Centrism Wins! Media marvel at Obama's move to the right

[Better Believe It]

Centrism Wins!
Media marvel at Obama's move to the right
January 27, 2011

With increasing vehemence since the midterm elections, pundits and journalists have recommended Barack Obama move to the right--and now are citing recent polling to suggest that the president has benefited from following their advice. But there is little evidence that Obama's current approval ratings have anything to do with a rightward shift, and the entire conversation rests on the premise that Obama was governing from the left in the first place.

This is nothing new; there is a long corporate media tradition of urging Democratic presidents to move to the right in order to capture the "center." After the midterm elections, many pundits were encouraging Obama to "pull a Clinton"--based on the dubious notion that a liberal Bill Clinton, chastened by defeat in 1994, moved to the right and found success.

Obama's selection of conservative Democrat William Daley as his new chief of staff was seen as representative of some sort of political shift.

Why would it be surprising for someone known for not being "tough enough on bankers" to appoint someone with Wall Street credentials? Daley's center-right views--not all that different from those of his predecessor, Rahm Emanuel--should mesh easily with the many members of Obama's economic team who also have Wall Street credentials.

Read the full article at:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4240


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Daley choice puts a moderate in play
Veteran brings business and political savvy
By Richard Wolf and Mimi Hall
USA TODAY
January 7, 2011

President Obama's choice of Chicago business executive William Daley to run his White House operation is the clearest sign yet that he intends to move toward the political center as he approaches a likely 2012 re-election campaign, members of both parties say.

Obama also made clear he intends to woo Republican leaders personally, perhaps with an invitation to Camp David. His State of the Union address this month is likely to call for budget austerity and free trade agreements.

"I've always thought Obama had moderate instincts. I hope Daley will bring them out," says Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., a leader among centrist "Blue Dog" Democrats in Congress. "Daley knows business, he understands business, he lives business. And those qualities have been sorely lacking in this administration."

"Daley is more moderate than anyone he's had in his White House to date," says Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman. "He is not hostile to American business and also has spent time in corporate America."

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20110107/daley07_st.art.htm


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Obama chooses former Clinton staffers in a move to the center
The president names William Daley as White House chief of staff and picks Gene Sperling as his chief economic advisor for the years leading up to the 2012 election.
By Peter Nicholas, Washington Bureau
January 6, 2011

Reporting from Washington — President Obama has recast his White House team for the second half of his term, giving top jobs to a pair of Clinton-era veterans in a signal to business leaders and independent voters that he is resolved to steer a more centrist course after two years of intense partisan clashes.

Obama announced Thursday that he was installing William Daley as chief of staff, entrusting the White House operation and perhaps the future of his presidency to a former Commerce secretary who has warned that pressing a liberal agenda risks scaring away an all-important bloc of moderate voters.

Obama on Friday will name Gene Sperling as his chief economic advisor, turning again to a Clinton alumnus who has experience working with a Republican majority, the reality that now confronts Obama with GOP control of the House.

Sperling, until now a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, will move into the same job he held under President Clinton from 1997 to 2001, director of the National Economic Council. He will replace Lawrence H. Summers, who is returning to Harvard University.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/06/nation/la-na-obama-staff-20110107

[SidDithers]

1. ...

Sid

[dionysus]

4. .

:spray:

[displacedvermoter]

11. Girlfriend of yours?

n/t

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[Bandit]

3. Funny how the Media NEVER urges the Right to move to the Left to capture the center..

:shrug:

[obxhead]

5. It is the advice of his corporate owners that he follows, not the people

or the media clowns.

[white_wolf]

6. First of all

how do they figure he was governing from the Left to being with? He has always been a center Right politician. Him even further to the Right is just dangerous. He suffered though 8 years of Bush and I'm not saying Obama is nearly that bad because he isn't but we certainly don't need even more Right wing policy. Obama needs to move much further Left.

[Fumesucker]

7. K&R

[hobbit709]

8. Centrism my ass!

He'd have to move quite a bit to the left to get to the center.

[msongs]

9. in 2012 it will be the republican official candidate, obama, + democrat to be named later nt

[kctim]

10. Wow, imagine that

A 'centrist' President for the 'centrist' majority.

[frylock]

12. polling people on specific policy always shows the nation to be left leaning..

but if you ask someone what their position is, they'll say centrist. i guess because they think it's cool.