Oct. 13, 2010
Is Manchin Unable to Shake Ties to Obama Now?
Campaign 2010: The Raese/Manchin U.S. Senate Race
By Huntingtonnews.net Staff
To hear Governor Joe Manchin lately, you'd think he was one of President Obama's greatest critics. While he still would keep most of Obamacare intact, now he says he'd seek some changes to it. That's quite a turnaround from just a few months before, when he was the chief cheerleader for Obamacare in West Virginia.
Then Manchin said that Obama is "dead wrong" on climate change and Cap and Trade, despite strongly agreeing with Obama's desire to tax carbon emissions just a couple of years ago.
What's next? Will Manchin come out and say that he's opposed to the stimulus package Obama and the Democratic Congress put together, a package that has helped to prop up Manchin's state budget this past year since Manchin couldn't find any serious reductions to make?
"You're looking at classic flip-flopping here," said Jack Ellis, Senior Political Analyst for Huntingtonnews.net. "My word, will the real Joe Manchin please stand up? Until John Raese got in this race, Manchin agreed with all of Obama's policies on cap and trade, climate change, and health care reform. Now he's trying to run in the other direction."
"But Manchin's problem is that he's changed his tune too late to be effective this year and yet too soon to be believed," said Ellis. "These quotes of his, supporting Obama at every turn are still fresh only a few months old.
"Manchin never explains to us how he suddenly saw the light and became one of the gang when it comes to criticizing Obamacare or taxing carbon emissions," said Ellls. "So he just looks like a deer caught in a truck's headlights--and Raese's driving the truck with his more consistent conservatism."
"If West Virginians in both parties are ready to put the brakes on the Obama Administration, they're not likely to go with a man who has been Obama's point man in West Virginia," said Ellis. "Manchin's problem is that he enjoyed a little too much the limelight Obama gave him during his campaign for President and afterwards when he needed a coal state Governor to promote his Cap and Trade bill.
"You can't have it both ways this year," said Ellis. "You're either pro-Obama or anti-Obama. Manchin still tries to ride that fence, but people in his own party are getting a bit weary of trying to figure out who Joe really is.
"Manchin is a classic career politician and tries to be everything to everyone, and fewer and fewer people really believe what he says," said Ellis. "Now some may like him. But they just don't believe him anymore after all these flip-flops."
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Is Manchin Unable to Shake Ties to Obama Now?
Campaign 2010: The Raese/Manchin U.S. Senate Race
By Huntingtonnews.net Staff
To hear Governor Joe Manchin lately, you'd think he was one of President Obama's greatest critics. While he still would keep most of Obamacare intact, now he says he'd seek some changes to it. That's quite a turnaround from just a few months before, when he was the chief cheerleader for Obamacare in West Virginia.
Then Manchin said that Obama is "dead wrong" on climate change and Cap and Trade, despite strongly agreeing with Obama's desire to tax carbon emissions just a couple of years ago.
What's next? Will Manchin come out and say that he's opposed to the stimulus package Obama and the Democratic Congress put together, a package that has helped to prop up Manchin's state budget this past year since Manchin couldn't find any serious reductions to make?
"You're looking at classic flip-flopping here," said Jack Ellis, Senior Political Analyst for Huntingtonnews.net. "My word, will the real Joe Manchin please stand up? Until John Raese got in this race, Manchin agreed with all of Obama's policies on cap and trade, climate change, and health care reform. Now he's trying to run in the other direction."
"But Manchin's problem is that he's changed his tune too late to be effective this year and yet too soon to be believed," said Ellis. "These quotes of his, supporting Obama at every turn are still fresh only a few months old.
"Manchin never explains to us how he suddenly saw the light and became one of the gang when it comes to criticizing Obamacare or taxing carbon emissions," said Ellls. "So he just looks like a deer caught in a truck's headlights--and Raese's driving the truck with his more consistent conservatism."
"If West Virginians in both parties are ready to put the brakes on the Obama Administration, they're not likely to go with a man who has been Obama's point man in West Virginia," said Ellis. "Manchin's problem is that he enjoyed a little too much the limelight Obama gave him during his campaign for President and afterwards when he needed a coal state Governor to promote his Cap and Trade bill.
"You can't have it both ways this year," said Ellis. "You're either pro-Obama or anti-Obama. Manchin still tries to ride that fence, but people in his own party are getting a bit weary of trying to figure out who Joe really is.
"Manchin is a classic career politician and tries to be everything to everyone, and fewer and fewer people really believe what he says," said Ellis. "Now some may like him. But they just don't believe him anymore after all these flip-flops."
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