Thses things are more complicated than a simple catch-all “moving to the right.” I like to categorize all this back and forth.. Is it a: Flip-slop, Slide (willful confusion), Pandering, Lie, Smart Move or Consistent. So here it goes:

FISA: The first amendment people battering Barack say that he promised to filibuster if immunity was included in the bill. First, this is not what Barack said in your quote. He put opposition in terms of the total bill. Given that the bill had amendments that restricted surveillance like the ones the Bush Administration approved, Obama judged that gaining oversight and restrictions on these new types of surveillance outweighed leaving things status quo with no oversight. In politics, you chose your fights. Sometimes it’s better to compromise and come back to fight another day. This is pretty much Legislation 101 which these avid first amendment defenders might want to take sometime. FISA falls under tactically smart move.

D.C. GUNS: I first heard Obama declare his view on gun control in Iowa just before the January caucuses and have heard him say the same thing time and again. He said law-abiding citizens have the right to own guns. Period. He also said that steps can be taken in high-crime inner cities to deal with their problems and keep handguns out of the hands of felons, mentality disabled and kids. This means he supports the second amendment in exactly the way the Supreme Court did. This is a balance approach that has been consistent throughout the primaries. For the NRA crown, if Obama were against gun ownership entirely, he’d never have won downstate Illinois in his Senate race. Consistent.

JERUSALEM: His statements at AIPAC, especially concerning Jerusalem, were mystifying and unwarranted. He did not need to support Jerusalem as the undivided capitol of Israel to show his support for Israel and its security. His explanation for doing so – he was thinking of past conditions when Jerusalem was divided by barbed wire – was silly. Tacking on that, of course, this would be negotiated by the parties, was lame. Either he did not know that the status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest ‘final status’ issues before the two parties (which would make one question his leadership in foreign policy) or it was an example of bold-faced pandering.

SOCIAL SECURITY TAX: Obama’s change here was due to growth and learning. This is good in politics so it rates as smart move.

MOVEON.ORG: goes without saying: smart move,

NAFTA: Mishandled by campaign from the beginning, combination of slide, pandering and flip-flop. (Not to mention embarrassing.)

WELFARE REFORM: didn’t even know this was an issue.

see: horribledictu.com