Just when I thought the Republicans were stuck with a hopeless slate of candidates, they short-circuited the usual process and nominated Barack Obama for President of the United States!
And why not?
The issue of abortion rights is more or less moot, since the Republicans already have an anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court, and on a whole list of issues where a President has more direct influence, Obama fits right into the GOP like a bipartisan peg in a Republican hole.
1. Universal Healthcare
Paul Krugman sez...
If Mrs. Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, there is some chance — nobody knows how big — that we’ll get universal health care in the next administration. If Mr. Obama gets the nomination, it just won’t happen.
Republicans can live with an extension of the current system that keeps huge profits for Big Pharma and the big HMO's in the healthcare loop, and that's all Obama supports.
2. War in Iraq
In the last year, the percentage of Republicans who think the war in Iraq is going well has fallen from 77% (are they complete drooling idiots, or what?) to a current 51%... a crashing loss of 26 points. By the time the election rolls around, Obama's plan for a gradual withdrawal of "combat troops" over 16 months (beginning with the inauguration in January 2009, this takes us out to May 2010) is probably going to sound just peachy to most Republicans. And remember... Pulling Out Combat Troops Would Still Leave Most Forces in Iraq, since "combat troops" only make up 23% of our total deployment. So Obama isn't even promising anything likely to offend Republican voters in November.
3. Guantanamo
You might think Obama's strong opposition to Guantanamo would distinguish him from Republican candidates, but now even Huckabee wants that gulag closed down, and McCain has opposed it from the beginning. Tancredo and Giuliani and all the other Republican candidates who endorsed Guantanamo are gone, except Romney, and he's teetering on the brink of oblivion. So Obama is solidly in the mainstream of Republican candidates on this issue.
4. Taxes
Obama occasionally makes a little noise about "closing corporate loopholes" and rescinding the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent, but this issue is sitting so far on his back burner that "taxes" doesn't even appear on the list of issues on his website. When the subject comes up on listed issues like the economy, Obama says he wants to "modernize and simplify our tax code so it provides greater opportunity and relief to more Americans." Under fiscal issues, Obama says " If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we'd see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies." How do you spell tax relief? B-a-r-a-c-k...
Then come the familiar Republican talking points: End Wasteful Government Spending, and better still, Obama opposes Raising the Federal Debt Limit. With the war in Iraq still running at least into the middle of 2010 under Obama's plan, and $80 billion in tax cuts promised to the lower brackets, refusing to raise the debt limit in combination with Obama's PAYGO principle would mean huge cuts to every discretionary item in Obama's first budget.
This is a beautiful dream from the fantasy world of Grover Norquist!
It's no wonder forward-thinking conservatives like Rod Dreher are already calling Obama "the Democratic Reagan." Mr. Obama obviously invited the comparison when he praised Reagan for inspiring "a sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship" without mentioning that all that dynamism and entrepreneurship made the rich a lot richer while the middle class went nowhere and the poor got poorer.
By wrapping himself in the mantle of Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama got on board the only issue than unites all Republican candidates, and the only remaining question is...
Why don't both parties nominate this bipartisan peg to fill their holes?
If the Democrats also nominate Obama, maybe the rest of us could forget about the ludicrous campaign rhetoric of both parties, and pay a little attention to grown-up issues like catastrophic disruption of the troposphere and the collapsing financial structure of the world as we know it.
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First, it should be noted
"You say you want a revolution; well, you know, we'd all love to change the world"
My research into Obama's
My research into Obama's healthcare plan agrees with Paul Krugman's assessment... without mandates, it's just a joke, and there nothing "regretably complicated" about it.
Your hero's "bipartisanship" consists of selling out to the Republicans on almost every issue, and if you're looking for a candidate who surrenders in advance instead of fighting for the millions of people who have been brutalized by the Republicans' top-down class war during the last seven years, then Barack Obama is your man.
__________________________http://jacobfreeze.com
But whose health care plan
But whose health care plan will do better passing through a polarized Congress? It's not selling out, it's compromise. Viewing compromise through ignorance can make it seem as though it's "selling out", I understand, but I have faith that that's not your problem. What exactly is your solution for the health care problem? Proposing a plan that Republicans would stand firm against at any cost, or one that could garner enough support while passing through the legislative process that would facilitate its passage, to the regret of only the most conservative Republicans, not their whole party? I'm interested in progress, not partisan bickering, although I would like to see the Far Right that wages this "class war" take a huge fall.
If you think I'm wrong, please try to set me straight. Like I said, I'm new to this, and it seems as though you regret the fact that I'm pro-Obama, so I would like your input on that, as well. Not ranting, but imput.
__________________________"You say you want a revolution; well, you know, we'd all love to change the world"