The Rise Of The Obamacons-A growing number of conservatives think Barack is Mr. Right

[babylonsister]

The Rise Of The Obamacons
A growing number of conservatives think Barack is Mr. Right.

Mr. Right? by Bruce Bartlett
The rise of the Obamacons.
Post Date Wednesday, June 25, 2008


The New Yorker is hardly the optimal vehicle for reaching the conservative intelligentsia. But, last year, Barack Obama cooperated with a profile for that magazine where he seemed to be speaking directly to the right. Because he paid obeisance to the virtues of stability and continuity, his interlocutor, Larissa MacFarquhar, came away with the impression that the Illinois senator was an adherent of Edmund Burke: "In his view of history, in his respect for tradition, in his skepticism that the world can be changed any way but very, very slowly, Obama is deeply conservative."

As The New Yorker's assessment shot across blogs, many conservatives listened eagerly. A broad swath of the movement has been in open revolt against George W. Bush--and the Republican Party establishment--for some time. They don't much care for the Iraq war or the federal government's vast expansion over the last seven-and-a-half years. And, in the eyes of these discontents, the nomination of John McCain only confirmed the continuation of the worst of the Bush-era deviations from first principles.

But it was hardly inevitable that this revolt would translate into enthusiasm for the Democratic standard-bearer. After all, you could see similar signs of unhappiness four years ago, and none of that translated into mass defections to the John Kerry camp. And, despite Ann Coulter's vow to campaign for Hillary Clinton over John McCain, the old bête noir of the right would have never attracted many conservatives. That's what makes the rise of the Obamacons such an interesting development. Conservatives of almost all ideological flavors (even, gasp, some supply-siders) have been drawn to Obama--out of a genuine affection and a belief that he may actually better embody movement ideals than McCain.

There have been a few celebrated cases of conservatives endorsing Obama, like the blogger Andrew Sullivan and the legal scholar Douglas Kmiec. But you probably have not have heard of many of the Obamacons--and neither has the Obama campaign. When I checked with it to ask for a list of prominent conservative supporters, the campaign seemed genuinely unaware that such supporters even existed. But those of us on the right who pay attention to think tanks, blogs, and little magazines have watched Obama compile a coterie drawn from the movement's most stalwart and impressive thinkers. It's a group that will no doubt grow even larger in the coming months.

more...

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=46a816dc-f843-41ec-9fe4-fbeac17bcfca

[Speck Tater]

1. My radically conservative, Bush-loving (86 yo) mother favors Obama. NT

[Mz Pip]

2. Opposition to the war in Iraq

and the erosion of civil liberties are issues that both conservatives and liberals can agree on. They are big big issues for a lot of people.

One thing that I see happening if Obama wins and we pick up seats in congress is that it will validate a complete repudiation of the neocon agenda. Even conservatives are sick of those idiots.

[babylonsister]

6. I've read or heard McCain's banking on the conservative vote because

of his eventual Supreme Court selections. This article gives me hope that isn't necessarily the case.

[anonymous171]

8. Yep. I have a couple of conservative friends.

Only one of them likes Bush (he's a fundamentalist christian type though.) The rest of them hate Bush and the neocons.

[PylesMalfunction]

3. My dad is still a registered Republican....

He loved Reagan (I'm helping him to see the light ;) ) and voted for Perot but then he voted for Clinton, Gore, Kerry and Obama. His state party called him a year ago to get feedback from "loyal" republicans on how they thought Bush was doing as president. My Dad told the guy that he thought Bush was the most immoral president we'd ever had and that a four year old could do a better job. He got hung up on. :D

I don't think he'd ever go back to the GOP now. My Dad fought in Vietnam and what they did to Kerry and Cleland disgusted him.

[babylonsister]

5. Thank your dad for me! There's apparently many like him. Yay us! nt

[cap]

4. National Unity Anyboy?

I wonder if we could do it....

[Name removed]

7. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Eurobabe]

9. And here I thought that word was a slam.

It's been a long few weeks. :hi:

[progressoid]

10. Conservative intelligentsia?

Really? There is such a thing?

[mamalone]

12. Have you ever heard this quote?

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative."
John Stuart Mill

;)

[progressoid]

18. Yep - that's a good one.

[mamalone]

11. Another DU'er called me crazy a couple of days ago

for talking about Obama getting a significant number of repub cross over votes, so this article is of particular interest to me! I have been saying this for months now, and in spite of sounding like a broken record, I'll repeat myself once again. Obama's character, independence and interpersonal intelligence appeal to a lot of conservative folk. Added to that is the grace with which he has handled this grueling primary season. Lots of people who haven't ever considered voting Dem are actually seriously considering it this time around. My feeling is that the abortion issue will emerge as the only major deterrent for many repubs/conservatives. If he could find a way to neutralize some of the power of that issue we'd be homefree... landslide style. :D

[babylonsister]

13. You crazy optimist; no way I'm arguing with that!

I think you're right. Compare and contrast McCain to Obama, and it's a no-brainer for lots of people.

:thumbsup:

[mamalone]

16. I'll happily be that kind of crazy anyday:)

BTW, I especially love your sig. great quote!

[FatDave]

14. Don't forget charisma.

Charisma alone will bring over a couple percent.

[mamalone]

17. And he does have that in abundance! nt

[starroute]

15. Burkean conservatism

Maybe it's because I'm not a conservative, but the lesson I took away from reading Edmund Burke was not that change has to be "very, very slow" but that it has to be organic. That if you built on traditional institutions and long-founded communities, you can bring about change quickly and even radically -- but that any schemes which overturn those things are likely to wind up either failing or being wantonly destructive or both.

That's why I'm skeptical about any form of "progress" or "development" -- whether it comes from government or from business, liberals or conservatives -- that grows out of the usual 20th century mix of ideological utopianism and hope for profit. I guess you could say my political philosophy is a mix of Edmund Burke, Karl Marx, and Jane Jacobs, with a particular emphasis on bottom-up solutions and the wisdom of grandmothers.

Far too many old-school conservatives have a nostalgic attachment to aristocratic rule and use Burke to legitimize the perpetuation of hierarchic lines of authority. But once you take the elitism out of Burkean conservatism, what's left is highly compatible with community-based liberalism.

If something like that is what Obama is expressing, and what conservatives are seeing in him, that is all to the good.

[kentuck]

19. Obamacans are the new Reagan Democrats.

And they will be a significant force in November. We will be talking more about them then. But, as Obama said, some people will see him as a "blank slate" and will see whatever they want to see in him.

[4themind]

20. I was shocked to read that David Friedman

son of economist Milton Friedman was backing him, he's not even a repuke though, he's on the very, very fringe anarchro-capitalist thinking

[Renew Deal]

21. Obama is a disciplined politician, especially compared to the loose cannon McCain

so between the two of them, if stability in government is your issue, then Obama is your person.