Maybe Obama really is a centrist
Posted on December 25, 2008
Excerpt:
CAN YOU HEAR the grumbling over in what Howard Dean used to call “the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party?” The tolerance-and-diversity crowd is upset with Barack Obama; it seems the president-elect has been bringing people into his circle who don’t agree with them on every single issue.
President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Dec. 1. Nominees L to R: Eric Holder (Attorney General), Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (Secretary of Homeland Security), US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who is to continue in his position, Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, Sen. Hillary Clinton (Secretary of State), retired US Marine Gen. James Jones (National Security Adviser), and Susan Rice (ambassador to the UN).
The consternation on the left began with the naming of Obama’s national security team — Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Robert Gates to continue as secretary of defense, and retired four-star General James Jones as national security adviser. “Barack Obama’s Kettle of Hawks,” they were promptly dubbed in the Guardian by the left-wing journalist Jeremy Scahill, “with a proven track record of support for the Iraq war [and] militaristic interventionism.” How could Obama possibly keep his campaign promise “to end the mindset that got us into war,” asked The Nation, when none of his top foreign policy/national security picks had opposed the war?
There was even more distress in progressive precincts after Obama’s economic team was announced. Lawrence Summers, who will chair the National Economic Council, “opposed regulating the newfangled financial instruments that greased the way to the subprime meltdown,” wrote David Corn, the Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones magazine, in a column for the Washington Post. Obama’s choice for Treasury secretary, New York Fed president Timothy Geithner, “helped oversee the financial system as it collapsed.” Both of them, lamented Corn, are close to Robert Rubin, “a director of bailed-out Citigroup and a poster boy for . . . Big Finance.” In the plaintive title of Corn’s essay, “This Wasn’t Quite the Change We Pictured.”
Add to those the passel of former Clinton operatives who have returned to play key roles in the Obama transition, including Rahm Emanuel, John Podesta, and Greg Craig, and Obama Girl herself could be forgiven for feeling disillusioned. Whatever happened to the fresh, progressive candidate who promised an escape from Clinton-era Democratic politics?
As if all that weren’t enough to give a fervent liberal agita, Obama has asked the Rev. Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor of Saddleback Church, to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. From many on the left, where Warren’s staunch opposition to same-sex marriage is reason enough to loathe him, responses have ranged from dismay to fury. Barney Frank labeled the pastor’s views “very offensive” and pronounced himself “very disappointed” that Obama would invite him. The blog Liberal Rapture was more pungent: “Obama throws another middle finger to liberals.” …
Still, Obama is hardly in danger of turning into anything resembling a right-winger. With his trillion-dollar “stimulus” proposal, he is inviting comparisons to FDR. And with committed liberals like Tom Daschle as Health and Human Services secretary, Carol Browner as energy czar, and Eric Holder as attorney general, the Obama administration is never going to be accused of harboring Republican tendencies.
More here
Whichever way you look at it, Obama sure is a champion con-man. Amusing that it seems to be mainly the Leftist big-shots that he has conned, however. Like other psychopaths — such as Bill Clinton — Obama believes in nothing other than what will benefit him personally. And he rightly perceives that if he wants a second term, he has to be a centrist. There is an article here which argues that centrism is the rule of politics. I can remember only as far back as Ike but as far as I can see, with one exception, all American presidents have been centrists — the exception being, of course, Ronald Reagan. But as Nancy once said: “When they made Ronnie, they broke the mould”. Ronnie actually moved the centre for a while but it has drifted back
Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here
» Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats, Economy, Joe Biden, National Security, News, Politics As Usual, liberalism
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3 Responses to “Maybe Obama really is a centrist”
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The problem with Obama is fundamental. No one knows anything about him at all. He has never been tested in a leadership role, never shown he has the courage of his convictions, and just when has he managed, led, or suffered through any type of crisis? Sure, we were sold the bill of goods that Obama, simply being “different” meant that he was made of strong stuff, leadership material, but anyone with an IQ in triple digits knows that being “different” really isn’t a qualification for leadership. That’s only on TV, where the sitcom family learns a lesson “on a very special one-hour episode”.
