Yeah, I noticed these as they came up:
1. Bragging about increased oil production (and from federal lands) and "clean coal."
2. Weak tea discussion of gun control.
3. Denying that government creates jobs.
As the article notes, those are all (currently) centrist positions, and from a campaign perspective they were smart ones to trumpet.
But they support what Progressives have been saying for a long time, that Obama's not only not the Extreme Commie Radical that the Right likes to pump him up as, but he's not really on the Left much at all. Put him back in the 60s, 70s, even 80s and he'd be a mainstream moderate Republican.
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The Debate Was Great for Democrats, but Not for Liberals
At least three moments should have upset progressives, as opposed to partisans.
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Earlier in the debate he made a statement about 'job creators' that really irritated me. Jobs are 100% created on the demand side, they are only reluctantly given opportunity on the supply side.
Basically, this is a litmus test for knowledge of economics. If you don't know that, you don't know enough economics to be much use in a conversation about economics.
+Dave Hill: " Put him back in the 60s, 70s, even 80s and he'd be a mainstream moderate Republican."
Which is why I might actually vote D this year. Other than greater and greater annoyance that Romney's primary argument seens to be "I know how to do" X without actually saying what he'd do differently. Healthcare reform and job creation are absolutely positively needed in this country and I'm not buying any pigs in pokes. I may not agree with everyting O has done or proposed, but at least he articulates the plan and nothing of it has me hiding under the covers since most of it does seem right out of moderate R playbooks from years past, as you allude.
Well, I guess every cloud has a silver lining … .;-)
Nixon would be a Democrat these days. So would Reagan, actually. I think I've said this before.
And lke would be a flaming liberal. Seriously, read the 1956 Republican Party platform, it's all about labor and anti-corporate power.
+Gary Roth, do you think government wage and price controls and reaching out to those commies were popular with the right of the 70s? Once in office, Nixon was considered far left for his day.
"Only Nixon could go to China."
Nixon was very much a pragmatist in many policy-oriented ways. Despite having a rep as an arch-conservatives from the 50s, he turned out to be much less of an ideologue once in the White House.
Of course, he also had some personality quirks that led to his downfall …
Obama will be the second best Republican President in my lifetime after Bill Clinton, the best Republican President in my lifetime.
Nixon is third.
Personally I would love to have someone as far “left” as LBJ, JFK, FDR or Ike to vote for.
Yup.