[A-List] expressing the President's centrist views.

[james daly]

Thank you for your reply, Tony. I agree with your post, but I think what 
lies behind his vacillation is a desire to end what he perceived as a war 
between political parties (his perception of W's unilateralism) and to unite 
all Americans. I was overwhelmed by the absolute centrality of this message 
when I watched his campaigning. It is the typical search for a government of 
national unity, for peace -- among us -- in our time. He seems to have 
thought the people who voted for him wanted this national cohesion. Only 
problem is, the Republicans demand more and more right-wing measures in 
return for their vote.
I don't think the people who voted for him "read his lips". They seem to 
have read their own progressive politics into him instead. I think the whole 
theme could be fruitfully elaborated. -- James


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tony B." <tal1 at cogeco.ca>
To: "The A-List" <a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2010 5:09 PM
Subject: Re: [A-List] expressing the President's centrist views.


: My off-the-cuff impression of Obama is that, far from simply wishing to
: 'balance all views', he is simply a very weak character; blown from stem 
to
: stern by every passing political wind...but always with a steady tidal 
drift
: towards reactionary imperialism - and WWIII. No Kennedy or Roosevelt, he.
:
: Tony
:
:
: ----- Original Message ----- 
: From: "james daly" <james.irldaly at ntlworld.com>
: To: <a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu>
: Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2010 6:02 AM
: Subject: [A-List] expressing the President's centrist views.
:
:
: > Suzanne -- interesting comment (reformatted) on the new centrism. I 
wrote
: > to
: > a friend recently:
: >
: > Anyone who supported Obama for Pres did not watch his lips: he made it
: > absolutely clear that his main aim was to have a Lincolnian-style
: > government
: > of "unity" with Republicans.
: >
: > **********************
: >
: > I guess the flack got to be too much for Press Secretary Gibbs. He sure
: > makes a lot of gaffes or are they? I wonder if it is the pressure of the
: > job
: > or if he is just expressing the President's centrist views.
: >
: > I have tried to understand that viewpoint. It is one that wants to 
balance
: > all the viewpoints and to take a perspective that is not on the right or
: > left.
: >
: > The unfortunate thing is that the media has spun the country so far to 
the
: > right that reasonable positions from what was once a liberal agenda such
: > as
: > single payer health reform, lowering defense spending and increased
: > spending
: > to stimulate jobs in the economy are simply disregarded as if they are
: > wacky
: > positions. It is as if moderate proposals such as these and asking for
: > some
: > movement on climate control legislation and more funding for green jobs 
or
: > immigration reform are way out there on the fringe.
: >
: > Based on that conception the new center is questioning climate control
: > legislation for fear of pissing off industry, waffling on immigration
: > reform, an insurance industry run health care reform with their 
advocates
: > making the policy, continued war in Afghanistan and a continued 
commitment
: > to Iraq and support for Israel.
: >
: > What is the new right? Repealing the 14th amendment, bombing Iran and
: > Pakistan, increasing support for Israel, privatizing social security and
: > medicare, outsourcing almost all government functions or eliminating 
every
: > department except Defense, Treasury and the Attorney General's Office,
: > lowering the capital gains tax and instituting a flat 10% income tax.
: >
: > The left isn't even on the agenda here. Where do you see the 35 hour 
work
: > week, 6 weeks paid vacations, free medical care, free or subsidized
: > housing,
: > free university education, or cost of living indexed welfare and massive
: > reduction of military spending in line with what Europeans spend?
: > You don't unless you consider the bailouts for the banks and auto 
industry
: > socialism, that is welfare for the rich.
: >
: > These are not even unreasonable demands, this is what many European
: > citizens
: > have now.
: >
: > This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
: > http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
: >
: >
: >
:
:
: