What does President Obama really believe?

[Lasher]

Christian Science Monitor
By Jacob Bronsther – Fri Jan 21

New York – Quick quiz: In one sentence, describe FDR's political philosophy. Good, now summarize Reaganism. Pretty easy, right?

OK, do the same for President Obama. Still thinking? Don't worry, Mr. Obama is, too. And that's bad news for all of us. Because no matter how you feel about Obama, his lack of clear philosophical values is not only a political problem for Democrats but a moral problem for America.

Ad hoc balancing It didn't start like this. Obama surfed into the White House on a wave of seeming principle: change, bipartisanship, reason, deliberation, pragmatism. What we didn't realize is that all these concepts are methodological. They concern the process of forming public policy. But they are not bedrock principles upon which we can orient the ends of government.

They are so general that they provide little analytical or moral traction. Who objects to deliberation and evidence-based policy? Well, maybe George W. Bush, which is why Obama's "change" narrative worked so well in the election. But since his inauguration, Obama's methodological political theory has proved thin and sometimes incoherent. He will never support tax cuts for the rich, until he will. He criticizes Bush's expansive view of presidential war powers, then adopts it. The list goes on.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/356585

[jannyk]

1. Kick & Rec!

[emilyg]

2. knr

[somone]

3. "He will never support tax cuts for the rich, until he will"

And he will fight and fight at a future date

[DJ13]

4. "In 2009, The New York Times asked Obama: ......."

"Is there a one word name for your philosophy? If you're not a socialist, are you a liberal? Are you progressive?..." Obama's answer, "No, I'm not going to engage in that," underscored his fear of labels. That fear is curbing his ability to initiate a new era of liberalism.



Im coming to the conclusion that Obama is only a progressive when he runs for office.

Thats why he refuses to label himself, he's a conservative at heart who sold himself as something else.

[somone]

6. Obama believes in personal opportunities for Obama - and Reaganism for the hoi polloi

The base he serves is the haves and the have-mores. It's plain as day.

[DJ13]

10. It's plain as day.

Sadly, you're right.

The guy I voted for was nothing but a sales pitch by a slick marketing campaign.

[silver10]

5. He will probably discuss his presidential messaging and strategy

behind closed doors with the republican congressmen, leaving his dem congress out of it. So we won't know what he believes until they tell him.

[DCKit]

7. In all fairness, he didn't have the support of the Blue Dogs/Corporate Dems.

Remember, that group that got their asses kicked in the last election? It's up to us to load Congress with people who represent us in 2012, 'cause we didn't get them in 2006, 2008 or 2010. Until then, there's really only so much he can do.

But I do wish he'd work on those appointments.

[frebrd]

8. He can be relied upon....

to believe in whatever he thinks will be politically expedient.

[Kalun D]

9. Obama is a FAKE

"In one sentence, describe FDR's political philosophy. Good, now summarize Reaganism. Pretty easy, right?"

"OK, do the same for President Obama."

Obama is a disguised Reaganist. A disguised right wing predatory capitalist masquerading as a moderate centrist.

""Still thinking? Don't worry, Mr. Obama is, too.""

I don't think so, I think he knows exactly what he's doing and has from the start, you can tell by all his appointees.

[barbiegeek]

36. I don't believe you

[Enthusiast]

40. It is no longer a matter of belief. nt

[Enthusiast]

39. It is now crystal clear.

I will no longer kid myself. This exercise has been incredibly destructive to my country and to my political party. We might never recover for this clever act of subterfuge.

[MannyGoldstein]

11. Obama's easy to figure out

His first principle is to help the powerful.

Number two is to get reelected.

Has he ever strayed from these?

[DURHAM D]

21. nope... never

[paulk]

12. I think this guy has really hit on something

He's really captured both my and a lot of people I know's sense of... "unease" with Obama, for lack of a better word.

I have no idea what Obama's bedrock principles are - where he will draw the line.

[somone]

13. The audacity to be rudderless and unprincipled

Obama is, in a nutshell, an unprincipled opportunist in the service of whoever benefits him the most. To search for any principles in him is an exercise in futility.

