Obama Gets Smacked Down

I was listening to the Democratic debate from Sunday and there was an interesting exchange. George Stephanopolous asked Senator Obama a question about something Karl Rove said, and then:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, Senator Obama, I know you're loathe to agree with Karl Rove on just about anything.

OBAMA: I am.

He didn't seem at all to be kidding. He seems to think that just because Rove is on the other side of the aisle, Obama should therefore disagree with him on most things. But then a debate participant went on to show Obama the error of his ways:

I think a winning strategy is not crafted by a political calculus that divides the country into red states and blue states.

So what I've been trying to express in my campaign is that if you believe that part of the problem is the failed politics of Washington and the conventional thinking in Washington, if you're tired of the backbiting and the score keeping and the special-interest-driven politics of Washington, if you want somebody who can bring the country together around a common purpose and rally us around a common destiny, then I'm your guy.

[...]

What I'm suggesting is that we're going to need somebody who can break out of the political patterns that we've been in over the last 20 years. And part of that is the notion that half the country's on one side; the other half's on the other.

Obama sure did get smacked down there. The problem is, he's the one who smacked himself down.

I liked Obama because I thought maybe he really did want change. That he really was tolerant of people who disagreed with him. I was wrong. He's just another pandering, hypocritical, politician. The problem is I didn't give him enough credit: I thought he was too inexperienced to be that good at being that deceptive.

What's really amazing is that either Obama doesn't want what is best for the country, or he insanely thinks Rove doesn't. Everyone with half a brain, who can think beyond their irrational hatred, knows that Rove wants what is best for the country. As Obama does. As all of these people on both sides do. So why would Obama be loathe to agree with Rove? Certainly, they both want what is best for the country, so therefore they will at times agree. Obama is blinded by hatred, yet he wants to bring us together?