February 21, 2008
More on Obama's Doublespeak

Last week I wrote a post about how Barack Obama was trying to have it both ways on the Second Amendment. Ken Blackwell at Townhall.com, however, believes that Obama's doublespeak about the Second Amendment (among some of Obama's other statements) reveals a disturbing pattern in his attitudes about individual rights and a host of other issues:

Yet while Mr. Obama says he supports your Second Amendment rights, he also says he supports that gun ban. He went on to say that local governments should be able to enact any gun control laws they consider necessary to end gun violence, and that any such measures are constitutional.
What kind of gun rights does he supposedly support? What kind of "right" do you have, when the government can completely rob you of 100% of the exercise of that right, anytime they decide they have a good reason?

That's like saying you have the right to worship as you choose, but the government has the power to ban attending church. Or that you have the right to free speech, but that government has the power to stop you from speaking about any subject it wants. Or that you have the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, but that anything the government wants to search at your house is automatically reasonable.

A right that the government can completely take away at any time is no right at all.

So to say that the Second Amendment means you can own guns, but that the city where you live can ban all gun ownership, then you have no Second Amendment rights at all.

I truly hope that someone will have an opportunity to ask Obama if he really believes that local governments can toss aside the Constitution whenever convenient (though I have a hard time believing that Obama would restrict federal agents to the Constitution while giving local law enforcement carte blanche to violate basic civil liberties of citizens). As if doublespeak on the Constitution wasn't enough, we can expect doublespeak on many other issues which concern such issues as the economy, terrorism, and growing government.

The article continues:

This is what Americans could expect from a President Obama. He'll wax eloquent about your rights, but then say government can take away whatever part of them—or all of them—that it wants.

It's the disturbing pattern that's starting to emerge of Mr. Obama announcing a principle or a goal, then endorsing policies that are the exact opposite of what would promote that principle or goal. It's political-doublespeak. It's Orwellian. In fact, it's Clintonian.

Look for this pattern across the board. This is how he'll empower private markets, by increasing government control. He'll preserve our private-market healthcare system, by having government take it over. He'll lower taxes, by raising them. He'll cut government, by increasing government spending. He'll create jobs, by raising taxes and fees on business […]

I'm sure there will be even more Obama doublespeak as the campaign wears on. I wouldn't be too surprised if he proposed a new cabinet level position such as The Ministry Department of Truth.