Who here considers himself/herself to the left of Obama? And if you are, will you support him?

[frazzled]

157. I think you're asking the wrong question

What you or I think in our heads (i.e., believe, but never have to implement), and what Obama thinks in his head (partially unknown but subject to all kinds of constraints when he has to enact something) is not an appropriate measure of anything.

The rest of us (you, me, and everyone else) can believe whatever we want; the other guy (the president), despite whatever beliefs he may harbor, has to get things done for the country, which involves a vast array of legislative hoochie coochie, both with his own party and the opposing one. What he ends up doing is not necessarily what he "believes." His belief structure is probably well to the left of his governing outcomes in this polarized setting.

Example: the president clearly believes that Guantanamo should be closed, and he signed an executive order to do so on his first day in office. We all probably believe this was the proper decision. The rest of us, however, don't have to deal with actually getting it done. The president has had to deal with a Congress (and foreign countries) that has blocked his efforts to do so from the beginning.

In the end, I'm saying that (a) since we never have to actually do anything, we can be as left as we want; and (b) if Obama were in the same position, he would possibly be more left than you. He said something to that effect in his 60 Minutes interview the other week (that he would have great approval ratings and be really popular if he decided not to be president, but that wasn't his goal).

I was more opposed to Clinton's "beliefs" and actions when he was president than I am to Obama's. But I understood what a hostile and sometimes impossible environment he was working in, and I supported him willingly, despite a lot of shit.