[pacalo]

14. I've refrained from talking politics with my siblings a long time ago, but if one of them

were to ask me now what is Obama's political philosophy (& they wouldn't because only liberals would ask such a question), I'd tell them how much I admire Obama as a man who is sincere about wanting to do what's right for this country, but he's sure got a lot of bad advisors. If he had stuck to doing for this country what he promised to do during his campaign, he'd have the 52% of the people who voted him into office behind him, plus some.

Social Security & Medicare cuts could ruin Obama's chances in 2012 on both sides & in between. I hope that Obama proves to be the man that I think he is on January 25th & says SS & Medicare are to be left alone, despite all the many news articles that have been speculating to the contrary.

[ThomCat]

16. I hear a lot of people say that. But.

1. During campaigns everything he said was almost certainly well scripted by PR firms to match the image he had paid them to create for him. And that is the image that focus groups said would sell best. So it is never a good idea to expect that what a person says during a campaign is who they really are. Always look at past history to see who someone is. Look to see what someone has done to see what someone will do.

2. Once he got into office he surrounded himself with a hell of a lot of conservative advisers. They gave him a lot of bad advice. But he agreed keeps defending it as good advice, and keeps replacing those advisers with more conservative advisers. So, at some point you just have to conclude that he agrees with those advisers. To him, they aren't bad advisers. To him, they are good advisers saying what he wants to hear.

3. People from his days in Chicago have said that he was always the cautious one, who would try to get everyone to agree before he would take any action. That is what we have been seeing since he took office. He is too cautious to do anything. He wants everyone else to agree and buy-in to everything, and won't act until they do, which gives them plenty of opportunity to either shut him down or bully him into bad decisions.

4. Once he has been bullied into bad decisions by the right by being so cautious, he is stuck having to defend and promote those decisions as good ones because that is what he managed to negotiate. It's all he's got to show for his efforts even though he got suckered. So, just like in the health care debacle, he agreed to start with the Republican proposal as a show of bipartisanship, and agreed from the start to give the insurance companies most of their major concessions from the start to get them to the table, and then had no bargaining position left. He was left negotiating over details after having already given the right all the big victories, and now has to defend it all as the best possible liberal outcome. No universal coverage, fewest people covered, no cost savings at all, mandates he used to oppose, guaranteed huge profits for insurance, and taxes paying for everything. It's a horrible deal, and he now has to claim it's great and defend it for the rest of his career.

[checks-n-balances]

17. Re. #3, he's doesn't have the courage to lead

To lead is to get out in front and take a stand, then follow through with it - even if everyone doesn't agree with it. He's doing the opposite right in front of everyone, including his true opposition (the GOP & TPers). This has to look weak to them, so he is even more of a pushover in their eyes. What a disaster.

Sadly, you are correct in all 4 points of your analysis.

[pacalo]

18. You make a lot of sense.

The fact that Obama is a master of communication & hasn't said anything contrary to the SS & Medicare cuts recommended by the catfood commission tells me it's not going to be good news for us.

If he's not aware of the anxiety about the cuts, he's living on a different planet.

If he is aware of the anxiety, shame on him for leaving us in limbo since the beginning of December when the catfood commission gave a press conference. I expected Obama to give his own press conference; in my mind that's what an effective leader would do. Good or bad, we need to know his perspective after hearing the gory details from Alan Simpson, particularly after so many of his negative remarks about SS.

[grasswire]

34. that's what my MIL said about Richard Nixon

"He got in with a bad crowd."

[yurbud]

15. He believes the DC version of the hippocratic oath: First do no harm--to the wealthy.

everything else is just details.

[elocs]

19. There is no line in the sand. Nothing is too sacred to be compromised.

We will be given words and promises as before. Hope circles the drain.

[Lasher]

20. The Bush tax cuts should have been a line in the sand.

But after eight long years of a rightwing extremist, nothing is sacred - just as you say. But after he signs a bill, he owns it. If he cuts Social Security and Medicare as I think he will, the Democratic Party will lose lifelong yellow dogs like me, and will be doomed to minority status for a generation.

