Saturday, June 07, 2008

Letting the pork barrel roll

Supporters of Barrack Obama note: Obama supports the Farm Bill, McCain against. I have yet to come across a convincing argument for the bill.

With the country's media smitten with Obama and focussed on Ted Kennedy's diagnosis, analysis of the contradiction between Obama's platform for change and his support for one of the most vile Washington traditions was hard to come by. One rare piece was in the Wall Street Journal, with a tongue-in-cheek title of Change You Can't Believe In (Obama's selling line is 'Change You Can Believe In).

From the article:
Mr. Obama...supported the bill though he wasn't around to vote for it. One of the Illinois Senator's major campaign themes is that he has no truck with corporate lobbyists, but the farm bill is the ultimate lobbyist triumph. Every special interest gets massaged. Just as Mr. Bush bent too far to GOP spending in his first term, Mr. Obama's farm bill support suggests he'd bow to the Pelosi Democrats on Capitol Hill.
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