By Libby
Are there really that many Obama supporters that believed the GOP narrative that Obama is some kind of radical liberal? I think it's been rather clear right along, that Obama is a centrist who is unwilling to embrace a truly liberal agenda. That's one reason it took me so long to get on board for him. He was far from my first choice when the primaries started. In fact both he and Hillary were my last choices.
One of the reasons I finally went with Obama is that I think he's about as centrist as Hillary is, but I'm hoping he will be less willing to triangulate in favor of the conservative agenda, as I thought Bill Clinton did way too much during his tenure and expected Hillary to continue. At worst, at least he comes into power with less predetermined conceptions by dint of his youth and lesser tenure and will cast fresh eyes on our old unsolved problems. I'll admit it's not much of a hope, but at least it's a hope for change.
Change has to come from the grass roots anyhow.
ReplyDeleteTrue Mike. Real change always comes from the bottom up I think.
ReplyDeleteMcCain's recently been saying that Obama has the most liberal voting record in the Senate.
ReplyDeleteI hope a few million bloggers decide to shoot that one down pdq.
All the GOPers have been saying that Kat. One of the most ridiculous memes they've ever started but it looks like it's taking among the deluded and will require some pushback.
ReplyDeleteSo which Senator is more liberal than he? It's not like we have thousands of votes to wade through to find out where he took stands on things.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, one makes "hard-Left" descriptions only in relation to where every other politician actually stands, not on what's theoretically possible. So given the other 99 Senators with whom to compare him, it's not some arcane art that produces a score of "far-left" senate votes for Obama. He's almost never voted on any legislation that could be construded as a "centrist" position.
With respect to any concrete policy proposals he's made on the campaign trail on hot button issues, he certainly comes across as "liberal", even "hard-left" liberal. Now if your definition of "hard left" is Stalinism, he's going to be "centrist". But is that really the hard-left in this country?
On Abortion - he's totally for it, no execeptions. That's not a 'centrist' position in the country as a whole (and he's claiming to be a uniter, remember). On the topic of euthanasia he's said his greatest regret is not calling for Teri's death sooner. Again, hardly some "main-stream" sentiment. In the Embryo-killing research corner he's shown no centrist qualm about ethics and what "the ends justifying the means" means. Gun control - he's from Chicago and parrots the party line about guns, not knowing a round from a bullet or the power difference between a deer rifle and "an assault rifle" (hint, deer rifles are far, far, MORE powerful calibers and rounds than .223) yet most hard-left Liberals claim to wish to protect hunters' rights while going after those evil men who would own "super-powerful sniper 'assault rifles'".
His economic proposals, judicial appointments, foreign policy ideas.... all speak of a man who is far more comfortable on the left and far-left than someone who has practice compromising, working with those on the 'other side' domestically (all while he claims he'll be fantastic working with 'enemies' abroad).
In short - his votes place him comfortably to the left of center with respect to his Senate colleagues and his policy positions such as they are place him to the left or far-left of the political spectrum of the nation as whole, taking into account the 49% of us who are not Democrats.
As much as you won't like this, Bush actually had more bona-fides to claim to be a centrist than Obama does.
Anyway...
ReplyDeleteJust distinguish between different fields of policy. Obama's a centrist on economic issues, but pretty big on transparency and diplomacy, which are also part of the leftwing palette. One should also distinguish between desired ends and means, meaning that while Obama favours a market-driven approach to health care, it doesn't mean he doesn't want decent health care for all, and still could change his mind about the means to that end.
And, anyway, the US is mired in debt. That means little extra spending for anything. Doubt those middle-class tax cuts will ever see the light of day, if his administration is responsible.
John, just off the top of my head, I'd say Kucinich is far left. Obama is center, but if you're going to define the center using far right positions then everything is going to look far left to you. Outside of gun control, all the examples you gave ARE the centrist positions. Maybe you and the people you talk to don't agree, but most Americans agree with Obama on these issues.
ReplyDeleteKlaus, he's more left than the GOP certainly, but outside of withdrawing the troops, I don't find he's all that far afield on foreign policy. He's made some remarks about Iran that buy into the rightwing narrative for instance. I saw something recently where he speaks favorably of the so-called free markets.
In the end, there's no telling what he would do as president but I'm sure it won't be making the "far left" happy and it's just silly to call him a liberal. For dog's sake he denounced liberals a while back. I forget exactly what he said, but I remember it pissed me off.