MY RESPONSE TO A CONSERVATIVE WHO CLAIMS THAT OBAMA'S POLICIES ARE FAR LEFT

The following essay of mine is a response to a conservative commenter who uses the screen name Beckjr2000 and claims that President Obama's policies are Far Left of the political spectrum, which were in regards to this article by Joan Walsh that was posted on Salon.com circa January 18, 2010. Beckjr2000's comment is in bold face.

Ms. Walsh says, "he's a solid centrist corporate Democrat." This statement alone show[s] what a great divide exists in the United States today. I, myself, am a conservative but far away from the far right. I would consider President Obama as falling into the almost far Left bracket. He campaigned as a "centrist" but his policies and proposals are anything but!

You say Obama is not really a "centrist" but his policies are actually "almost far Left"??!!

Um, is fighting preemptive wars a far Left policy? Is the bail-out he gave the banks rather than temporarily nationalizing them a far Left policy? Is indefinite detention without due process a far Left policy? Are military commissions in place of criminal courts for suspected terrorists a far Left policy?

It can be argued that Obama's original health care reform proposal was certainly to the Left (I dunno about "far Left," though) but look what happened to those proposals once the Congressional Republicans and one far right Independent had a hissy fit over it. Is the resulting giveaway to the private health care interests far Left?

Obama has proved himself a "centrist" to the core of his being, and a centrist is nothing more than 'Republican Lite' in the eyes of many people who are actually far to the Left, or even those who are simply run of the mill left of center.

home