Obama Is The MOST PROGRESSIVE President That We Can Get In Our Current Political System

[karynnj]

22. I disagree -

Last edited Thu Dec 22, 2011, 03:55 PM - Edit history (1)

His rhetoric was not far to the left of where he has governed. What was far to the left was the way that you interpreted many idealistic, inspirational messages. He rarely gave detailed proposals of what he was going to do. He spoke of expanding health care - and he has - and the structure he was able to sign into law has the possibility of evolving into something much better. (Consider the impact of a state (VT) having a cost effective (single payer) alternative.)

On the wars, people were not listening. Obama voted against Kerry/Feingold, but ended up with a similar plan with a longer time line - when he took office, he extended that time line to match the SOFA that Iraq and Bush agreed to - after Bush was pushed to commit to a timeline. I was not happy the timeline was extended, but see the huge political benefit of having done that - now that he has ended that war. In 2008, he said he would commit more resources to Afghanistan - and he did. Although I hope now that he will listen to voices calling for a more definitive exit strategy there, I can't say that he did not do what he said.

On issues like DADT and DOMA, he has done at least as much as he promised - against a lot of opposition.

There have been times where I wished that he had fought harder for the environment, but, unlike Gore and Kerry, it was not a major issue he ran on. He has done some good things though the excellent people he appointed to the EPA.

On the economy, no one knew through most of 2008 how bad the economy would fall - even in the last few months before the election. I think that when the dust settles, he will be given credit for things like saving the auto companies - and the state of Michigan. What is clear is that _ RW meme to the contrary - there has not been a time where he was not focused on the economy.

On things like torture, detention, privacy etc, he said very little. His surrogates, especially Senator Kerry did speak strongly on these things - and I realize that I obviously conflated Obama's position with theirs. Still, the Obama administration has ended some Bush practices - including torture. Ironically, we hear more about that from the right - the right that claimed that it was those practices (years after the fact) that let us get OBL and that the US was in danger due to Obama's decisions.

2008 was a rejection of the Bush years. Obama was an incredible candidate, but he needed that to beat HRC more than he needed that to win the general election. What it did in the general election though, was to help elect big majorities in both Houses. I think a better indication that we could elect someone more liberal is that the more liberal Senator Kerry came very very close (and would have won with more Ohio voting machines) in a year that was far less favorable to the Democrats - against a President who was at 60% approval in December 2003.