And I wish this was a thread about Nate Silver, but no.... It's about how despite all the rhetoric, Obama is basically like a moderate Republican according to (well, reality) and this article: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...t_the_2012_election_should_teach_the_gop.html
So either Obama is a conservative, or Bush, Jr. was -- as many conservatives have insisted, many times -- a RINO. My thinking is that the latter claim has more to do with reality.
Bush Jr.s policies were very extreme in his first term. He moderated them in his second term, and Obama with a small number of exceptions, continued them.
All of the rhetoric about Obama's being a leftist/socialist/communist/extremist was generated entirely by the opposition. Those of us who voted for him always recognized him as a centrist. The redefining of reality to fit a preconceived concept was the opposition's undoing.
Obama really is a moderate and would have been considered a Republican 30 years ago. That the current crop of raving loons claim he was a secret communist just shows how clueless the right wing is in America. Hell, just last night we had Enlisted posting that same clueless nonsense of this very forum.
Funny how those conservatives didn't insist that Bush was a RINO until he became super unpopular in the second half of his second term.
Maybe his foray into RINO-hood is why he became super unpopular and people started calling him a RINO. Say, could it make that much sense?
Say what you want about Obama, but this country and our leader's arguments have moved decidedly to the RIGHT since Obama came to Washington.
Nope, because he pretty much governed the same way and had the same priorities all 8 years of his presidency.
Yep. Although a moderate Republican wouldn't be getting a free pass on the civil liberties and the drone terrorism over Pakistan now would he?
Don't know that Obama is getting a "free pass" either...It's just that as has been said in various threads on this our options in the face of this include: 1. Complain in columns, message boards, etc 2. Refuse to vote for him, even while acknowledging his main rival would do the exact same stuff, and knowing that the refusal to vote for him really doesn't change the math of whether he would be re-elected 3. Vote for him, believing that his main rival would do the same stuff and worse if he were elected 4. Be in denial that a former con law professor could have the opinion of executive power that he has now adopted 5. Rise up in violent revolution over the usurpation of executive power. To some extent all but #5 are being done by various people, and of course, #5 is impractical.
Here ya go Raoul, pretty much sums it up... [YT="Obama supporters actually hate his policies"]Skw-0jv9kts[/YT]
I picked #2 and voted for Gary Johnson. And I've been trying to explain to any of my liberal friends who will listen that Obama has been very poor on certain foreign policy and civil liberty issues... That's not to say I wanted Romney in office (because I don't see him doing any better on these fronts) but now that Obama has won re-election his feet needs to be held to the fire... The Afghan War and the weekly drone strikes need to end, the Patriot Act and the TSA need to be abolished, the war on drugs needs to end, etc... I applaud him for repealing DADT but he has more to do...
None of which he will do because his supporters are turning a blind eye to all of that in exchange for women's rights. Or something. Which doesn't make sense since abortion has been legal in the US for years, and wouldn't have been made illegal regardless of who was President, but hey....gotta fearmonger all we can.
Then what caused conservatives to finally recognize that he was a RINO? There is another possibility: You're wrong on one of the points you've forwarded here.
