Except for the part about MSNBC (not sure what that’s about), the following is as close a reflection of my own thoughts on Barack Obama as I’ve come across.
Whenever conservatives talk to me about Barack Obama, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. But what exactly? The anger, the suspicion, the freestyle fantasizing have no perceptible object in the space-time continuum that centrist Democrats like me inhabit. What are we missing? Seen from our perspective, the country elected a moderate and cautious straight shooter committed to getting things right and giving the United States its self-respect back after the Bush-Cheney years. Unlike the crybabies at MSNBC and Harper’s Magazine, we never bought into the campaign’s hollow “hope and change” rhetoric, so aren’t crushed that, well, life got in the way. At most we hoped for a sensible health care program to end the scandal of America’s uninsured, and were relieved that Obama proposed no other grand schemes of Nixonian scale. We liked him for his political liberalism and instinctual conservatism. And we still like him.
Read the entire piece which is an excellent take down of conservative scholar Charles Kessler’s I Am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberlism.
Another snippet:
Had the Supreme Court overturned the Affordable Care Act, the right’s fever would not have dropped one degree, nor, I predict, will the patient come to its senses if the president is defeated in November. Is there a doctor in the house?
True. Nor would Republican angst and looniness over the last four years been any less fervent had it been Hillary Clinton who claimed victory in 2008 instead of Barack Obama. Obama’s blackness only added another element for conservatives to latch on to. For the right, it’s never really been about Obama. It’s about not having a Republican in the White House to push the conservative agenda forward. That’s all.
(h/t: TheDish)
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To the point, and very well put. But – one other feature of Obama: He brought the loonies to the forefront of the GOP. Who knew or suspected there were so many??? It’s definitely NOT my father’s Republican party; he would be appalled, were he not 6 ft. under…
MSNBC was never all that critical of the President. I did hear a lot from The Young Turks and Bill Maher. I myself had hoped the POTUS would be more progressive, but the alternative is a no go. I am hoping the second term will be stronger as to the termination of the failed drug war (I can only hope but will most likely be disappointed on this one), more bank regulation and possibly some jail time for some financial geniuses, more public works, more small business help, more renewable energy incentives and less oil incentives, more job bills (including those specifially for vets), no new wars and the termination of the current one, etc.
Let’s give the man a D Congress and we might get part of this shopping list.
When Republicans spew crap that Obama is the most liberal president we’ve ever had, and that he’s a communist and a socialist, I well know they’re fantasizing because his record shows otherwise.
When Glenn Beck accused Obama of having a “Deep-seated hate for white people” it made me want to laugh because there is not one thing Barack has said or done that would give anyone reason to say that. I think it’s more like Republicans have a deep-seated hate for Obama instead.
It’s simple, they hate the Fox News Obama,. who doesn’t exist Romney is campaigning against a fictional character. Unfortunately for him, smart people don’t watch Fox.
Fidlerton, every Democrat who runs for any office is “the most liberal ever” as in, he was the most liberal dog catcher this town ever had.
“Seen from our perspective, the country elected a moderate and cautious straight shooter committed to getting things right and giving the United States its self-respect back after the Bush-Cheney years.”
As much as I loathe Bush and Cheney, you have to be joking to think for a second that Obama is a “moderate and a cautious straight shooter”.
and this one is even more hilarious: “there is not one thing Barack has said or done that would give anyone reason” (to believe Obama is racist)
and this one is good too: “I well know they’re fantasizing because his record shows otherwise.” (that Obama isn’t a Communist/Marxist) “his record”!!! Bwah ha haa … man-o-man.
Is this site satire or something? Because you can’t write the stuff here and actually believe what you’re writing. I gotta tell you, if you or any like minded here ever come into my neighborhood, I’m calling the cops and getting the children moved in doors immediately.
In order to argue effectively, Steve, you have to back up your comments with facts.
Please give SPECIFICS on how Obama is not moderate – or that he is racist – or is a Marxist. To simply say “Uh, Uh! Oh, and you are a doody-head” is immature.
It would be terrific if you used real examples, though, and not something out of Rush’s imagination. Something that can be verified on tape, for example – you know, like Mitt was on tape.
As to calling the cops if a moderate come into your neighborhood, we haven’t reached that state. I do believe they would laugh at you.
Sigh…
Cheryl, I have used “specifics”, links, etc. etc. etc. etc. and this is what I’ve gotten … “right-wing extremist propaganda” … “right-wing talking points” …
As I read the most of the differing posts on this and other liberal blogs I rarely if ever see any of the things you are talking (writing in this case) about. Nah, I doubt the cops would laugh at me … but I hope you could detect I was being somewhat facetious there. “moderate” .. now that dear lady (I trust you are female) is something YOU could provide some “specifics”. Mr. Obama’s moderate policies: Hmmmm … let’s see … abortion? uh… not quite. Uh … taxes? not quite. coddling terror organizations? … not quite. Policiy on the gay thing … nah… not quite. Racist … ma’am if one quacks, and walks like a duck … well just maybe that one could be a duck.
