Barack Obama says, ‘I am someone who is no doubt progressive."

[Ian David]

POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. — Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday forcefully addressed concerns that he had moved too quickly to the political center, acknowledging complaints from “my friends on the left” about his statements on Iraq, his approaches to evangelicals and his remarks on other issues that have alarmed some of his supporters.

“Look, let me talk about the broader issue, this whole notion that I am shifting to the center,” he told a crowd gathered at a town hall-style meeting in this Atlanta suburb. “The people who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me.”

“I am someone who is no doubt progressive,” he said, adding that he believed in universal health care and that government had a strong role to play in overseeing financial institutions and cracking down on abuses in bankruptcies and the like.

<snip>

“I believe in personal responsibility; I also believe in faith,” he said. “That’s not something new; I’ve been talking about that for years. So the notion that this is me trying to look” — he waved his hands around his head — “centrist is not true.”

Regarding his position on Iraq, he said, “Don’t be confused: I will bring the Iraq war to a close when I am president of the United States of America.”

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/us/politics/09campaign.html?_r=1&ei=5087&em=&en=b690d55617d9d0db&ex=1215748800&adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=1215785058-T9CQHCNICPqGNIpAArg6lA

See also:


July 8, 2008, 12:38 pm
Obama Addresses Critics on ‘Centrist’ Moves

<snip>

“One of the things you find as you go through this campaign, everyone becomes so cynical about politics,” Mr. Obama said. There is an “assumption that you must be doing everything for political reasons.”

Voters should understand, he said, that they rarely will find themselves in 100 percent agreement with him. “But don’t assume that’s because I’m just doing it for ‘political reasons,’ ” he said.

“That just means we disagree,” he said.

More:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/obama-addresses-critics-on-centrist-moves


Also:

‘I am someone who is no doubt progressive’
Posted July 8th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16129.html

And for a lesson in perspective:

Al Gore supported "The Clipper Chip."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6427460&mesg_id=6427460

See prior thread:

Obama Says His Critics Haven’t Been Listening (‘I am someone who is no doubt progressive’)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3390982

[NYC_SKP]

1. Oh damn, this should be interesting.

What does it mean to be "progressive" versus to be "a progressive".

Barack is, I think, the former, not the latter, but the PPs (progressive purists) are liable to have a field day with this comment.

As Wexler said, Obama transcends labels.

Watching PPs fight with reasonable democrats is better than watching a mudpit wrasslin' match on jerry springer, and involves about the same levels of intellect, at least coming from one side.

:popcorn:

[vaberella]

2. I don't know what it means to be "progressive" when I came to this board

I thought progressives made it a point to educate themselves when the language of text is out there if it is an issue. I've just noticed people hanging on the words of "law scholars" however not bothering to take any "personal responsibility"----that annoys me.


That being said, I still think Obama is "a progressive" and making "progressive" moves for our future, of course we do need to keep watch and keep him inline with our concerns. Because it's been established by him, that when we have concerns he will directly address us.

[NYC_SKP]

4. He's been damned consistent, but his approach and views are too different...

...for him to be seen as THE "________________" candidate. (fill in the blank with traditional terms, liberal, progressive, etc.).

This transcendence beyond traditional labels is, I think, among his most appealing characteristics.

I'll be honest here, I watched VERY closely the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush administrations and had no hope from any of them.

Who did I like? Gravel, Kucinich, Ron Paul, anyone with the courage to be honest about the war and the economy.

:patriot:

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

3. I've stated this many times because people continue to make the mistake of confusing progressivism

with liberalism. He IS progressive in that he is a "forward thinking" politician who sees the value in societal progress. However, he is NOT a liberal. Liberalism is a political ideology regarding the role of government in policy making. One can be progressive, as I think the Clintons are many Democrats, and NOT be liberals.

[Ian David]

5. "I am someone who is no doubt progressive."

http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/63261/%22I_am_someone_who_is_no_doubt_progressive.%22

[World Citizen]

6. labels are at best misleading...

and often effectively used by the enemy because they understand this concept so well.

This is my take on what you were talking about on the previous version of this thread.

Fourth amendment rights violations have been on an incline for the past 45 years. Sure Carter and Clinton slowed the trend but surely the intelligence agencies continued the practice to some degree. Now of course the violations are running rampant. A bill passed by congress will have little effect on that practice. I don't believe for one second that "FISA" is even in the CIA's vocabulary. They will continue to attempt to get away with whatever suits them...BAU. It's like putting up a sign in the boy's lavatory in a high school that says "NO SMOKING." In practice its meaningless. It's like throwing a pebble in the path of a bulldozer. The election of BO will be like pushing a granite boulder in front of the bulldozer, stalling it long enough so that WE can build a mountain on the foundation of that boulder.

Idealism is fine for wishing and hoping, but being realistic allows for more possibility of achieving your goals.