Obama never received a private sector paycheck, never managed others, mostly voted “present” in his state legislature job, and was mostly absent from his Senate seat. He has been camapigning for political power since he left law school, never saw fit to make the obstacle course at OCS while a TI screamed and fired blanks. Never merited the respect of a salute, never showed the armed forces of the United States enough respect to give one.
He is the ultimate blank slate, a black slate, if you will, because blackness seems to be his chief and only real qualification in the minds of the mindless electorate. The same people who watch Oprah, go to movies, consume Star magazine, and think the “Daily Show” is a real news program elected Obama. Who else would? Sure, throw in millions of State College and JuCo hippies, but they just want to SEEM intelligent without doing the work. Obama is their mirror image. He seems Presidential and Leader-y, without ever having done the real deal. Off script, we are learning that he is scatter-brained, and unfocussed. His cabinet appointments are probably being made by others, and where they don’t make sense they are probably the result of a team led by a poor leader.
Talk to real leaders. CEO’s, men in the military. They will tell you that leading people is not an OJT thing. It must be developed, nurtured, and practiced over time. Community Organizers and absentee Senators don’t get tried in the fire. They learn the art of politicking, compromising, hiding the truth, and obscuring their agenda. (is Obama the only President in the modern age to never release his medical and university records? I think he is!)
If Obama makes wild cabinet picks, and does the unexpected, it isn’t because he believes in something or for the sake of a principle. It is from a lack of time in the drivers seat. Conatrast the pictures from Obama’s time in college published in Time Magazine with those of pictures of midshipmen at the Naval Academy, like say John McCain. Self involved versus a brotherhood of service, style over substance, vapid versus valiant. The ship of State is in the hands of an unqualified, untried, untested man. Expect it to reel, rock, lurch, and run aground. The captain got promoted from the engine room, and he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Hopefully, we won’t go down. History suggests we probably will, though.
Examining Obama’s decision making is as fruitless as an examination of the jet fighter piloting skills of a 3 year old. Yes they are deficient, and it is obvious why.
BUT HE WON … YOU LOST … GET OVER IT !!! Oh, and John McCain never released his medical or academic records … so what’s your point ? geo. dubyous shrub sealed every record pertaining to anything about him … although he couldn;t reach his Canadian driving record in time … oh, and where exactly are his “service” records ?
McCain released all of his records including his honorable military record. George Bush released all his academic transcipts. So did McCain. McCain released his class rank at the Naval Academy. What was Obama’s class rank at the service academy…oh wait. He was busy smoking pot while others manned the front lines.
Obama is the only one who refused all requests for information about his past. If George Bush were so dishonorable as to seal his records, why then did all of his military records surface including the fact that he DID ask for early release from his Guard unit in order to attend Harvard? How did his drunk driving arrest surface? why did every late-night TV host make jokes about his C grades at Yale? (until Al Gore’s straight-D grade reports were released) These things are public record because Bush was an honorable candidate. The only Presidential candidate who ever hid every fact about himself is Barack Hussein Obama. You can still gloat that he beat the war hero with the long record of service to his country. That’s OK. He is your guy. I’m pointing out that his record is thin, and doesn’t demostrate the capacity to lead or a history of service to his country. That is public record. Obama’s grades and medical history are not. Why lie about other past Presidents and his opponent? As you point out, McCain lost, Obama won. The country rejected honesty and service and elected secretive question mark. Be proud of that! Your guy won. Hitler and Stalin won elections too, I might remind you.
I did not stand for election. I didn’t lose anything. The country lost by electing an affirmative action President. One who will get many Americans killed to pay for his Oprah-sidency. The day will come when you will pray for an experienced leader in that Office. The day will come when you will look into his eyes and realize that you elected a slick metrosexual who lacks the capacity to lead the nation through trying times. You’ll wish you had voted differently, but it will be too late…. maybe for someone you love. Maybe your last moment on Earth will be the moment you realize that magazine coverboys make bad Commanders in Chief.