Comment & Debate
Mark Penn, former chief strategist for Mrs. Clinton, said Mr. Obama’s Senate career did not back up his promise of being able to forge a new governing coalition across party lines. – “It’s a great promise. But are the actions consistent with the words? I don’t see it.”[1]
Peter Wehner, Former deputy assistant to President Bush. “Viewpoint: The case against Obama”. BBC. 31 Oct. 2008 – Senator Obama has presented himself as a post-partisan figure. Once again, however, his record belies his claim.
He is among the most reliably partisan voters the Democrats have.
He has not opposed the special interest groups of his party on a single important issue. And he has no impressive bipartisan achievements to his credit.
Senator Obama is, in short, an orthodox partisan, a man of left-leaning instinct who has – through the power of his rhetoric, head-snapping shifts in his position, and the attractiveness of his personality – won people over.