[Enthusiast]

41. They were the line for me.

Extending unemployment benefits were just the excuse needed.

[Lasher]

42. This is a painful process for me.

Since I was first eligible to vote, I have never missed a primary or general election - except for one time when I was overseas in the Army and they didn't send the absentee ballot I applied for. I have always voted exclusively for Democrats, because I believe in what the party stands for.

Extension of the Bush tax cuts flies in the face of progressive taxation. But even more importantly, protection of our New Deal social programs is a sacred trust of my Democratic Party. If events unfold this year as I think they will, I won't be able to recognize my party anymore.

I don't know exactly how I would react, but if a Democratic President signs a bill that includes Social Security and Medicare cuts, he will change the color of this old Yellow Dog.

[Enthusiast]

43. We share that life long support

and trust in the Democratic Party. When Obama agreed to the FICA cut I knew my loyalties were misplaced. This was no long my father's Democratic Party.

We aren't stupid. We hear every talking head on TV making a case for cutting social security. This while our position is only very seldom heard. When President Obama makes a 'compromise' with Republicans there will then be no doubts in my mind about who he is and why he is here.

[undeterred]

22. He's a "lightwalker".

Remember all that gobbledygook? He's whatever you project onto him.

[bemildred]

23. The notion that FDR started out knowing what he wanted to do is false.

He was elected in 1932, the "I welcome their hatred" speech was 1936, IIRC. We are only two years into Obama's first term. It's annoying the way things are going, it is true, but I doubt that it was much different at the corresponding period in FDR's administration.

[Hydra]

27. Yes, and frankly FDR saved capitalism

Only to have it come back worse and more prepared than before. I think that was a mistake.

That said, FDR was forced to choose the class he belonged to or the people he came to depend on when things got nasty. Will Obama do the same?

[bemildred]

29. I do think Obama is going to be forced to choose sides before this is over.

The problems we have are FUNDAMENTAL and STRUCTURAL, and it seems clear that reform is not going to come graciously from the top in a spirit of self sacrifice and thinking of the common good. In fact it seems to be an ideological point that all that altruisitic stuff is really evil and immoral or something.

[Hydra]

30. Altruism? That's a sin!

I've noticed that even philanthropists tend to support projects that play back into their bottom line. That's one of the reasons that I want to see more government efforts to help communities that are well funded and have people trained to do the job and are paid for it.

There's doing it right, and then there's leaving it up to someone's opinion :p

[Demeter]

33. FDR Knew What He Didn't Want

and he tried everything to prevent it. And he succeeded in large part. In spite of the attempted coup, and all other obstacles.

[bemildred]

37. I wonder if the attempted coup pissed him off?

:-)

But anyway, most of the time, knowing what you want to avoid is almost as good as knowing what you want. And I think any conscientious ruler has to want to avoid revolution if he or she can, waking the mob is always a scary business, you never know where it will lead.

[plumbob]

24. kick

[indepat]

25. And the destructive and ruinous RW beat goes on and on without end ad infinitum

;)

[we can do it]

26. He Believes In the Big Sky Daddy

[MissDeeds]

28. K&R

Obama ran on a litany of high impact words and slogans and very little in the way of specifics. His unwillingness or inability to label himself should come as no surprise.

[GeorgeGist]

31. For me, his most outstanding attribute, the one that eclipses all others,

is that he has no collateral left to damage; he's a child killer.

[Demeter]

32. The Usual Elitist Crap: I Got Mine; F You!

We was had.

[HippieCowgirl]

35. I don't care what he believes, I care what he does.

Actions always speak louder than words.

[Enthusiast]

38. Too late to K & R. READ THIS!

[JohnWxy]

44. "Still thinking? Don't worry, Mr. Obama is, too.WOW...this would get locked here and from the CSM!

Would have recommended but was too late!

bookmarked.

[Doctor_J]

45. That it's better to make friends ith the Murdoch Journal than with

the 60,000,000 people ho voted for him.