Obama Vows to Divide
Where Barack Obama constantly talked about uniting the country and speaking to his opponents only weeks ago, he’s singing a different song now.
It took Barack Obama exactly one week after clinching the Democratic nomination, to abandon the ‘change, hope and unity’ motto. Where he talked about the need to reach out to Republicans and Independents only a few weeks ago, he now told Democratic activists and voters that if Republicans “bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”
The fight means the elections, the knife and gun, of course, tools to hurt the other, to divide and conquer.
Liberal bloggers are celebrating Obama’s tough words. They feel that Republicans have dominated the scene for years, that Republicans have constantly attacked Democrats, while Democrats stood by and did nothing.
Moderates, on the other hand, may be somewhat less positive about such tough, cowboy-like words. 
Joe Gandelman, certainly a moderate, disagrees with that; he argues that Obama isn’t saying he’ll go after the Republicans but only that if the Republicans go after him, he’ll respond. He will not let Republicans destroy his image, he will respond immediately to attacks, etc. That’s nice, but that’s not the only thing Obama’s saying here, as I see it at least.
He’s not just saying that he will respond to defend himself, he implies he’s going to respond in kind and then some. This isn’t ‘I will defend myself,’ this is the equivalent of “say hello to my little friend.” This isn’t about defending oneself, this is about completely destroying those who dare criticize you / go after your policies. That’s what Obama indicates here.
And that’s exactly the opposite of what he said he is all about. He said, for months, that he’s a uniter, someone who campaigns clean (as Hillary Clinton found out quickly, that happens to be one of the major lies of this campaign), well, now that the going may get even tougher, Obama is ready and willing to abandon all principles.
What matters here isn’t necessarily whether or not Obama will act on his words. What matters most at this moment, is that words matter, as Obama has constantly told us. Bush has been blasted for his cowboy diplomacy, and his cowboy-like conduct. Moderates and liberals have criticized Bush for declaring war on Democrats, instead of trying to work together with him. Well, if Obama’s words are any indication, he may approach Republicans in exactly the same manner.
And if that happens… what will moderates who support Obama do? Will they ignore for as long as possible, or will they start criticizing the man they support?
Well I can’t say I’m surprised that you would read the most negative thing possible into Obama’s words. It seems fairly clear that what he’s saying is that he will NOT act like countless spineless Democrats throughout the years and allow smears to go unanswered or simply deny them halfheartedly. Democrats are constantly berated for having no spine, and Obama had to show that wanting to be nice doesn’t mean you let people step all over you.
That means that when Larry Johnson levels unfounded accusations against you, you do not merely ignore it, nor do you merely deny it. No, you show why it is unfounded and then show exactly who the people who are giving those accusations are.
You of course have decided that this means he will demonize Republicans, something that does not appear to be supported by any, you know, facts. He will not allow attacks to go unanswered, but that doesn’t mean he will start going after, say, Cindy McCains drug use.
Consider this, when you’re thinking about the way Obama plans to ruin the world. When the pundits were obsessed about how Obama was anti-Israel and quite possibly anti-semitic, he simply explained his policies. Some time later it came out that he had family that had helped liberate a concentration camp. No one made the tie that he DIDN’T use that story when being accused of being anti-Jew.
Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. One of the things that killed John Kerry was his "I won’t lower myself to respond to these accusations" re: the Swift Boat Liars. Obama is just saying that he won’t be passive when fighting the Republican slime machine. I have to say, I’m loving watching alleged tough guy conservatives clutch their pearls and bravely fight back the tears as they ask, "How can that brute say such a thing? Oh, my, my, my, I do declare those Democrats are just so ungenteel. I think I may faint". I’ll be glad when this election is over.
Uhh Michael, you probably need to understand the phrase bringing a knife to a fight before you can understand bringing a gun to a knife fight. Amazingly enough as it is to believe - Gandelman is correct. I’m half-surprised you found enough text to make up 6 paragraphs creating your own definition.
My first question is..what is it about Obama and guns?? ‘Bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun’..what a stupid thing for a would be President to say. Being a Democrat myself, to all you Democrats out there…WAKE UP! If this man was not opposed to the war in Iraq, he wouldn’t have a shot in hell for the Presidency. He has only 3 years experience in the Senate, he has NO experience in foreign policy ,he has been linked to American terrorists, William Eyres, racist Pastors..and the only reason why he finally denounced the Church of Trinity is because his image was being damaged. If it weren’t for that You Tube clip exposing Wright, Obama would still be sitting in that church for the next 20 years and listening to anti-America speeches. It is absolutely absurd for someone with this kind of background to be the President of the United States!