I have to admit that I am completely surprised to be reading, or even writing, this topic today. According to David Swerdlick, Barack Obama is a conservative. Yes, you read that correctly. It was not a typo or mistakenly typed. The Washington Post is pushing the narrative on Monday that Obama was conservative.
In the article, Swerdlick says that the issues that many Democrats are facing in what to do with Obama is because he was a conservative. The argument used is that Obama truly was a centrist, only taking positions when necessary to unite a divided country. He uses the arguments of healthcare being a Romney plan. Do I even need to remind you that Mitt Romney is not really a Republican?
He uses the argument of gun control as a response to Sandy Hook. The author continues by using statements Obama made as a justification for his position. He talked about his support of the financial bailout, anti-discrimination activities, police officer support and more. Did this guy even pay attention during the Obama presidency? Obviously, he didn’t.
Obama’s solution for healthcare was a government mandated program. Mitt Romney’s plan was not popular with Republicans and those issues plagued him during the campaign against Obama. Many Republicans did not support the financial bailouts of banks. Most conservatives actually support government staying out of business rather than intervening. Obama heightened race tensions in the nation by failing to support law enforcement officers when the times were tough. He pandered to the black lives matters movement.
To say that the new candidates appear so far left of Obama because he is conservative is absolutely absurd. Many of the plans they are promoting are because of Obama. For example, in 2015 Obama first touted a free college tuition program. In 2008, candidate Obama came out in support of a single payer healthcare system. Obama openly supported gun restriction programs. These are hardly conservative positions.
The author continues trying to convince readers that Obama’s ideas don’t line up with what is considered right of center thinking now. But I argue that his ideas never really lined up with the right at all. The writer tries to tie Obama to former President Bush who broke his no new taxes pledge. Maybe someone should remind the author this led to Bush being a 1 term President.
I don’t care how you look at it, Obama was not a conservative. So why would the author suggest he is? There are two reasons here. First, the left is looking for any method to continue down their leftward path without destroying Obama’s legacy. They have struggled with arguably their most popular President ever and how to deal with what he left behind. He is not far enough left and has issued warnings against the “woke” culture.
President Obama is actually much smarter than the Democrat politicians vying to challenge Trump in 2020. He understands the woke mentality will not fly with the overwhelming majority of American voters. While he may support those radical plans and ideas, he understands that the conservatives in America will never go for it. Which brings us to the second reason.
The left is also struggling with this election because they do not understand what to do with conservatives. I remember this recent poll over at Pew Research Center where the overwhelming majority of Republicans feel the media does not understand them. Might I argue that it isn’t that they don’t understand, they simply do not care. They push their narrative on all the major news outlets and Republicans or conservatives are left painted as psychopaths without a grasp of reality.
Swerdlick can say what he wants, but Obama was not a conservative. Trying to say Obama was a conservative would be like trying to say Trump never made $1 on a business deal. I can certainly understand the struggle the left is facing. The left has a radical agenda that they want to push, yet they cannot find a way to do it without destroying their history.
It sounds like Democrats are facing the same decision Republicans did in 2016. Do you go with the status quo, or do you go with the candidate that is willing to fight for what you believe in? Republicans decided that fighting for what they believed in was more important than status quo. The 2020 Democratic nominee will tell us exactly what these radicals decide is important to them.
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