Some of us tried to tell you Obama was not a leftist.

We knew he was just as moderate as either of the Clinton's which is why Clinton supporters had no problem voting for him. All you had to do was listen to him and not apply your own beliefs to him to know that.

besides the GOP? certainly no leftist said it.

It came in a mass e-mail. MM was ecstatic, as well as incorrect.

to say "I told you so". It matters little to them how pathetically early they're jumping the gun, of course.

you're not breaking new ground here.

And frankly, a true leftist could never get elected in this country....even under the current economic circumstances.

nt

still waiting for change.

Before you pronounce judgment?

2. Bill was about listening to all sides and compromises to get legislation.
3. Don't be too surprised when Obama turns out pretty similar.
4. Issues look different and facts are often different over time. Anyone who thinks that just because a politician was on one side of a vote 14 years ago that they would be on the same side today is sadly lacking in their analysis of politics.


minor edit to clarify point 4

so please spare me any of this spin.

on a discussion board.

You might also be interested in Obamas opinions of Bills past policies in his book, which are pretty complimentary actually from what I have seen.

But don't let me distract you from todays mission!

We learned that these past eight years.

I trust President-Elect Obama - given his life's history - to do the right thing by us, the American people. He said this recently:

"But what I don't wanna do is get bottled up in a lot of ideology and is this conservative or liberal. My interest is finding something
that works. And whether it's coming from FDR or it's coming from Ronald Reagan, if the idea is right for the times then we're gonna
apply it. And things that don't work we're gonna get rid of."

Link: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2008/11/17/so-is-this/

Knowing Obama's life story, I trust he will do what's best for the American people as opposed to Big Business
and their lobbyists/special interest groups. I'm ready for President Obama's New New Deal.

Whether or not he's a "leftist" about anything else at the moment seems secondary.

I do see a lot of people upset about him not pursuing charges against Shurb. I see a lot of people mad at the Lieberman vote, and Clinton for SoS. It just kinda makes me laugh, he hasn't done anything that I haven't expected him to do. He's trying to get a governing majority going, you don't do that by making everyone mad from the beginning. I never expected Obama to be a monumental change, but I did expect him to change the Presidency from an Ideologue driven to a Pragmatist driven one. I hope he succeeds at that it would help heal our country.

but I don't think he is going to put road blocks in your way either. I hope the GLBT community gets full rights over the next 4 years.

left of the Clintons. That's why both he and Hillary were not my first, or second, or even third choices.

But he's liberal enough for now. Baby steps......

It seems the country doesn't want too far left or right. It in general is happiest when the President is a little more centrist.

Look at how much support the far left and far right candidates have gotten the past 3 elections. Barely 1 or 2 percent in voting and little donations during campaigns.

Kucinich, Nader, Barr, Paul were all too radical for 95% of the voters.

but he's very different from Clinton.

Obama will be his own president in due time. Right now all we can do is compare him to others until he has shown us what kind of a President he is by being in office for 4 years. I also think he is part FDR. Is that a bad thing to say? Or only when I say the dreaded name Clinton.

That makes no sense.

I'm afraid that this is just wishful thinking....

If the Dems had run a true leftist (Kucinich) then we would have seen a President McCain.

A true leftist will not become president overnight. We have to take baby steps.

If he were a leftist he would never have won the primary not to mention the general election.

Sometimes you have to take what you can get and learn to live with it.

Who gave you the impression he was?

It seems like ages ago.
The primaries were hell.
I sure don't miss them.

A post ideological left of center problem solver.

Many Clinton supporters, myself included, pointed this out repeatedly during the primaries. It's all in his book, even an affection for the "triangulation."

We knew what we were getting with Obama. At least some of us.

I don't think that Hillary would have won NC in the GE, but when Obama won NC in the primary I knew he could win the Presidency. That's when he started getting my donations and my time on the weekends.

build voting bloc, and get real progress, a change from stalemate. People giving us a try need a reason to stay; not easy moving away from party identity for some.

Democrats=progress means more than a label. We can bottom up build a party, push our state leaders, push Congress for better voting, but, please, let Obama do what he needs to do. The issues are important to solve.

We needed someone that could actually get elected and then get things done by being able to get the Congress to cooperate.

I love Kucinich but he would have a shitty presidency if he were even electable and anyone who understands the political climate of this country knows that he isn't.

He wasn't my first choice, but he was in my top three.

People are supposed to object to what they don't like, even in candidates they supported in the past and will likely vote for in the future.

And leaders are supposed to listen to the grumbling and factor it in when making their decisions.

I so far am not too alarmed at President-elect Obama's decisions. I'm not keen on keeping Lieberman around, but I can understand the arguments in favor of it. That said, I think is is very important that those who do have objections scream, yell, and moan their opinions to the four corners of the earth.

Why? Because we don't need to merely substitute Democrats for Republicans. We need to substitute accountability for insularity.

All that bellyachin' you're hearing is the sound of this thing called "democracy" at work. You know, that noble experiment Bush came very close to killing.

Quick, force me out of DU for not being ultra-left.

as i see it it's neither logical nor principled. you and i are not on the same team but i'm forced to vote obama to defeat mccain. obama is going to be the president for everyone EXCEPT the progressive left, and that's ok with you.

still waiting for change.

I don't particularly want a far-left President. He has to be the President of everybody. And currently, this country is pretty much right down the middle and largely moderate.

"obama is going to be the president for everyone EXCEPT the progressive left"

So you thing Obama is also going to represent the radical right wing also? Get real.

now it's ok to admit obama is the moderate he has always been. but you are correct: during the primaries in particular, some here were claiming obama was progressive.

They just can't govern from the far right (such as unconstitutional power, preemptive or preventive war, remove rights reserved for the people, spy on me or my children, etc.)

His actions and policies will.

We don't know how liberal of a President Obama will be. He was a Liberal US Senator... thats a fact.

I would say that his actions so far have been liberal. As in looking for the middle way and trying to bring people together instead of being ultra partisan. I think Shrub is a Nazi. I doubt you will hear a Liberal say that, but you can bet you will hear it from a leftist.

:shrug:

The system will not permit a true leftist as president.

We argued about who was more right-leaning during the primaries here - most agreed Obama was actually more conservative than Hillary. Now, there may be some who have deluded themselves into thinking otherwise - that's pretty sad.

considered him a 'leftist'..nor do I think any "leftist" could be elected. Short of the complete collapse of our government and society..which I think might be the best thing...I hope that he and the government we have can provide more balance to the needs of empire vs. the needs of our country, and our society. Pro-business, and pro-people. Not an easy thing to accomplish, and certainly not if people don't give him a chance.

your the second to last guy on the bus making fun of the last guy on the bus.
Nice work Genius.

n/t

Because leftwingnut ideologues are coming out of the woodworks to offer up their assessment of the Obama presidency two months before it gets started.

was no where near as leftwing as many of both his opponents and supporters thought he was.

Dennis Kucinich was the only candidate seeking the Democratic nomination in 2008 who could plausibly be called leftwing.

It is indeed ironic that the one thing many Democrats and many Republicans have in common is that they assume that the Democratic party is considerably to the left of its actual positions and its actual record. It is, I'm afraid, a case of willful ignorance.

I am defining leftwing by two criteria:

1. They seek major structural increases in the level of social-democracy including significant moves toward a Western European or Canadian style comprehensive economic security net.

2. This one is arguable. They seek to decrease American imperium with major reductions in military spending.

Following this criteria, only LBJ in 1964 and Hubert Humphrey in 1968 could possibly - though arguably qualify for point number one. Only George McGovern in 1972 could possibly - though arguably qualify for both points.