"Hello Old Friend. What A Strange Coincidence To Find You."

If you miss John Kerry's I was for it before I was against it, well, you are in luck! Meet Barack Obama's I was against it before I was for it.

Recall that in his speech at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington on Wednesday, Obama called for "boycotting firms associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, whose Quds force has rightly been labeled a terrorist organization." Before the speech, Obama had not so far as I am aware advertised this position in any speech or debate. The timing of the AIPAC speech was of course notable. Obama had clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on the evening before and was now moving into the general election.

Whether or not the Iranian Revolutionary Guard should be designated a terrorist entity had first surfaced as an issue in the run-up to the primaries in the Kyl-Lileberman amendment. Senator Obama did not appear in the Senate to vote on the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment when it came before the Senate on September 26. The amendment had only one substantive component. In a non-binding resolution, the heart of the amendment called on the government to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist entity. Designation of a group as a terrorist entity entails specified consequences including financial and economic sanctions enforced by the United States Treasury.

...

Barack Obama expressed no position on the amendment prior to the September 26 vote on it. (Only Obama and John McCain missed the vote, though McCain was a co-sponsor of the amendment and his position on it was well known.) At the time of the vote, Hillary Clinton still fancied herself the Democratic frontrunner positioning herself for the general election. She voted in favor of the amendment, together with prominent Democratic colleagues including Reid and Durbin. The amendment passed in the Senate 76-22.

Only after Clinton had voted in favor of the amendment and the amendment had passed did Obama announce his opposition to it. On the day of the vote on the amendment, Obama issued a statement announcing that he would have voted against it. The Politico's Ben Smith commented: "He does have a position!"

Obama subsequently advanced three explanations for his opposition to the amendment. The McCain campaign has usefully compiled them here. These explanations are difficult to reconcile with the text or purport of the amendment.

Gee, Obama seems to be able to be for and against everything at the same time. I guess that's the sort of thing you can do when you are a Lightworker.

I'm sure the media will tell us that any resemblance to out-and-out hypocrisy on Obama's part is purely coincidental and should be discounted.