FLAIT

I'm getting sick and tired of Obama being labeled a liberal. He's not. Not even close. In fact, he's a Ronald Reagan conservative. Here's proof (updated from this post):

Obama has cut taxes (in the 2009 stimulus package) (Jan. 2011 insert: then cut taxes a second time); increased military spending; put forth a stimulus that was too small and too boring (the tax cut); didn't nationalize the banks (and he very well could/should have, at least a couple); (got spooked by Scott Brown's Senate victory in January and) called for freezing discretionary spending (in a recession); was too frightened and too intimidated of the minority Republicans to even attempt a second round of stimulus; stocked his economic team with deregulating Wall St. cronies who are responsible for its collapse; "re-regulated" Wall St. with watered-down legislation that wouldn't have prevented the collapse; sent more troops to Afghanistan, twice; is conducting secret CIA/Blackwater wars in Pakistan and Yemen that includes dropping bombs by drones that are killing innocent people; is running secret military operations in Africa, Asia and the Mid-East; swept Bush Administration war crimes under the rug; has either continued or gone further with Bush's policies on detainees that includes indefinite and preventative detention (hey, I thought liberals were supposed to be "soft on terrorism"); is using the "states secrets" excuse to keep public information on torture, illegal wiretapping and administration law breaking secret and to prevent tortured detainees from having their day in court; has given himself the right to assassinate American citizens anywhere in the world in secret and without due process; is prosecuting a NSA whistleblower (the reporter should have water-boarded his informant to get the information so he could say it's time to "look forward, not backward" which was the rationalization Obama used to sweep Bush's war crimes under the rug); is harassing, intimidating and violating Fourth Amendment rights of those connected to WikiLeaks; has continued Bush's warrantless wiretapping program; renewed the Patriot Act without privacy protections; has received praise from Bush administration security officials for "continuity" on counter-terrorism policies (Jan. 2011 insert: including Dick Cheney); nominated Sonia Sotomayor, a moderate, for the Supreme Court and then nominated a total blank slate in Eleana Kagan because he didn't want a fight even though Democrats hold 59 Senate seats (Kagan would have been a great choice if Republicans held 59 Senate seats! If a Republican president had 59 Republican Senators, he'd nominate the youngest "Robert Bork" with the record to back it up he could find!); cut a secret deal with Big Pharma; pushed through what's basically a market-based Republican/Mitt Romney health care bill; cut a secret deal with the insurance companies to ensure that there wouldn't be a public option; will push for cuts to Social Security (which aren't necessary); signed the credit card legislation that had a provision allowing guns in federal parks; received an 'F' from a gun control group; cleared the way for offshore drilling; endorsed nuclear power; is deporting illegal immigrants at record levels; supports charter schools; appeased Bart Stupak on abortion; has dragged his feet on repealing "don't ask, don't tell"; opposes gay marriage; allowed Joe Lieberman to remain in the Democratic Caucus; mocks liberals; panders to Republicans and appeases conservatives (the next time Obama appeases liberals it'll be the first time).

That's a liberal? My God, he's not even centrist! And yet, the so called "liberal" media wonders if Obama's "too liberal" and says he has to compromise with Republicans. Meanwhile, the right accuses Obama of being this extreme "big government" "tax and spend" liberal (yea, I wish), Socialist, Nazi, Marxist or any other scary term they can come up with. Give me a break.

So let me see if I have this straight: Obama dumps on liberals, caves to Republicans and practically governs like Ronald Reagan. But the right attacks everything he does. Huh? They should be doing cartwheels!

If anyone should have a problem with Obama it's liberals like me (and I do). Not conservatives. But they do have a problem with him. A big problem. Why? Well, as this blog has proven, the right is a massive cult that has to dislike him, has to disagree with him, and has to attack him so they can protect their anti-liberal propaganda. Oh wait, that would be if Obama was doing a good job as a liberal. So that's not the reason.

What's happend is that since Obama moved to the right, Republicans moved further right to set up confrontations with him so they can dislike him, can disagree with him, can attack him and, most important, can accuse him of being "a liberal." And with GOP's propaganda machine that's what they've done. This way, they can pin the blame for the bail outs the lousy economy everything gone wrong on a "liberal" and "big government liberalism". And that's how the GOP keeps their mindless and gullible base perpetually enraged at Democrats and "liberals."

If they didn't do any of that, the country would realize Obama's a Republican. And the GOP this cult can not allow that to happen because it would totally repudiate conservatism and their conservative propaganda (as if we didn't know conservatism has been a colossal failure already).

So Obama's not a liberal! He's a conservative! That's why he's failed! And only a cult, or the so called "liberal" media, can get you to believe otherwise.

By the way, how come the "liberal" media never raises the possibility that the GOP or a Republican is "too conservative" and they have to "reach out" to Democrats?

Note: An insert from this post:

Another reason why the right incessantly attacks Obama, is to make him out to be evil and worse then George Bush (which is next to impossible; I say "next to" because with Republicans there's always a chance they can be worse). The right has to do this to make the country, or at least their base, hate and despise Obama so much that they'll forget George Bush's eight years, or at least deflect negative attention away from Bush and onto Obama.

November insert: In a very creative way, Ralph Nader illustrates how similar Obama is to George Bush, here.

December 3 insert:

Ian Welsh:

...Obama is not and never has been a left winger. Nor is he a Nixonian or Eisenhower Republican, that would put him massively to the left of where he is and to the left of the majority of the Democratic party. Instead (he's) a Reaganite, something he told people repeatedly.

Until folks get it through their skulls that Obama is not and never was a liberal, a progressive or left wing in any way, shape or form they are going to continue misdiagnosing the problem.

December 7 insert:

In his press conference today about caving to GOP demands and agreeing to extend the Bush cuts, Obama got a bit testy when it came to the backlash from liberals. Glenn Greenwald tweeted: "The most intense passion Obama exhibits is when he gets to explain why the Left is so misguided..." And Americablog's John Aravosis tweeted.: "Once again, the only moment Obama gets animated is when he's going after the left. None of that anger/passion against GOP."

That's some liberal we got there, huh?

January 2011 insert:

Obama wrote in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal today that he is mandating “a government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.” The initiative is part of an executive order he signed today, which he said would codify a “balanced” approach to regulation.

The president has sought to counter perceptions that his administration is insensitive to business interests... (Bold mine.)

Obama's "been insensitive to business"? Yea, because even though 2010 was a record breaking year for corporate profits, we need to do even more for them (and if you're losing your home, the hell with you).

Yup, sure sounds like a "big government, socialist liberal" to me!