Obama: Depends on What your Definition of 'Commissions' Is

Also part of Obama's busy schedule was discussing the evils of commissions in government and how they never get anything done. As detailed at Southern Appeal, Obama said today:

Senator McCain offered up the oldest Washington stunt in the book: you pass the buck to a commission to study the problem. But here’s the thing: this isn’t 9-11. We know how we got into this mess. What we need now is leadership that gets us out.

There were two things wrong with this statement. First shortly after he made the statement, in the same speech, he called for an 'Advisory Group' to be formed regarding the current economic situation. From the Corner:

During his Tuesday morning speech, I found it amusing that Obama called McCain to task for "using the oldest trick in the political book" in calling for a 'Commission' to examine the current economic crisis. No less than five minutes later Obama then called for an "Advisory Group" to meet with the president regarding the current economic scenario.

You say tomato, I say tomahto.

Yes, please. Can somebody explain to me the difference between an advisory group and a commission?

The other problem with Obama's criticism of McCain is that he seems to like commissions (also from Southern Appeal):

Apparently, then, we can dismiss Senator Obama’s call for commissions on Social Security (11/2007), torture (9/2007), war crimes (8/2008), and financial oversight for Wall Street (4/2008) as four separate instances of the senator pulling “the oldest Washington stunt in the book.”

This seems to be a reoccurring problem in this campaign for Obama. He blasts McCain for the use of commissions but his history is littered with uses of them. He blasts Palin for not really canceling the bridge to nowhere (that claim debunked here), but then he and Biden both voted for the bridge twice.

If you are going to attack someone on an issue, a decision, or a behavior it would probably be wise to not have been on the same side of the same issue, decision, or behavior yourself. It takes the punch out of your argument before you begin.