Liberal activists: Obama as Bush Lite? 'No way in hell'

[4bucksagallon]

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Progressive activists with plenty of reasons to be unhappy with President Barack Obama's administration instead swatted away charges that the president's record has become "Bush Lite" on some of the issues they care about most.

Revelations of the government’s secret surveillance programs, an aggressive crackdown on government leakers, increased use of drones for killing terrorists overseas, and the failure to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are all sore points with the crowd here at Netroots Nation, the largest annual gathering of liberal activists in the country.

But the attendees here bristle at suggestions this president is anything like George W. Bush, despite some of those policy similarities.

Read more: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/21/19079901-liberal-activists-obama-as-bush-lite-no-way-in-hell?threadId=3751331&commentId=77043069#c77043069

[Arctic Dave]

1. More like = to bush.

Bush's fourth term.

[newfie11]

13. +1

[Enthusiast]

15. Because we all loved

Dubya so much the President must feel the need to emulate him.

[geek tragedy]

39. Only an idiot thinks he's the exactly same as Bush. No exceptions. nt

[Honeycombe8]

53. +1 nt

[SylviaD]

65. Perhaps I am an idiot then. n/t

[geek tragedy]

66. I said no exceptions. nt

[SylviaD]

69. When it comes to some issues - some very important issues - I don't see much difference. n/t

[geek tragedy]

70. That's an entirely different statement. nt

[SylviaD]

71. It saddens me. n/t

[byeya]

59. + + +

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. Well, these activists must be keeping their distance from the firebaggers. I....

applaud them.

[Number23]

6. That article is going to hurt some feelings

“That’s for the fringe,” Kerry said, waving off into the distance. “No, there’s no comparison.”

“...There are some people who won’t ever be happy,” Moulitsas said. “Dennis Kucinich could be elected, and they won’t be happy. Their perception of what should happen isn’t realistic. Those people are aligned with – have an ideological rigidity very similar to the Tea Party movement.”

Howard Dean – the former Vermont governor popular with the Netroots crowd, who 10 years ago lit a fire under liberal activists when he announced his run for president – also struck a pragmatic tone.

"Is the president perfect? No,” he said in a speech here Thursday night. “But it is sure a whole lot better than having Bain Capital, I mean, Mitt Romney in there. Progress has been made."

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. Don't you just love it when pragmatism wins over "ideological rigidity"? The ones....

screaming for Elizabeth Warren 2016 will turn on her in a NY minute, the moment she has to make a deal, or "compromise". That's a four letter word, ya know? Pres. Warren would find herself in the same predicament as Francois Hollande, who's probably hovering somewhere around 30% approval, after just a year in office.

Look out Howard!

[treestar]

60. If it weren't for pragmatists, nothing would happen, Right wingers would run over the Puritopians

with that bus, lol!

[Tarheel_Dem]

68. Precisely.

[graham4anything]

16. Yup. They know the 80-20 is coming and they can't stop it

the 20 are what is happening when the extremists walk around a circle and meet on the other side

then they scream and shout and think that just because the 80 isn't creating a lot of noise, it means they are correct

However, it reminds me of Alien. In space no one can hear them scream
In the echo chamber on that side of the circle where they collided into each other, no one can hear them scream

because

sorry to disappoint them, the sky isn't falling

and when the Fed says that the economy is going good and they won't need to prop it up, so the investors take their money and run,

that actually means good times are here again

though they don't want to hear it

so they jump up and down and scream and yell and shout

but all they are doing is insuring the 80-20 shall be here even quicker than imagined.

The one thing the 20 have done is lost me forever. I just now listen and hear, but I don't put any credence into it

because they have fooled me once, and I won't get fooled again

(and every mantra they use, the 1% crap and the other stuff, well, back at them

(hey, like that congressman they profess to love-do they realize he once ran a megabigmoney wall street firm and is perhaps
one of the richest of the richest, and that TWICE he voted with Ron Paul for austerity.
(hey, isn't their meme no austerity and hate the 1% and the rich and those TOP 100 corporations.
Is it they don't know that? Or is it something else???