Please don’t attempt to insult me with “immaturity” … you simply undermine your argument.
Ah… and still no specifics. Just “not quite”. Got it. Well, that cleared everything up.
Dearest Cheryl,
If you believe Mr. Obama is a “moderate” it’s cool with me. I just disagree with you.
To me he’s quacking and walking like something very different … I hope you and your family have a good week.
I’ll give Mario credit for an interesting and well put together blog site.
Steve, I disagree with you that Obama is quacking and walking like something else. That is something entirely made up by Republicans. You’ve been listening to too much conservative media and not paying attention to what Obama really is doing, compared to what the GOP says he’s doing. Such as the idea that he’s trying to take away their guns, though he has not done a thing concerning guns.
Then this idea that ObamaCare is government run health care, even though everyone pays for heatlh insurance.
Obama is very moderate but Republicans need a liberal president to criticize and that’s why Obama is a liberal, socialist, communist, because they need him to be.
Okay.
You sound very much like a liberal friend I have who actually referred this blog. He contends that “if it (whatever the subject might be, gun confiscation, religious persecution, single payer health care system, etc) hasn’t happened yet, then it isn’t gonna happen”.
That’s kind of ignorant wouldn’t you think? Just because something isn’t happening right this second … we can’t actually see it … then it isn’t going to happen? And Cheryl thinks my reasoning is “immature”?
No sir, I’m not misinformed at all. There are numerous videos of Mr. Obama, Barney Frank and the like voicing the desire and how implementation of a single payer health care system will be take place.
But, I’m not going to argue with anyone here. You think one way, I think another. I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out. Kind of like “You have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it”.
You betcha Steve; a single-payer health care system is what we want, but most importantly we need.
Health Care should have never become a commodity to be sold and those needing it, charged. It is immoral, much more immoral than abortion, any day. It affects tens of millions of people, many of them children who can’t get access to care because they cannot afford it.
And yes, Obama would prefer a single-payer system too, but he was willing to compromise with Republicans by implementing a market-based health care system, which was a Republican idea. It was a Republican idea until Obama decided to take it on.
Ah yes. The good ol’ state controlled beast finally emerges.
Gotta go. The guy I work for actually expects me to do some work around here to get paid, can you believe it? Rich bastard! Have a great day!
Nice summary, Mario. I have never been able to get my head around the incredibly vitriolic reactions I’ve seen to the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (and I studied abberant psychology.) When I have tried to discuss this with family and friends on the far right of the political spectrum I almost always encounter expletives, name-calling and regurgitated talking points with little or no grounding in reality. Anyone who truly believes a Kenyan, socialist, terrorist sympathizer has somehow been elected to the highest office would seem to be borderline psychotic. As I cannot assume such a mass psychosis has gripped so many, the only reasonable diagnosis is venality and dishonesty. And that makes me sad.
Steve,
The point I was making is that President Obama – unlike the Republicans in Congress – was willing to compromise to provide a health care program for everyone. What we got was far from what we wanted but that’s what compromise is about.
The reason why progressives want a single-payer, goverment run health care program is because we don’t believe that someone’s access to health care should not rely on their ability to pay. We accept the fact that there are some things that a free market system cannot do effectively and health care is one of them.
We also can’t depend on private industry to build our infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, water and sewage systems. It’s about collective power to do things that none of us can do on our own.
We need a health care system that provides quality care for everyone, both Republican and Democrat, both rich and poor and everyone in between. And yes, Democrats will accept what we have been given through ObamaCare but we will continue to seek for what we really believe in, and that is a single-payer system that covers everyone. Romney wants to keep the status quo, with the working poor having to go to the emergency room, only when they’re illness becomes so life-threatening that they either go or die. Many will do that too because no matter how little money you make, you’re still going to have to pay the more expensive cost of emergency room care, just because they are poor.
I say this Steve because I have personally been there in my own life and that is no way to provide health care.
fidlerten;
I appreciate your view and well thought out reasoning. I do take issue somewhat with the “compromise” part of your statement. Obamacare was passed through without anyone in the Congress actually read it. We both know how it was passed and not one Republican voted for it … they were not included in the negotiations. I’m wondering what happened to the C-Span thing?
Anyway, like I’ve been saying, we think differently about this. For me though, this election is much more than just health care. It’s about all the other matters that have plagued the current administration. Leaking of classified information … leading to the deaths of our servicemen and women. The Fast and Furious scandal, etc.
Thanks for your time and respectful reply.