Captain Obvious: President Obama is Not a Radical Liberal

Captain Obvious is a new feature at Greenlee Gazette, where I get up on my soapbox and opine on issues that should be obvious but for some reason aren't. I'll make an attempt to be brief and pithy, but I have a tendancy to get windy, so please bear with me while I hammer out the format.

Do you ever listen to right-wing talk radio? How about FOX "News"? If you've dabbled in either, you know that you can't partake of the offerings of either without hearing that President Barack Obama is a radical liberal. Or a Marxist, socialist, communist. . .name it. They think (or rather, they want to convince you) that Obama is out there. . .wayyy out of the main stream.

After the eight years of Rovian reality-bending we got before 2009, conservatives are used to getting to set the agenda. Truth became "truthiness" (thank you Stephen Colbert), or something that feels true, facts be damned. FOX & Rush, et. al, didn't get the memo that times have changed, and they're still trying the same old tactic. It works on tea baggers, but I'm convinced (or at least hoping really hard) that fewer people are buying it these days.

One of the talking points that has been repeated endlessly is that the "vast majority" (actually a slim majority) of Americans are against "ObamaCare­­™". This is true, but usually devoid of context. Yes, conservatives are by-and-large against it. Independents are divided. And liberals are often against it. That's right, liberals too. But for vastly different reasons from conservatives. Liberals think the health care reform bill didn't go nearly far enough. This opposition is hardly homogeneous for those on the right and left.

And that's just the thing. While conservative conventional wisdom says that Obama is a radical leftist, actual leftists think he isn't any where near left enough. Those like me, converted Republicans now just a few ticks left of center, still feel to the left of Obama. When I hear that Obama is a crazy far left moonbat, I think, "Holy cow, what does that make ME?" He simply isn't. He's a centrist. He even dabbles on the right. The caricature painted of him by Glenn Beck is just that: a cartoon. It isn't real.

Doubt me? Then tell me why the reform bill is practically a rebranded version of the Republican health care proposal from the 90s? Why is Obama protecting the Bush Administration? Why has the Obama Administration continued so many--unpopular to their base--Bush Era policies? Why is Obama opening up off-shore drilling? Why was the public option tabled? Why was single-payer squelched? Why are gays still unable to serve openly in the military? There are countless popular liberal agenda items that are being rebuffed. And Obama's a radical? As Rachel Maddow might say, bull pucky.