Is Pres. Obama Too Conservative? Not Liberal Enough? Truth Is, He’s Just Right

[sheshe2]

Social programs, according to the Right, are ‘immoral’—they redistribute resources that belong to those with more to those with less—against their will. The more one advocates for social programs, at the expense of ‘free market’ forces, the more redistribution is required–the more one is derogatorily referred to as Liberal.

snip

Along came the Tea Party and Republican politics radicalized, threatened, lied, obstructed, obfuscate issues, and interjected God into the equation, who told Republicans to abandon healthcare and now SNAP (Food Stamps) because ‘He’ wants Americans with less opportunity to suffer and go hungry.snip

While you can never make both the extremes happy, President Obama was instrumental in having unemployment benefits extended during this last recession to 2 years to help the long-term unemployed. The government supplemented individual healthcare costs for those un/under employed, when they could get it. The President expanded SNAP for which he has taken enormous heat. Of course, for advocating and adopting these policies, along with the ACA, the President was referred to as a ‘socialist’ by the Right. The far leaning left (the real socialists) and the Green Party decried of the President, he is just another politician for using SuperPac money, and that his programs don’t go far enough.

Nate Silver wrote, in response to the earlier piece by Ezra Klein: “It’s fairly easy to demonstrate that Mr. Obama’s policy preferences resemble those of a typical Democrat in today’s Congress…There is a system by which political scientists rate member of Congress from a scale of negative 1 very liberal to positive 1 very conservative. According to this system of rating “Mr. Obama’s score of -0.399 was very close to the average, splitting the difference between his party’s liberal and moderate wings. He typically leaves some room to his left…Mr. Obama’s positions are also broadly in line with the median Democratic voter. According to polling conducted by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm, 70 percent of Democrats think Mr. Obama’s positions are “about right”, and those who disagreed were about as likely to say he was too conservative (12 percent) as too liberal (14 percent).”

Read more here.
http://www.occupydemocrats.com/president-obama-liberal-conservative/

********************THIS IS POSTED IN THE BARACK OBAMA GROUP********************

[babylonsister]

1. He will never be perfect, no one ever is. But

I am constantly amazed at the dumb critiques I read about this man. And no, not the valid critiques.

He is dancing as fast as he can, and has been since he became president. And you know what? He's learning as he goes, because he's smart. And he applies what he's learned.

I will never be sorry I voted and fought for President Obama. And that hasn't ended!

[sheshe2]

2. I couldn't agree with you more, babylonsister.

He has grown immensely since taking office. They have tried to beat him down, humiliate both the President and his family, yet he gets stronger.

No, I too will never regret my support.

Thank you.

[treestar]

8. I agree, most of the complaining is just dumb

Usually involves non-acceptance of the limits of power on the executive branch, as if that's a bad thing. None of them can say he isn't doing enough validly, yet they keep doing it.

[IrishAyes]

9. Children are prone to babble, especially infants.

[mountain grammy]

3. President Obama has never been the liberal I hoped for

but he's a good president and the right man for the times. I'm proud of him and the whole first family and have never regretted my vote.
I got a little crazy when I thought he would bomb Syria, but he deserves our renewed respect and admiration for his foreign policy.
The President could have done so much more without the stupid idiotic teabagger traitors; and that's how I really feel!

[sheshe2]

4. Thank you so much, mountain grammy.

[flamingdem]

5. He's as close as it gets

to greatness.

History will agree with me!

[sheshe2]

6. Thanks, flamingdem.

I agree with you 100%!

[libdem4life]

7. As a Left Liberal, not used to not getting much of my druthers, and I'll object when appropriate,but

he's done more much for All the People and put up with more undeserved and vicious BS than any President in my memory. His forebears, JFK and RFK were cut short.

[IrishAyes]

10. By classic definition, President Obama is quite liberal.

What he isn't is a short-sighted, irrelevant extremist sacrificing himself (and thereby everyone) on the purity altar of an ego maniacal ideologue's impatience and extremism. For the crime of effectiveness, his enemies bombard him with the worst slanders in gratitude. As I've said elsewhere more than once, with friends like that...

[AgingAmerican]

12. "purity"

nt

[IrishAyes]

13. Hi to you too!

But while we're discussing rabbits, remember not to be one. Do you remember who won that race too?

[kestrel91316]

11. He's too conservative, and I'm NOT an extremist.

But what I am is a realist, and he's the best we can do right now. I do hope we take a fairly sharp left turn in this country soon.

[cer7711]

14. Yep!

Last edited Fri Oct 25, 2013, 02:45 PM - Edit history (5)

I'm with you there, Kestrel91316!

I'd hoped for an FDR-like firebrand who could rally the people by railing against the "economic royalists" systematically looting our country and destroying the middle class. Instead we got . . . Barack Obama. Cool, calm, collected. Fiscally conservative.

Not a bad man, you understand. Given a Congress that hadn't been thrown into neo-Confederate insurrection and mindless, knee-jerk obstructionism our president could have accomplished so much more. And may very well still do so. (This is to take nothing away from those domestic and foreign policy successes he's already had in the teeth of gail-force winds blowing against him. As Bill Clinton noted: the resistance and criticism President Obama has faced is exponentially worse than the nonsense his administration had to deal with--and that's saying something.)

But ah, god! If only President Obama had listened to Krugman instead of Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner. What's that quote of Einstein's? "A problem cannot be solved by the consciousness that created it."

Crony, gangster-like capitalism must be transformed into a fairer, more egalitarian social-democratic model. You know--like we had back in the 40s and 50s. (Minus the racism, homophobia and misogyny, of course. But this is to confuse sociology with economics. I'm simply noting here that I am well aware that the 40s and the 50s were eras of grinding, relentless pressure to conform to white, hetero-normative, so-called "Judeo-Christian" values.)

[IrishAyes]

15. Be practical and put your shoulder to the wheel, and we'll get there together much faster.

(hint, hint)

We're building bedrock here, and that takes time.

You know I'm not picking on you, because I like a great many of your posts. I'm not saying bank the fire either, just direct it in the most efficient manner.

President Obama is not 'the best we can do'. He's the best, period. A few years down the road don't be surprised to find yourself realizing that more and more.

[sheshe2]

16. Give him a congress in 2014!

Then we will see some fireworks!