questionnaire.“Sen. Obama didn’t fill out these state Senate questionnaires – a staffer did – and there are several answers that didn’t reflect his views then or now,†said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama’s campaign, in an emailed statement. “He may have jotted some notes on the front page of the questionnaire at the meeting, but that doesn’t change the fact that some answers didn’t reflect his views. His eleven years in public office do.â€
While these two things aren’t inconsistent, they’re certainly very suspect.
We’ll have more as it develops…
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:54 am
I smella flip flop campaign coming on…..
March 31st, 2008 at 9:55 am
I smell a flip flop campaign coming on….
March 31st, 2008 at 11:38 am
He’ll lawyer his way out of this with plausible deniability but I think what’s going on is obvious. Either he misled the liberal group to get their support OR he’s misleading voters now to appear more moderate. The answer I bet is “a little of both.” All politicians do it — even straight-talking McCain sounds a lot more conservative in front of conservative groups than he does in front of the general electorate. But McCain has a very long and public record we can use to help figure out what he really stands for. Obama’s record is simply not long enough or deep enough for us to be SURE that this is just politics as usual rather than a deceptive streak that is more pronounced than the average politician. That’s always the risk when choosing a relative rookie.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Will the real Obama please stand up?
Yes, like the Uncle, Reverend Wright — who I have not heard say a peep about the eugenic crusade of Planned Parenthood to kill unborn black babies — talk about a disproportionate racial impact. I guess the Good Rev. doesn’t really care that much about black children…at least, you know, when it comes to killing them wholesale — not such a good sound bite…
March 31st, 2008 at 1:11 pm
The one thing that sticks out to me in all of this is that these are pretty close to his current positions, except for the gun control stuff. And what somebody’s position on that issue during a state senate run representing a community that’s fraught with gun violence is much different than when you run for other offices. You have to do what’s best for your community. It’s not like he was running to represent white farmland area.
Politico can certainly suggest these positions run contrary to his moderate image, but as I dig into this, there’s very little there there. Personally, I’d like to see these images of his handwriting to determine more.
March 31st, 2008 at 1:20 pm
[...] this is why we’re seeing the questionnaire story being floated today by the Hillary camp? More kitchen sink strategy? This entry was posted on [...]
March 31st, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Not really that implausible as he could have written down the notes but not actually filled out the questionaire, not that implausible at all, heck I jot down notes all the time when I get homework handed out to me before I actually do the problems.