I would be interested to hear the response folks have to this. I'm particularly interested if it challenges the assertion that President Bush and President Obama are basically the same.
He presided over all of Bush's policies, foreign and domestic.
He existed as a racial minority
He's been vaguely tougher on Israel than Bush was.
I feel pretty vindicated in my opinion that they are not that different, and that the political parties are squabbling at greater and greater intensity over fewer and fewer differences.
It's tough to argue the counterfactual -- what would W have done had he been inaugurated for a third term in Jan 2009 -- but you can make a few guesses based on his history. He differed from the current breed of republican in that he did believe in traditional economic theory and the ability of govt to stimulate the economy. However, his stimulus efforts tended to be gimmickly, less-effective taxpayer refunds. Obama's stimulus, while maybe too small, was probably better structured and more ambitious than W's would have been.
Then there's the whole health reform thing. that's still pretty big.
DADT, yeah, and also withdrawing legal support for DOMA.
Ended sanctioned torture, though not as definitively as I would have liked.
Continued the Clinton-Bush interventionalist foreign policy in Libya, but did so through NATO rather than unilaterally, which is a significant distinction.
Killed bin Laden
I think it's pretty crazy to say that Bush and Obama are in any way the same. What is percolating through the left now, and even for the last couple of years, is that they thought they were getting Barack Kennedy, the unrepentant and aggressive liberal, which is what the rhetoric of candidate Obama seemed to promise. but what they got is someone way more centrist. he genuinely has some conservative values, I think particularly with regard to fiscal policy and corporate policy.
But while Obama is disappointingly non-liberal, I still think it's way way too far of a stretch to say he's of a kin to Bush or the current crazy crop of republicans.
3 comments:
Repealing DADT... that's a very good thing.
He presided over all of Bush's policies, foreign and domestic.
He existed as a racial minority
He's been vaguely tougher on Israel than Bush was.
I feel pretty vindicated in my opinion that they are not that different, and that the political parties are squabbling at greater and greater intensity over fewer and fewer differences.
Restoring the ability of workers to sue for employment discrimination is different than Bush would have done.
Appointing Kagan and Sotomayor to the bench is radically different than Bush would have done.
The parties are squabbling over whether to keep taxes at historic lows or whether to protect the social safety net. Those are not minor differences.
It's tough to argue the counterfactual -- what would W have done had he been inaugurated for a third term in Jan 2009 -- but you can make a few guesses based on his history. He differed from the current breed of republican in that he did believe in traditional economic theory and the ability of govt to stimulate the economy. However, his stimulus efforts tended to be gimmickly, less-effective taxpayer refunds. Obama's stimulus, while maybe too small, was probably better structured and more ambitious than W's would have been.
Then there's the whole health reform thing. that's still pretty big.
DADT, yeah, and also withdrawing legal support for DOMA.
Ended sanctioned torture, though not as definitively as I would have liked.
Continued the Clinton-Bush interventionalist foreign policy in Libya, but did so through NATO rather than unilaterally, which is a significant distinction.
Killed bin Laden
I think it's pretty crazy to say that Bush and Obama are in any way the same. What is percolating through the left now, and even for the last couple of years, is that they thought they were getting Barack Kennedy, the unrepentant and aggressive liberal, which is what the rhetoric of candidate Obama seemed to promise. but what they got is someone way more centrist. he genuinely has some conservative values, I think particularly with regard to fiscal policy and corporate policy.
But while Obama is disappointingly non-liberal, I still think it's way way too far of a stretch to say he's of a kin to Bush or the current crazy crop of republicans.
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