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Outside of DU, they're calling for Obama to "move to the center".

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Toucano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:22 PM
Original message
Outside of DU, they're calling for Obama to "move to the center".
I can't believe it!

It's like an alternative reality. How can someone who is such a centrist possibly move more to the center?

It's like the left is so invisible in the United States, that they wouldn't know "the left" if it smacked them on the head!



note: This was on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" just now. All three talking heads agreed that Obama should move to the center.
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Codeine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:23 PM
Response to Original message
1. DU vastly overestimates the "liberalness" of the electorate.
Face it, guys -- we're the odd men out here.
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Warren DeMontague Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:26 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I disagree. Obama has been squarely camped out in the center all along.
He's made some astoundingly bad calculations; that the GOP would work with him to solve problems, that somehow mythical "values voters" and moderates were more valuable on things like DADT or FISA than the oft-maligned liberal base... that no one was really paying attention when they promised to fight for the public option, that we wouldn't notice when it was silently vaporized from the plan...

Maybe you're right, maybe the electorate is further to the right; but I don't think he could have done any WORSE had he worked harder to keep the base happy.
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Toucano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:28 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. Yes, but he made those calculations because he knows he's a centrist.
As a centrist, you would think you could work with the other side.

The problem is - the freaky part - is they see him as a liberal. Therefore, they feel obstruction is the right course.

It's completely nuts.
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Warren DeMontague Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 05:18 PM
Response to Reply #5
33. Unfortunately, he should have expected that. I know it didn't surprise me.
Same shit happened with Clinton. Now, I fear, we're going to have the next 2 years where the #1 priority of the House is subpoenaing Administration officials to ask about Obama's secret muslim birth certificate.
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Commie Pinko Dirtbag Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:30 PM
Response to Reply #1
8. DU vastly underestimates the right-wingness of the electorate.
FTFY.
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Codeine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:31 PM
Response to Reply #8
11. I stand corrected. nt
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laughingliberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:31 PM
Response to Reply #1
9. In order for liberal policy to be popular, liberal policies must be passed.
It has to be proven to work. The only way to do that is get it passed, get it in place, and let people see and feel the results.

Otherwise, it's too easy for Republicans and centrists to sell their shit to people who think running a country or an economy is no different than balancing the household check book.

Remember the Republican during the HCR debate who, actually, said passing the public option wasn't feasible because people would like it too much and we'd never be able to get rid of it?
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Toucano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:33 PM
Response to Reply #9
14. There's the catch-22 n/t
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Naturyl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:44 PM
Response to Reply #9
24. Yep, you're exactly right.
What is needed is LEADERSHIP. Everyone is afraid of change, it's human nature. People are always going to be afraid of what's good for them - but so what? You're supposed to be LEADERS, so start LEADING. That means passing meaningful legislation even though you know some people are going to scream and cry, because 20 years down the road, they will see the value.

FDR knew this, and so did Johnson.
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:42 PM
Response to Reply #1
23. Very true.
so many posts talking like the progressives are a majority in the country. You have to live in the middle of a blue sea to think that.
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elocs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 03:02 PM
Response to Reply #1
31. I strongly agree. We tend to look at ourselves believing we see most of America
when being Liberal clearly is not where most Americans are. Many support aspects of liberalism but they don't agree with much of it.

Most Americans are in the middle and that middle is at least in the middle if not right of center no matter how much we like to spin it to the contrary. The way to get things done is to deal with reality as it exists rather than indulge ourselves in embracing the fantasy of our wishes.
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Codeine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 03:11 PM
Response to Reply #31
32. "embracing the fantasy of our wishes"
Wayyyyy too much of that here lately.
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Tierra_y_Libertad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:28 PM
Response to Original message
3. Considering that he'd have to make a sharp left to do so, it might not be a bad idea.
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hobbit709 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:29 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. That's what I was thinking.
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Toucano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:31 PM
Response to Reply #3
10. Two wrongs don't make a right.
But three lefts do!
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HopeHoops Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:28 PM
Response to Original message
4. FUCK THAT NOISE! Or wasn't that clear - FFUUCCKK TTHHAATT NNOOIISSEE!!!!!
He needs to hold his ground and show those fuckwads what a real president can do. We've finally got one again and we need to keep him in 2012.
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Hepburn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:29 PM
Response to Original message
6. Jesus H. Fucking Christ...
...if he got any more to the center...he would fall off the right side!

Sheesh...:eyes:
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Capitalocracy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
12. I agree
I just disagree on where "the center" is...
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:33 PM
Response to Original message
13. Do you know who the three were?
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Toucano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:36 PM
Response to Reply #13
16. I didn't catch their names, but from the website it says:
Syndicated columnist Linda Chavez and political analyst Keli Goff will weigh in.

I think it was them and Neal Conan, the host.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:45 PM
Response to Reply #16
26. Thanks, Toucano. n/t
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w4rma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:33 PM
Response to Original message
15. The astroturf wants Obama to give more money to billionaires and big buisness. What else is new?(nt)
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ramapo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:36 PM
Response to Original message
17. Strange but true...Obama = entitlements
My coworker says Obama has done nothing more than push additional entitlement spending. Unemplyment benefits to name one. That defined the stimulus, it was nothing but entitlements. Of course, he could not give me any specifics other than UI...just kept saying entitlements. Is this a Fox talking point?
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Toucano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #17
20. Was "cash for clunkers" an entitlement program?
That was a boon for car companies and dealers.

I'm not sure exactly, but I think the entitlement thing is a TEA-party-Fox talking point.
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Naturyl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:47 PM
Response to Reply #17
27. It sure is. Been one since Reagan, and even before.
"Entitlements" is not just a Faux News talking point, it's one of the absolute core ones used to demolish the social safety net since Reagan and before.
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Egnever Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:38 PM
Response to Original message
18. What a surprise!
I guess sitting it out and teaching a lesson once again delivers the wrong lesson.
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Egnever Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:38 PM
Response to Original message
19. What a surprise!
I guess sitting it out and teaching a lesson once again delivers the wrong lesson.
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NV Whino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:41 PM
Response to Original message
21. Ha!
:rofl:
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Naturyl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:41 PM
Response to Original message
22. That means moving left, because he's already center-right.
Doubt that's what they mean, though...
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:44 PM
Response to Reply #22
25. LOL
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:48 PM
Response to Original message
28. Of course they are
and he will.

of course the center is to the center right of any other country...
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Jamastiene Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:48 PM
Response to Original message
29. Well...if he moved to the center, he would have to move left to do it. n/t
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2Design Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 02:59 PM
Response to Original message
30. he is already right of center - he started at center and never moved left
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Lord Helmet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 05:30 PM
Response to Original message
34. lolol. That's as ridiculous as the back seat drivers barking here.
Edited on Wed Nov-03-10 05:35 PM by Lord Helmet
eom
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MoonRiver Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Nov-03-10 05:31 PM
Response to Original message
35. I know. It's absurd.
The problem is that he alienated his base, IMHO.
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