Lukewarm air in a suit.
There are flip-flops, and there are flip-flops. After
leaping to support Donald Trump's far-right
birthright-citizenship-ending proposal immediately after it was released and
apparently agreeing that birthright citizenship needs to be repealed when asked by a reporter he now says ...
he has no opinion on it?
"I'm not taking a position on it one way or the other," the 2016 Republican presidential hopeful said. Only after securing America's borders, he explained, is it appropriate to address the issue of birthright citizenship.
This is clownlike to the point of needing a rubber nose, and would definitely be the most impressive policy switcheroo of the campaign: Not only does Scott Walker walkback his own previous position, but he's apparently vowing to
not have a position on one of the hot-button topics roiling the Republican presidential campaign. "Pass," he'll apparently say to any further questions as to whether children born on American soil and who have never known any other country ought to be deported. Sorry, can't be bothered to think about it right now even long enough to express an opinion on that.
Walker's unwillingness to state actual policy positions seems at this point less campaign strategy and more personal pathology. He outright bristles when reporters read his words back to him, or suggest that something he's said in the past might still apply now, or point out things he actually, factually has done in office. On immigration, he has over his career held every position, from path-to-citizenship to the current (maybe?) Trumpian deportations, and which one he holds now depends on who's asking and whether he's had lunch yet.
And most importantly, get him two steps away from any of his prepared remarks and he melts down into a puddle of his own talking points.
Walker, who titled his recent book "Unintimidated," insisted he had not been intimidated by the blustery Trump or his views. [...]
Referring to the media, he added, "You guys talk about him. You guys might be intimidated, but I'm not."
This is gibberish. Scott Walker cannot possibly be impressed with himself over not being "intimidated" by Donald Trump. Declaring himself
That Thing My Book Is Named is his
go-to defense when someone brings up anything he doesn't want to talk about, apparently presented as proof that he's not going to be
intimidated into answering a question or expressing any substantive, non-rote opinion on something. Take
that, people who want to know where their would-be leaders stand on things.
Scott Walker, it should be noted, is not having a great campaign. The national press is already making note of his flip-flops and his refusals to name specific policies. His non-scripted interactions with regular folks have been shaky, at best. If three months from now he's still insisting that he has no opinions and is Damn Brave for not having them, it's difficult to see voters flocking to that platform of carefully enforced nothingness.
But saying outright he's going to take no position at all on substance of the 14th Amendment? That's not a strategy, that's just being vacuous for the sake of vacuity. Since when did unintimidated mean having a head as hollow as a glass vase?