or even a Democratic Socialist and not a right-leaning Republican wannabe, He would've pushed for single-payer health care, and he would never have let the insurance companies continue to hold so much power over the health of US citizens. He would establish a public works program to put Americans back to work. He would not have chosen Ben Bernanke to head the Federal Reserve. He would raise minimum wage to $10 an hour. He would have nationalized Citicorp and Bank of America instead of bailing them out; he would've forced any banks taking federal bailout money to freeze foreclosures and interest rates on mortgages and credit cards. He would have raised marginal income tax, capital gains tax, and the estate tax. He would press for worker participation in management decsions. He would never have expanded the war in Afghanistan and he would be bringing our troops home from Iraq. He would address poverty and the yawning wealth gap betwen the richest and poorest US citizens. He would never NEVER have defended the gross salaries of CEOs by saying it's all just part of the free-market system. I still do not understand why Obama is not the darling of Republicans, Tea Partiers, and conservatives in general--he should be their poster boy.
in all honesty I stole this from a friend, I did not write it myself. I just wanted to put forth the argument that while people on the right are horrified about what he's doing to our country, those of us who truly are Socialist/Democratic Socialist are not even a little bit happy with him. It was just food for thought, I didn't expect a point by point argument.
Sorry then, I couldn't help myself See, those of us on the right make the same argument about Bush. With all his spending and increasing the size of government we wonder why liberals hated him so much.
:lol: Just wait 'till I get home! :lol: I would do it now but I can't parse quote very well on my iPhone. You shouldn't be disappointed as I will point out later.
I think you're doing the same thing you accuse Republicans of doing - mislabeling Obama :lol: If Obama wanted to be a Republican, he wouldn't make sure everyone he nominated is very pro-abortion, regardless of a lack of qualifications. He wouldn't have passed the health care bill. He wouldn't have removed restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research He wouldn't be pushing the removal of Don't ask/don't tell (admittedly, there are more and more right leaning voters who agree with repealing it, but that's another topic). BTW - suddenly increasing the minimum wage to $10/hour would probably devastate the economy. Companies would crank up prices to avoid facing huge cuts in profit, which means any money people had saved up would devalue drastically.
Obama never seriously pushed single payer himself. He had the seats to push through whatever he wanted. Single payer = socialism. What was passed was simply a bill forcing people to pay for medical insurance. He actively solicited democratic congressmen to pass this version of the bill. Speaking of seats, the reason the bill got so neutered and convoluted was because the republicans demanded bipartisanship, amended it to make sure the democrats didn't get what the "wanted," then voted against it. A real socialist would have used their political power to push through something to help the public. American citizens didn't get health care reform, the insurance companies just got more customers. No, because Wall Street told him that the taxpayers' money would be better spent on their CEO bonuses rather than creating jobs, and he did as he was told. Any real socialist (or real statesman of any ideology, for that matter) would have audited the fed and shut it down. So where is it in the constitution that you can hold suspects without trial and target anyone for assassination anywhere in the world? If he wanted to do this and could get away with it, he would have. Problem is, he doesn't call the shots on matters like this. The private banks do. Probably through unions laws or something, but I'm not really gonna defend this one. Socialism is generally anti-war, since every dollar spent on bullets is a dollar that will never be spent on food for starving families in their own country. But not necessarily. It wasn't aimed at closing and class gaps, nor was it meant to do anything but put money in the pockets of bankers. Is getting a bailout part of that too? Extreme compared to what? Also, with regards to reelection, anyone who was truly a socialist (or truly believed in any political idea) wouldn't care. However, that's simply not how America works. Of course we all know this, but the point is that he's really not interested in shaking up the status quo. Aside from Eugenicists, no one is really pro-abortion. Because McCain never put forward a plan for health care reform on the campaign. And as I said, the bill doesn't help the average family get better coverage. Anyone else see the crushing irony of republicans spewing this "defend america, spend more on the military" bullshit while wanting to kick out key personnel based on arbitrary qualities? I think the Onion's headline: "Repeal Of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Paves Way For Gay Sex Right On Battlefield, Opponents Fantasize" fits well with the stance. That's what they said when it was first introduced. I'm not gonna defend a plan of "Just raise it $10 today, right now without telling anyone before we do it," but raising the minimum wage is definitely an option.
I disagree with that - while you certainly wouldn't blatantly violate your ideals for re-election, tempering them might make sense. Sorry - pro the right to have an abortion . The issue wasn't some sort of reform - it was this mess of a reform (also, many people take issue with McCain's supposed conservativeness). I'm not arguing the correctness of the policy - just listing reasons that Obama doesn't qualify as Conservative.
