If President Obama held mostly the same position on issues, but had an R after his name, would he be

[Ed Suspicious]

a republican darling hearkening back to the Reagan administration? Would democrats revile him and his positions simply because of his party affiliation? I hope you all can open your mind and honestly explore the answer to these questions. Is there a real difference anymore between centrist democrats and centrist republicans?

[1000words]

1. GOP still wouldn't be able to get passed his race ...

Last edited Tue Jan 28, 2014, 11:04 PM - Edit history (1)

Democrats would still be fighting amongst themselves.

[whatthehey]

2. you're fucking kidding surely?

In what world would anybody with an R after their name force a federal contractor wage increase, integrate gays into the military, compare marijuana favorably with alcohol, withdraw troops from Iraq before McCain's hundred years was up, and nominate two pro-choice SCOTUS justices?

[morningfog]

6. I wouldn't say the marijuana comparision to alcohol was favorable.

Also, it wasn't gay integration. It was accepting them out of the closets. They were always there. Those are really just criticisms on your word choice.

The troops were removed from Iraq under the agreement entered into under the previous president.

On the rest, I agree with your post.

[Ikonoklast]

3. Pointless 'What-If' game is pointless.

The policies enacted by this president have Republicans seething.

Not even close.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. The profusion of threads with no seeming purpose but to shit on the SOTU are incredible

Of course, noting that this thread is designed merely as a thumb in the eye is "fascist" of me, and "party loyalty above all else" of me, and a million other bullshit charges. It couldn't possibly be that the people who feel the need to shit on other people's experience are the ones with the problem, no. Never that.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. Well said.

[Distant Quasar]

5. Which "centrist" Republicans are you talking about?

The Republican Party used to have a sizable liberal/moderate wing. That was a long time ago. Today there are virtually no centrist Republicans in national office, except maybe Susan Collins, and even she is pretty conservative - her voting record puts her to the right of any Democrat in the Senate.

Obama is hardly a left-winger, but fair is fair - someone with his domestic policy preferences could never hope to win a Republican primary even as recently as 1980, and to equate his brand of middling left-centrism with Reagan Republicanism strikes me as ridiculous.

[Ed Suspicious]

11. Thank you for the thoughtful reply. It is a fair point that the Republican party has shifted so far

to the right that it is hardly recognizable. I guess I was thinking about a John McCain who crossed the aisle to work with Russ Feingold to enact election reforms, that type of republican, and I think you're right, that republican doesn't exist any longer.

I think of Arne Duncan's push toward public school privatization. That seems a very republican policy position for the Obama administration to hold. The drone policy. The trickle down policy of bailing out banks and GM. Even the affordable care act which keeps in place insurance companies as the delivery system for health care funding - These seem less populist and more Republican-ish.

I think I keep hoping for LBJ. I keep waiting for a more Keynesian response to our unemployment problems. I heard a lot about shovel ready projects in years past. These projects didn't seem to materialize (I realize congress handcuffs him to a great degree)

If you take my point that he's a centrist, (and it sounds like maybe you don't) I take it you're of the opinion that he could not have risen to power if he were to have entered politics as a republican. I just wonder if in a not too different world, could, by virtue of his centrism, he be a leading voice in the republican party.

I don't feel like I'm articulating my points as well as I would like, and I feel especially off because of the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the thread and the accusations of me having some sort of ulterior motive to stick a finger in the eye of the president's supporters. I really wasn't trying to do that, I was just wondering if the center left has shifted far enough right to not exactly be recognized as progressive any longer.

I don't know... I guess I just want to say thanks for playing along and not taking offense, as none was intended.

[1000words]

12. You picked a bad night to ask a provocative question

Pretty words were spoken. The loyalists are in a froth.

[Whisp]

7. gawd all friggen mighty.

if you can't tell the difference between the fetid assholes with that R after their name and what Obama stands for there is no help.

no help for you.

[SidDithers]

8. If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle...nt

Sid

[baldguy]

10. Peter King is the type of Republican that passes for a "centrist" today.

The very idea that both parties are the same is a load of steaming horseshit, and only helps the RW.