I like Barrack Obama and wouldn’t have a problem voting for him in the general election if he won the Democratic nomination. But after spending a great deal of time on various “progressive” blogs and websites where his support runs deep, it has become obvious Obama is not the man the left believes him to be.
Cavorting With The Enemy
If one entity has been the adversary of the modern “progressive” movement, it’s the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, the think tank that got Bill Clinton elected. This may surprise many people who might think the Republican party is the left’s enemy, but consider this: “Progressives” view the DLC as a barrier to them taking power. In their minds, if the DLC disappeared there would be nothing hindering a glorious leftwing revolution in the United States. Given a choice between themselves and the Republicans, they believe, Americans would pick “progressives” over conservatives every time. They just have to eliminate that pesky centrist think tank!
The reason the left despises the “Bill Clinton wing” of the Democratic party is because of their embrace of free market capitalism, competition, and entrepreneurship. The DLC is shunned because they believe many New Deal and Great Society social programs no longer work as they were designed to and should be reworked or shelved completely. The DLC is labeled “Republican lite” by the left because they take corporate and lobbyist money to compete with Republicans, and they believe in a strong military.
But what really gets the left’s goat in regards to the DLC is their willingness to work across the aisle, to compromise with the opposition party, in the spirit of progress. After all, that is the true definition of politics. And the left hates it! So who does the left turn to to lead their charge? Barack Obama.
Not Who You Think He Is
Obama is the left’s “great white hope,” except he’s black. He’s the “progressive” being tapped to be the Hillary slayer of 2008. But there are problems buried deep in the pages of his book “Audacity of Hope,” a secret that threatens to rip away the image the left blogosphere has given him: He’s the enemy.
Starting on page 10 of Audacity of Hope, Obama proudly proclaims he believes “in the free market, competition, and entrepreneurship, and think no small number of government programs don’t work as advertised….”
Just like the DLC!
He states, “I think America has more often been a force for good than for ill in the world; I carry few illusions about our enemies, and revere the courage and competence of our military.”
Just like the DLC.
Several pages later, Obama laments the polarization of our political system, calling it the “smallness of our politics.” He states, in an obvious slam to the very faction of the Democratic party who supports him, “In distilled form, though, the explanations of both the right and the left have become mirror images of each other. They are stories of conspiracy, of America being hijacked by an evil cabal…. A government that truly represents these Americans (those “who are going about their business every day”)—that truly serves these Americans—will require a different kind of politics.”
Say it with me… just like the DLC!
Obama also criticizes the Democratic party for being weak on moral values, he speaks of the naivety of the 60s “progressive” movement, he endorses the death penalty, and, what may be the most lethal stab to the heart of his netroots base, declares “a lot of liberal rhetoric… value(s) rights and entitlements over duties and responsibilities…. Reagan offered Americans a sense of common purpose that liberals seemed no longer able to muster.”
Ouch! While the DLC certainly is on board with those concepts, they wouldn’t go so far as to pile adoration onto Ronald Reagan!
If you think you’re seeing some very definitive third-way thinking with Obama, you are correct. But it doesn’t end with the utterances in his book. During first quarter fundraising, Obama declared he’d take no lobbyist or corporate money. It was later revealed he had. Finally, during the first Democratic debate in South Carolina this year, Obama gave an answer on the topic of abortion straight out of the DLC’s “safe, rare, and legal” playbook.
Does all this mean Obama is bad candidate? Absolutely not. Most of this would make me more likely to vote for him. What it reveals, though, is a certain hypocrisy on the left. The candidate they’ve latched onto, who is taking policy advice from Colin Powell as a matter of fact, is the mirror image of what they claim to despise.
[...] Barack Obama: NOT The Candidate His Supporters Believe Him To Be [...]
Pingback by BartBlog - The Blog of BartCop.com » Obama Redux — June 20, 2007 @ 8:50 am
[...] picked it up, Total Drivel linked to it, and Bartcop quoted it on his page after it appeared on his blog. The comments it has gotten from some leftwing Obama supporters have been a riot, though none have [...]
Pingback by Blogger News Network » Obama Redux — June 20, 2007 @ 8:56 am
Obama specifically rejected overtures from the DLC back when he ran for Illinois Senator. Obama is the only front-runner in the Dem Party Primary who is not and has never been a member of the DLC (Clinton is, Gore was, Edwards was maybe still is, Richardson is). The comment above is correct: The DLC is about catering to the same corporations as Republicans, but Obama speaks against oil and pharmaceutical giants, tells Detroit automakers to increase their energy efficiency and alternatives, and puts health insurance companies on notice that they will not be able to limit or deny access to anyone or continue pushing up health costs. Obama worked on the Death Penalty Moratorium in Illinois, though he is not against the death penalty altogether and that is very disappointing, but as Abolish the Death Penalty points out on their website, Obama pushed through with a unanimous vote the first state-wide mandatory videotaping of homicide interrogations and confessions in the nation while strongly opposed by law enforcement – that would eliminate most politically-motivated new death penalty cases. Obama is the first candidate since Public Campaign Financing to request a hearing and get pre-authorization to go back to Public Financing after the primary if his opponent does also – he could not rely solely on Public Financing in the primary after Hillary refused to and stay competitive. He’s not a saint, just a conscientious citizen and community activist-turned Senator, trying to lead the U.S. out of infamy without millions in personal money, or in PAC money (again only frontrunner not taking any), or in federal lobbyist money (which includes defense contractors and the entire military industrial complex – also only frontrunner doing so). I’m glad you can still appreciate his ability to work across the aisle – the alternative is pretty undemocratic – but the DLC-association is sadly misleading. Claims the “left” has embraced him are also wrong. The most determined separatist/identity-politics and anti-capitalist groups certainly don’t adore him. Pacifists don’t adore him; he’s stated repeatedly, clearly he’s not against all wars. Obama’s the only Dem fighting to end employment discrimination against ex-felons and provide long-term transitional help to get and stay employed – not a DLC policy point by a longshot. Maybe you should differentiate between progressives who want to get their agenda passed by working to convince others, and “radical revolutionaries” who want to see the entire system thrown out even if some/most citizens still want parts of it.
Comment by VCubed — June 20, 2007 @ 9:08 am
I’d like to address one in your comment now. I’m planning a longer post on the subject in the coming weeks…
Actually, he didn’t. He admitted to the Black Commentator to filling out the DLC’s questionnaire to be included on their list of Senate New Dems. Obama now contends he wasn’t aware that answering the questionnaire amounted to being included on their list of Senate New Democrats. However, the meaning of the questionnaire is something that wasn’t missed by hundreds of elected DLC officials around the country. Interesting that Obama missed that point – if he really did.
It also can’t be overlooked that Obama’s mentor in the Senate was Joe Lieberman, Tom Daschle is an unofficial advisor to the Obama campaign, and that Obama created a PAC to help finance 14 of his senatorial colleagues – ten of whom are DLC.
So we have major policy agreements with and written props to the Third-way by Obama, he filled out DLC membeship paperwork (unknowingly, he said), and DLC members are playing a major role in Obama’s Senate career.
If it quacks like a duck…
Comment by Centristdem — June 21, 2007 @ 8:54 am