In my OPINION, Obama is simply lying — to try to appear more centrist than he is.
Just as he is lying (in my opinion, again) when he says he favors only gay “civil unions” but not “gay marriage.”
Obama knows perfectly well that the kind of Justices he would put on SCOTUS would join with today’s decision.
Total two-facedness. Doesn’t have the guts to say what he really believes. “I oppose the death penalty, so I can’t say I disagree with today’s decision striking it down in one instance.” Gee, that’d take actual courage.
pogo101: “Obama knows perfectly well that the kind of Justices he would put on SCOTUS would join with today’s decision.”
Dead on right! Obama has already clearly said he would nominate justices in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Even if he truly disagrees with the ruling, he knows full well how another Ruth Bader type will rule.
It’s a sham, a run toward the middle in order to try and win the election.
The best way to judge a candidate's real stance on an issue is to see what stance he has taken when he wasn't pressured. Candidates will often change their stated position in response to pressure, but seldom change their real one. The only time I will trust a politician to have change his stance is if he has openly and thoroughly renounced and denounced his previous stance, Zumbo style (yes, I know Zumbo wasn't a politician, but his apology would be a good model to follow).
Obama is lying, the only folks he has to choose from for appointment to the court would not support the death penalty.