Ahh, the presidential race is upon us. In the primaries we will watch candidates in the from both sides morph into extremists and take absurd positions to pander to their base, and then in the general election we will see them sprint back to the political middle as fast as they possibly can onto safer, politically moderate ground. (As the Talking Heads so famously sang, ‘same as it ever was‘.)

I had high hopes for Obama to stand strong and lead. Still do. But today he showed he is human, not immune from this crazy process, and can make the mistake of pandering using fear with the best of them.

Check out this NY Times article, Obama and Clinton Touch on International Issues, where he calls for the banning of all toy imports from China.

What?

China. Today’s big, bad boogeyman used to whip up hysteria and votes in middle America Iowa and East Coast New Hampshire. Just what America needs right now — more decision making and analysis based on fear, half-truths, no data, protectionism and at times mild or severe xenophobia. China seems to be the one issue now the unites the most conservative and the most liberal of the American electorate — the Neo-conservative crazies on the right and the Protectionist nutcases on the left.

Obama-man, I don’t know what were you thinking on this one — do you really believe this or do you not understand global business and trade? If the former, you are as smart guy and a bright light and we need you to check back into reality. If the latter, please fire the Harvard stuffed-shit- staffer that planted this silly idea for a sound bite into your camp’s head.

December 24, 200 update: Well, the bell was rung, but it appears that a few days later Obama-man stepped back from the precipice and checked back into mission control and reality. According to this Reuters article Obama Retreats From Call For China Toy - Import Ban Obama “stepped back from a pledge to halt U.S. imports of Chinese-made toys because of safety concerns.” Instead, he has “reiterated his longstanding call for barring toys with more than a trace amount of lead” and called for doubling “the funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.” Not as strong of a backtrack as I would have liked, but better than nothing. I’ll take it.