4 ms·
It's like this. He tried to get it amended, but it failed. And as it stands, he can't go about filibustering this close to an election. If he voted no, it'd gi
by ajkirwin 18y ago
It's like this. He tried to get it amended, but it failed. And as it stands, he can't go about filibustering this close to an election.
If he voted no, it'd give the republicans a chance to jump on it and use it as a weapon.
So he had no choice but to say Yes.
- anamax 18y agoCan't? No - won't. The interesting question is what won't Obama do to win the election. And, is the election actually that close or is Obama more willing to abandon his principles than his chances?
- dangoldin 18y agoWell I think we already know the answer to that.
- brlewis 18y agoIf this were 6 months ago I would say you had a point. But now he's in a position where his message on any issue is going to get out. Voting in a way that protects the Constitution would have handed him a much bigger weapon than any handed to the Republicans.
- hugh 18y agoIn addition to the two options you mentioned (voting "Yes" or filibustering) he could have voted "No" or abstained. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt here and assume that he was actually convinced by the merits of the bill, at least as a general compromise on some very difficult issues. If he genuinely thought it was as terrible a bill as some people here do, he would have voted "No" and used it as a weapon against McCain.