I am not quite sure which it is

but in space, on the other side of the circle, no one can hear the 20 and their screams

The 80-20 is a reality, they are scared of it, they know what is in store in 2016(both in the congress and general) and its an unstoppable train

(we got our revolution, it was peaceful, and it was on 1/17/2009.
Why the hell would I want to give that up?
BECAUSE I DON'T.

Unless one wants to go back to the BushPaulfamilyinc I guess.

You know, they say there are more than two choices.
No.
It's like a coin. There are either heads or tails. There is NO 3rd choice.
Like true or false tests. there is NO third choice.

Sorry, but they lost me when they started their whines on 1/17/2009, before even one minute of the President's term began.
In fact not only did they lose me, they never had me in the first place.

I got Barack Obama's back.
And in a zillion trillion years, I would NEVER stand with Rand or Ron Paul.

Why would I stand with someone I can't stand?

[appacom]

29. I stand with you

[freshwest]

58. Well said! The other path is no way to go through life:

And they rant about the Ignore option being used by those who won't respond to them. Not knowing that option isn't necessary. But they really are afraid of it, because in space, no one can hear you scream!

Great comment, g4a.

[I love weed]

35. Here's what I heard:

Baaaaa baaaaaa baaaaaa baaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Scurrilous]

38. Getting stoned and listening to the Beach Boy's 'Barbara Ann' on the headphones again?

[Iliyah]

3. Wished I could have went to Netroots Nation in San Jose

and I totally agree with them!

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

4. I agree with them!

I've hated the comparison to George Bush. Legitimate criticism of President Obama is one thing, but to call him "Bush Lite" or to allude to anything of that sort is ludicrous.

[thelordofhell]

5. Sorry media.......not fallin' for your forced Obama = Bush narrative

Can't wait to get more Dems in the House in '14

[JDPriestly]

7. Bush was just plain stupid. Obama is not.

But Obama is overly influenced by wealthy people like Penny Pritzker and Pete Peterson (indirectly perhaps, but nevertheless too influenced).

[daschess1987]

8. Nice to be reminded of that fact...

Sick of the damned domestic spying--including idiot amateur spy neighbors who tattle to the landlord for so much as saying a curse word. The word Freedom gets tossed around all the time, but people are scared shitless at the thought of anybody really having any. The president's a decent man who's doing a damned fine job in a lot of areas but wasn't left with much of a Constitution to save. The Patriot Act is a poison pill. He would have been impeached after Boston had he dismantled the damned thing. Plus, he's got treasonous billionaires actively trying to bring down his administration because he hasn't kicked all the poor people to the street to starve. It sucks like hell, but he does have to keep tabs on those mother fuckers. [Pardon the curse words. It was a tough day... but I doubt if any of you will tattle to my landlord. ]

[JI7]

10. it's a lot of wingnuts and the media who try to push that

in order to make Bush out to not be as horrible as he was.

remember that one wingnut who came on here a week or so ago and started posting polls about Bush being more popular than Obama.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

11. Is it really Obama's fault Guantanamo is still open?

If he were to do so as an executive action, he'd be pilloried. He has tried and failed.

[John2]

20. I'll take on your question.

He will be pilloried by whom and in what way? By Congress, the right, Left, the Courts, just by whom? The man was elected the President of the United States just like any other President was.

He is suppose to be the leader of the Democratic Party, not the negotiator in chief between the two Parties. I think Elections should be about, what agenda a person is going to set, and the Electorate choose which one they want to follow. If he ran on to close it, then he should. The Electorate knew it. He is the Commander in chief of the Arm Forces in time of War. That facility comes under military Governance. Just what authority says the President can't close it, Congress? Did Congress have that authority over any other President when they were running a War? Which one, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Truman, Nixon, Johnson or Bush?

I think the President is caving in to the Republican Party too much or using them for cover. What I'm noticing here is the villifying of the Left in the Party on the level of the extreme Right, to neutralize them. The Left needs to respond to triangulation. It is sorta like Democrats should support Democrats in red states, even though they vote Republican issues. I don't think that should be accepted and the easy way out. If it walks and talks like a duck, then it is a Duck. It would be better for the Republicans to own their own lousy Policies than Democrats getting them off the hook for it.

