ArchPundit

Rich has made a point I didn’t quite know how to reach about Obama and the Present votes

* The rest ended up on the cutting-room floor. What I tried to get across was that Obama kinda hovered over everything when he was in Springfield. He seemed to play by his own rules, which he appeared to believe were more thoughtful or ethical than everyone else’s.

So, to his mind, voting “Present” on some of those bills was wholly justified. Whether it was part of an organized effort by abortion rights groups, or because he thought something in the bill was unconstitutional, or whatever, I think he believed he was doing the right thing.

The problem is that he has to answer for those votes in the real world, not in his own mind. Clinton is using a very common political attack. It’s happened many times before in Illinois, and will happen again.

The bottom line is Obama likes to think too much. He’s enamored with his own intellect to the point where he does things that don’t make political sense, like voting in the US Senate against an interest rate cap on credit cards because the cap was too high. Well, that was the only cap on the table. He should’ve known he was gonna get raked on that one.

He talks about bringing people together and finding consensus, but that usually means taking a somewhat distasteful vote when the final product hits the bricks. Too often, he gets all high-minded and decides he won’t play the game he signed up for.

This cuts both ways–the conceit allows him to think he can transform things, but also gets in his way with others at the same time.