Flip Flop Season

By Sarah Scully on 07/07/2008

By Sarah Scully
It's summer, a time for you to wear flip flops to work and for candidates to move to the right or left in an effort to broaden their appeal to the general electorate. Depending on how deftly candidates make these adjustments, they risks being stuck with the poisonous "flip flopper" label. John Kerry's public utterance: "I voted for it before I voted against it" was both straightforward and chowder-headed as it gave rise to one of the greatest exploitations of the "flip flop" in decades with a legendary national ad campaign, giant flip flop costumes at the conventions and John Kerry branded rubber thongs that haunted him through the fall. As this elections looks like it will be decided by independents as well as party loyalists, it was a given that both McCain and Obama would realign their views. Of course, there is a less cynical way of looking at it by noting that the ability to reevaluate decisions and adapt to new information is a sign of intelligence. Whatever the motives, Obama has moved to the center on major policy issues, angering some of the liberal base that helped nominate him but appealing to undecided moderates and McCain has ever so carefully pulled to the right, assuring those who questioned his conservative credentials. The warring parties are trying desperately to get traction on the gimmicky attack line but it seems that flip flops are not as fashionable as they were back in 2004, with both candidates engaging in the traditional shift, they seem to be canceling each other out.