If the public wants Republican Policies, then let them accept trhe responsibility for the failure of them. Democrats do not have to support Democrats that push Republican Policies. The issues are more important than phony Democrats wanting to hold an office just for status. It is that simple.

[n2doc]

30. I remember a boatload of Shrub "Signing Statements"

A lot of things seemed to happen via that route. Not so much, now, with Obama. For whatever reason he doesn't use that power much.

[treestar]

61. It takes money and the money has to be moved from one account to another

and Congress holds the purse strings.

The puritopians should take that one off their list of grievances. It makes them look like they are in bad faith.

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. Its not Bush Lite its

more like Republican Lite.

Obama even said that he would be considered a moderate republican.

[tblue]

14. He did? When?

Pls show me that quote.

[Enthusiast]

17. Here

[tblue]

41. Thanks.

I hadn't heard that one. Thanks also go not being snarky. I really wanted the actual quote or video for practical purposes.

[NorthCarolina]

28. It amazes me that there are Dems who have no idea Obama had declared himself

to be an 80's style Republican. Seems that would be something that would catch a Dems scrutiny. Recall that 80's style Republicans were still pro-corporate messengers who stood against a social safety net, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, federal safety regulations, etc. He has pretty much proved that personal declaration to be a factual statement, of course most of us were already aware of it by virtue of his actions before that.

[RC]

32. Hero worship.

His admirers gloss over or rationalize those inconvenient facts they don't want to know. If they don't like something Obama did, for them, it didn't happen, or someone else is to blame.

[tblue]

43. No darling.

No need for snark. I really wanted the actual quote or video for practical purposes.

[RC]

45. What snark? The evidence is all over DU

[blkmusclmachine]

51. The new bullsh!t line the apologists/cheerleaders/sock puppets are pushing is ..

If you disagree with Obama, it's because you're a racist!

[Lasher]

36. He also said, "I am a New Democrat"

And he said it early on. Seems like there's a lot of Democrats who have forgotten this too.

President Obama Declares His DLC Allegiance: Says "I Am A New Democrat"

[tblue]

42. If I can stop amazing you for a sec

No need to be snarky. I really wanted the actual quote or video for practical purposes. Oy.

[Lasher]

56. Did you see the video upthread?

Here is a hotlink that will take you directly there.

[graham4anything]

18. Real democratic supporters know nuance

and they know what was meant.

It was not literal.

It is like a football game

and the team is on the one yard line and has 99 yards to the end zone to go.

ANYONE KNOWS, that to bring the FG kicker in, one has to advance to midfield, before even ascertaining a chance to kick a field goal.

After Bush, we were on the one yard line, with 99 to go.

To get to the left of center my friends, one has a long way to advance forward to the 50 yard line, to midfield, to left of center.

And a real democratic supporter knows that.

Sheesh, the entire car industry would not be here today if Bush was still in office.

President Obama and the village of people single handedly united and brought the car industry back.
An American staple is a car and how many hundreds of thousands of jobs were saved because of that?

I myself am Mad as Hell and I myself am not going to take it anymore.
The constant put down of this President sucks. Big time.

But then Jimmy Carter wasn't good enough either.
ANd people seem to despise the President for things done, then 100% ignore their rosy image of the great FDR with forgetting about just what he did against the things they claim they hate the President for.
Let alone Abe Lincoln.

No, no one would be good enough.

(and do they even know Elizabeth Warren voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980? A little consistency would be nice.

A lot of perspective would even be nicer.

Let alone NUANCE.

We knew what John Kerry meant in 2004. The ones that didn't helped re-elect Bush that year.

Sorry ya lost me.

as if Ron and Rand Paul would ascertain a vote for Elizabeth Warren. Yeah, right, sure.
They want to go back to Thomas Jefferson's day when All MEN ONLY were created equal and only those that acted like Thomas Jefferson in everything(and looked)

[tblue]

44. But he has done some Repub lite things.

Even he would admit that. If you're cool with that, that's fine. That's you.

