Double talk: You have to worry about leadership when the message shifts

It is scary how often politicians talk out of both sides of their mouths -- and how easy it is for their personal philosophies to shift depending on whether or not they are in power.

And one of the chief offenders seems to be our commander in chief.

Let's start with the deficit and extending the debt limit.

Candidate/senator Barack Obama was appalled by then President George W. Bush's extension of the debt limit, accusing him of mortgaging our children's future.

Want to guess who has not only ballooned that debt but also become a real fan of continued extensions of the debt limit?

You guessed it.

Want a real laugh? Take a look at his most recent flip on defense cuts. Look back to see what he said the first time someone suggested that perhaps his plan might be a good one -- and his defiant declaration.

And then there is the current revelation that drones are being used to target suspected terror leaders and that there is a policy in place to use that method of combat with American citizens who have taken positions of authority in these groups.

Candidate/Sen. Obama was also pretty adamant about that one, too. He chastised the Bush administration for the use of torture -- waterboarding in specific -- to gain information to prevent attacks that could kill thousands of innocent people. Barbaric, he said, and not how America should lead the world.

He's right. Executing American citizens without the benefit of due process or vaporizing high-value targets is not even in the same stratosphere as the temporary pain of torture and detention.

We are being sarcastic, of course.

You can really go on and on with this one.

One of the biggest problems with the Obama administration seems to be that it really does not know what it stands for -- not clearly anyway.

One comment one day and another policy the next, when the circumstances necessitate it.

And that should make many of the promises that have been made to date suspect -- a flip or a flop might be just around the corner.

That's what happens when you will say anything to get elected -- even if you know it is not an accurate representation of the realities this nation faces.

That is no way to run a country -- and in the end, it makes us weak, vulnerable and wastes a lot of time.

And that is time we do not have.

Published in Editorials on February 11, 2013 11:45 AM