Redstate

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | The Surreptitious Campaigner — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I really don't mind if politicians have a philosophical worldview that is different from mine. That's to be expected--there is diversity in thought, after all.

But for Heaven's sake, don't try to disguise matters:

During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion -- positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he has projected during his presidential campaign.

The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group's detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.

Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama's answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he "never saw or approved" the questionnaire.

They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who "unintentionally mischaracterize[d] his position."

But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago nonprofit group that issued it. And it found that Obama -- the day after sitting for the interview -- filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama's own handwritten notes added to one answer.

It is lame to do this. It is lame to think that no one will find out about this. These kinds of stories only serve to make Republicans think that Obama believes there is something in his record that should be hidden. And it enrages Democrats too, because they believe Obama wants to run away from any hint of liberalism in his record.