Occasionally, and despite my efforts to shoo them off, right-wing Obama un-fans show up here. I'd like to ask the righties a question: If Obama is a "socialist," as you continually say that he is, then why do actual Socialists find him insufferable? See the John Pilger video in the post below...
4 comments:
I'll quote one of your other commenters-- if Obama were a socialist then I would have voted for him. People who think he is any shade of Red other than GOPer Red are deluded.
Obama has demonstrated he's a corporatist. If Obama were a socialist he'd be pushing single payer health care, but instead Obama has done everything to protect corporations.
Right-Winger (from Texas even!) here; I'll give it a good-faith try.
First, many of the conservatives saying Obama is a "socialist" likely intend to communicate that he's a "statist" whose agenda would involve a massive (further) intrusion on America's classical liberal tradition of individual liberty.
But besides that... I don't know if you've noticed, but there are a lot of folks on the "right" who accuse people YOU would probably consider to be pretty right-wing of being "RINO's" and moderates and sell-outs, etc.
Gov. Rick Perry gets lots of crap down here among grassroots conservative types for being a RINO; so does Senator John Cornyn.
Are any of you prepared to argue that our right-leaning wing-nuts are correct, and because Perry or Cornyn don't satisfy the hard-right base, they aren't actually "right-wingers"?
I suspect not, and for good reason; both Perry and Cornyn can accurately be characterized as "right-wingers," even though I see frustrated, disillusioned, crabby-assed conservatives all over the place who don't think either man is up to snuff.
Similarly, while I don't doubt and genuinely understand why a bunch of frustrated, disillusioned, crabby-assed leftists would be unhappy with Obama... in the Big Scheme Of Things, he wants, and is taking vigorous action, to massively enlarge the size of government in pursuit of "progressive" (i.e., "leftist") public policy ends.
For most folks, that's a pretty good definition of "socialist."
Of course, if McDonalds start handing out copies of "One Dimensional Man" with every Happy Meal, your dissenting view might eventually break the dominant paradigm and Obama's corporatist colors will finally be fully exposed.
Hope that helps.
What "leftist" policy ends is he pursuing? Health care is a prime example: His plan is a boondoggle for insurance corporations, not for the public. A single payer plan would be a "leftist" policy, but that is precisely what Obama does not want.
Take the stimulus package. Not one thing in there that creates jobs or provides relief to homeowners or the middle class, but lots of giveaways and tax breaks to Wall Street and insurance companies. Cheering a "recovery" that only helps Wall Street while leaving millions of people unemployed, and trong-arming unions? How are those "leftist" policies? They are the exact opposite of "leftist."
Methinks that you really don't know what "leftist" policy ends would be. (It's probably because you're not a leftist yourself.) But for the record, they would include: an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an immediate closure of Guantanamo and other rendition sites; legalization of marijuana and other "illegal" drugs; full public financing of education including college; single-payer health care; ending all aid, financial and moral, to Israel; and stronger unions, higher unemployment benefits, and a massive job-works program during recessions such as the current one.
On which of these has Obama, in your words, taken "vigorous action" and enlarged the size of the state to pursue? I'm honestly scraching my head here. All I see is a guy taking "vigorous action" to ramp up our wars, make Wall Street and insurance CEOs very very happy, and continue all of the Bush policies that you conservatives were presumably happy with.
If anything, you should be thrilled with Obama.
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