In the end, it probably doesn't matter what Barack Obama said before, what he says now and what he may say later. His good standing so far is based on a lot of things, including his youth, the tone of his voice and the cadence of his speech, not his policies. Still, it would be nice to know that he has principles and what they are.

In Georgia this week, Obama dismissed the notion that he had been changing his positions since winning the Democratic nomination in order to appear more centrist.

Instead of dismissing it, he ought to address the issue head-on. Yes, he might say, I have been using different words because now we are in a general election campaign.

Instead, he said that he had not changed his position on gun rights and gun control at all. Concerning the Supreme Court ruling striking down the law making it a crime to own a handgun in the District of Columbia, Obama said: "I actually have said that I agree with that for years, even before the ruling came down.''

Really? The columnist Charles Krauthammer reports that Obama explicitly told the Chicago Tribune last November he believed the D.C. law was constitutional. If that's so, then Obama can't possibly agree with the court ruling now - unless he changed his mind.

Obama has pulled similar switches on topics such as NAFTA, immunity for telephone companies that cooperated with government's wiretap requests, and talks with foreign leaders hostile to the United States.

There is nothing wrong with changing your mind as you get more information and think further about the consequences of this action or that.

But you can't easily change your views on fundamental questions - such as what the Constitution means on certain subjects - without looking like a weather vane that swings according to the latest poll.

If Obama does that and becomes president anyway, the world will have little reason to believe whatever our next president says. (hh)