Monday, July 14, 2008

Is Obama running to the right?

My answer: I call bullshit. Obama hasn't changed. His policy proposals have always been right-centrist, about making incremental changes rather than blowing up the system and starting over again. All that has happened is that the news "reporters" have started reporting on his policy proposals, policy proposals that have been the same since at least the beginning of the year, and suddenly liberals are saying "hold it, that's almost a right-wing position!"

For example, look at his health care proposal. It's been the same since the end of last year. It looks a helluva lot like the Republican bail-out of Bear-Stearns and Fannie-Freddie, which is all about privatizing the profits and socializing the risks. In Obama's proposal, insurance companies are required to write insurance even for pre-existing conditions. But, the government will come in and bail out the insurers by re-insuring the riskiest policies, the ones for people who have pre-existing conditions or who are suffering from catastrophically expensive illnesses. Privatize the profit, socialize the risk. Might as well be out of the goddamn Republican playbook. And this has been Obama's health care plan since, like, the beginning.

Obama is who he has always been -- a right-centerist pragmatist. There ain't a damned thing that's changed about him, and Obamabots and other liberals who are getting all huffy and upset about his supposed "flip-flops" need to take the blinders off their eyes and look around and see what's been there all along. That's Obama, folks. He ain't the Second Coming of Eugene Debs, and never has been. He is who he is and always has been, for better or for worse. And compared to John McCain, that's a whole lot better, for reasons I've explained elsewhere. But Eugene Debs he ain't -- and never has been.

-- Badtux the Practical Penguin

7 comments:

  1. Mmm hmmm. Just wait till he goes up against the military-industrial-complex and loses big-time. Ohhhh, the Obamabots will be soooooo disilllusioned. Waaaaaaa.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There ain't a damned thing that's changed about him, and Obamabots and other liberals who are getting all huffy and upset about his supposed "flip-flops" need to take the blinders off their eyes and look around and see what's been there all along.

    Supposed flip-flops? What do you call "I will filibuster any bill with Telecom immunity" and then voting for Telecom immunity? Who's wearing blinders, exactly?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Obama is intelligent and level-headed. He will not be all things to all people, but look at your alternative. If you feel the last 7-1/2 years have been a success, vote McCain, but if you'd like somebody who is smart about foreign policy, the economy, energy, U.S. debt, a strong U.S. dollar, and somebody who will listen to all sides on any issue before charging ahead, vote Obama.

    McCain will:
    - Keep us in Iraq.
    - Start a war with Iran.
    - Fight with North Korea.
    - Cut taxes and rack up even more debt.
    - Talk about cutting spending, but not actually say how.
    - Privatize Social Security, with no way to pay for it.
    - Trample women's rights (like his support of pharmacists who don't want to give women birth control).

    ...and on and on and on. He's the second coming of George Bush.

    The choice has never been clearer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some people seem astonished that Obama is not anti-Semitic, actually loves America, and is willing to go along with a FISA bill that is much better than the earlier FISA bill.

    You don't have to agree with Obama on everything, but do you really want a third term of George W. Bush?

    ReplyDelete
  5. What part of "I will filibuster any bill with Telecom immunity" don't you understand?

    ReplyDelete
  6. So what part of "Obama's policies have always been right-centrist" is confusing?

    ReplyDelete
  7. So what part of "Obama's policies have always been right-centrist" is confusing?


    Er, the fact that they haven't always been right-centrist. As in when he was trying to win progressive voters in the primaries. Promising to filibuster Telecom immunity is not "right-centrist." Voting for Telecom immunity is. Most people would call that a flip-flop, not a "supposed flip-flop." To baldly pronounce that "there ain't a damned thing that's changed about him" is simply to ignore the facts.

    ReplyDelete

Ground rules: Comments that consist solely of insults, fact-free talking points, are off-topic, or simply spam the same argument over and over will be deleted. The penguin is the only one allowed to be an ass here. All viewpoints, however, are welcomed, even if I disagree vehemently with you.

WARNING: You are entitled to create your own arguments, but you are NOT entitled to create your own facts. If you spew scientific denialism, or insist that the sky is purple, or otherwise insist that your made-up universe of pink unicorns and cotton candy trees is "real", well -- expect the banhammer.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.