'Is Obama a Socialist?'

[Valin]

Best Of The Web:

The question gets some surprisingly serious attention.
JAMES TARANTO
7/2/10

Here's a pair of questions that some people are, surprisingly, asking: "Is Obama Really a Socialist? Some Say So, but Where's the Evidence?" That's a Christian Science Monitor headline, and while the second question is entirely rhetorical, suggesting the paper (or is it just a website now?) comes down on the negative side, the story is actually inconclusive:

The assertion is getting louder: President Obama is a socialist, a wealth-redistributing wolf in Democrat's clothing gnawing at America's entrepreneurial spirit.

It's easy to buy "Obama is a socialist" bumper stickers on the Internet. Political commentator Dick Morris said, in a column circulated on GOPUSA.com, that conservatives are "enraged at Barack Obama's socialism and radicalism." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich titled his new book "To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine."

So, is Mr. Obama trying to form The Socialist Republic of America? Or are the accusations mainly a political weapon, meant to stick Obama with a label that is poison to many voters and thus make him a one-term president?

As is often the case in politics, the answer is in the eye of the beholder.

Well, "Answer Is in Eye of Beholder" is about the dullest headline one could write without mentioning Canada, so we can see why the Monitor went for something with an ever so tiny bit more sex appeal. Still, what's interesting here is that the Monitor is treating the question even as a legitimate one.

The left has portrayed the assertion "Obama is a socialist" as the product of hallucinogenic tea. Polls attempting to show that Republicans are crazy--both the one Markos Moulitsas commissioned and the one John Avlon inspired, helped design and touted but did not commission--have included it along with such genuinely insane claims as "Obama was not born in the U.S." and "Obama may be the Antichrist." Yet you won't see a mainstream publication weigh the pros and cons of those claims and conclude that "the answer is in the eye of the beholder."

What's more--and this was our first thought on seeing the Monitor story--we're pretty sure we never saw a similar story during George W. Bush's time in office seriously pondering the question of whether he was a fascist, though left-wingers called him that all the time.
(Snip)

[NCTexan]

Is Obama a Socialist...

 

Well... it would be a wild stretch of the imagination to call him a Capitalist.

[Argyle58]

Is Obama a Socialist...

 

Well... it would be a wild stretch of the imagination to call him a Capitalist.

 

When you combine the socialist agenda with the catering to special interest groups and certain business collectives, you get something more insidious than a Socialist.....a Corporatist.

[Valin]

Is Obama a Socialist...

 

Well... it would be a wild stretch of the imagination to call him a Capitalist.

 

When you combine the socialist agenda with the catering to special interest groups and certain business collectives, you get something more insidious than a Socialist.....a Corporatist.

 

 

At the risk of sounding like a wild eyed right wing nutter....I would suggest the word you are looking for is...Fascist.

 

 

 

And If I may...and a bit off topic.....William R Cook

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doXDlvBXRLA

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp-L7ILlieM

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ftkr2s1qHw

[Casino67]

Friday, July 2, 2010

Socialist Party Upset Obama is Being Called a Socialist

 

The national director of the Democratic Socialists of America is frustrated people are calling President Obama a Socialist.

 

"I have been making a living telling people Obama is not a socialist," says Frank Llewellyn, national director of the Democratic Socialists of America. "It's frustrating to see people using our brand to criticize programs that have nothing to do with our brand and are not even working."

 

 

Hmm... The DSA backed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. Here is an excerpt from their newsletter, the “Democratic Left” (pdf).

 

While recognizing the critical limitations of the Obama candidacy and the American political system, DSA believes that the possible election of Senator Obama to the presidency in November represents a potential opening for social and labor movements to generate the critical political momentum necessary to implement a progressive political agenda. We know that a proactive and progressive government can come only on the heels of a broad coalition for social justice united against a reactionary Republicanism as well as a Democratic neo-liberalism. Such a movement will also have to fight for a public finance system that can limit the power of corporate fundraising and lobbyists over both major political parties.

 

 

Frank Llewellyn accused President Obama of "programs that have nothing to do with our brand and are not even working." Let's see what programs they proposed in their 2008 newsletter.

 

Thus, DSA offers its Economic Justice Agenda and its “four pillars” as a framework for such a progressive policy agenda. This program calls for:

 

1. Restoring progressive taxation to the levels before the Reagan administration and enacting massive cuts in wasteful defense spending;

 

2. Enacting single-payer universal health insurance and expanding public initiatives in child care, elder care and pension security;

 

3. Passing the Employee Free Choice Act as part of a broader effort to rebuild a powerful labor movement capable of achieving equity in the labor market; and

 

4. Implementing a U.S. foreign policy that promotes global institutions that advance labor, environmental, and human rights and regulate transnational corporations.

 

 

This looks an awful lot like what President Obama has been focusing on since taking office. In the cases where President Obama hasn't fully implemented the DSA agenda, it hasn't been because Obama isn't a true believer. Moderate Democrats have stood in the way of full implementation.

 

Source

[Valin]

Friday, July 2, 2010

Socialist Party Upset Obama is Being Called a Socialist

 

The national director of the Democratic Socialists of America is frustrated people are calling President Obama a Socialist.

 

"I have been making a living telling people Obama is not a socialist," says Frank Llewellyn, national director of the Democratic Socialists of America. "It's frustrating to see people using our brand to criticize programs that have nothing to do with our brand and are not even working."

 

 

Well I'd be embarrassed and not a little ticked off if I were associated with Jimmy Carter II.

[NCTexan]

At the risk of sounding like a wild eyed right wing nutter....

 

Valin!

 

You've finally unmasked yourself for the whole world to see!

 

[Valin]

At the risk of sounding like a wild eyed right wing nutter....

 

Valin!

 

You've finally unmasked yourself for the whole world to see!

 

 

I was having a bad hair day!

[Valin]

Common Ground Politics: Is Obama a Socialist?

[NCTexan]

Common Ground Politics: Is Obama a Socialist?

Valin! I'd suggest a long hot shower with Lava Soap after that round of posting with some of those folks at Common Ground.

 

On second thought, Lava might not do it. You might need some of Grandma's Lye Soap.

 

[AceRimmer]

Common Ground Politics: Is Obama a Socialist?

Where's the argument against your supposition? You won't find it because even the most radical leftwing RATS know it's true.

 

The time before Boehner takes over as Speaker is getting shorter, and Mitch McConnell might not be far behind if the RATS go for broke on spending, which is what Obambi is begging them to do.

 

Jimmy Carter on steroids....