The Audacity of Retraction?

At the DNC Convention in 2004, then Illinois Senator Barack Obama delivered the keynote address, ostensibly on behalf of the hapless Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Viewing that speech today is quite revealing.  It wasn't a campaign speech for Kerry, but for the Prairie State Senator himself.  The Obama signs, the chorus of adoring spectators, and the choreography of their elated cheers, even then, was quite creepy.  His words, however, were indeed inspiring . . . then.  At 4:50 he quotes the Declaration of Independence, complete with reference to "Our Creator."  Around the 11:16 mark he questions sending our military into battle without "enough troops."  The most famous quote comes around 13:33:

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes.

Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)

There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.

Really. On Wednesday in a radio interview, President Obama abandoned the soaring ethereal rhetoric of 2004 and invoked a rather malevolent tone:

Everybody in the barbershops, the beauty shops, and at work -- everybody's got to understand: This is a huge election," he said. "If we turn out in strong numbers, then we will do fine. If we do not, if we are depressed and decide, well, you know, Barack's not running right now, so I'm just going to stay home, then I'm going to have my hands full up here on Capitol Hill."

Days before the release of a key jobs report, Obama said most of the job losses his administration gets blamed for occurred before "any of my economic plans were put into place," and that the country is still "experiencing the hangover from the misguided policies" of the last decade.

Obama said a big voter turnout was vital, both to counter millions of dollars being spent by outside groups and the enthusiasm Republicans have demonstrated.

"They are fired up. They are mobilized. They see an opportunity to take back the House, maybe take back the Senate," he said. "If they're successful in doing that, they've already said they're going to go back to the same policies that were in place during the Bush administration. That means that we are going to have just hand-to-hand combat up here on Capitol Hill." (emphasis mine)

Hand-to hand combat?  This President doesn't know the meaning of those words and really should refrain from using metaphors which include the language of real war.  It's simply not credible.

And another thing, who says beauty shop any more?