[Number23]

52. And real Democrats also know that he never said he was a moderate Republican

But yes, the lying and spinning to make it seem that way... yes, that's LEGITIMATE criticism. Yeah. Okay.

During an interview with Noticias Univision 23, the network's Miami affiliate newscast, Obama pushed back against the accusation made in some corners of south Florida's Cuban-American and Venezuelan communities that he wants to instill a socialist economic system in the U.S. The president said he believes few actually believe that.

"I don't know that there are a lot of Cubans or Venezuelans, Americans who believe that," Obama said. "The truth of the matter is that my policies are so mainstream that if I had set the same policies that I had back in the 1980s, I would be considered a moderate Republican." http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Politics/obama-considered-moderate-republican-1980s/story?id=17973080#.UcYpwJyTWgQ

I don't often agree with you graham, but your 80-20 makes alot of sense. Especially when people have to make shit up in order to slam this president. Which is the same shit that the Tea Baggers do. And the bray like wounded sea cows when you dare to point out that obvious fact.

[YeahSureRight]

22. Republican Lite +10000 Makes me want to puke too

Last edited Sat Jun 22, 2013, 08:22 AM - Edit history (1)

I would have more respect for the Centrists, Moderate, ThirdWay, DINO's like PBO and the Clinton's, if they had the actual courage to stay in the GOP and fix it instead of fucking up the Democratic Party.

Sure PBO is nice on TV and talks the talk but he does not walk the walk. Hopefully the Party will nominate a more liberal and progressive candidate in 16 if not, I think the Democratic Party will risk losing many liberal and progressive votes. So if Hillary is nominated or another corporate clown is the Democratic Party will lose its traditional base and one can say hello to President Chris Christie. Barring any major fuck up he will be POTUS in 16 any how, the 1% are grooming him already.

[fasttense]

19. Oh that is just Palin stupid.

There is no extreme left.

If Not liking the self proclaimed "moderate RepubliCON" president is the test for the extreme left then America is so far gone into conservative politics that it's never going to go left again.

Where is the American Communist party? When can I join the huge American socialist movement? Who is advocating across the board labor strikes? When can I see the average worker walk off the job that pays barely enough to survive?

Extreme left? Progressive don't have any idea what an extreme left really is.

[John2]

21. I agree

that is time for the Left of the Party to stand by their principles, and not cave in to phony or false logic. If these Democrats want to implement Republican Policies, then let them run as Republicans. And when they fail, the Republican Party will own lock, stock and Barrel. It is up to the voter, if they want to continue to see this country go down that Dirty hole also. Our Foreign Policies are already considerably rightwing and the Domestic side is trending that way too with this caving in from the policies of compromising through Triangulation. I'm very critical of these Blue Dog Democrats. Liberals aren't responsible for the down turn of this country ever since Reagan.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

40. Exactly, there is no extreme left in American politics

Any Democrat would be termed a member of the center-left in Europe. Heck, Bernie Sanders would be an old-line Labourite in Britain.

Yet I keep hearing American conservatives bleating that "Obama is a socialist!" Only a liar or someone wholly ignorant of socialism would say such a thing.

[arely staircase]

23. those people aren't real progressives

the only real progressives are the couple of dozen or so who post nothing but anti-obama stuff on DU. we need a pure democratic party made up of only that handful of people - and then we will win!

[4bucksagallon]

24. Yes I believe you have the answer.....

That really sounds like a winning strategy to me too. Divided and conquered. Fortunately what I see here on DU does not as yet represent the bulk of the progressives I encounter on other blogs and message boards.

[7962]

31. Exactly why the GOP is in such a shambles

The far right bitches and moans and screams "RINO!!!" at anyone who doesnt think like they do. And they actually think Ron Paul could win or have won the presidential election. Remember, according to them the reason they lose is because they STILL havent had a TRUE conservative run yet!

[treestar]

62. Yeah they are Authoritarians!

People who think it's OK to have national security and classified un-transparent information! Apologists for Fascism!

[MissDeeds]

25. No way in hell?

Way.

[DCBob]

26. I will never forget the eight horrific years of the Bush/Cheney regime.

The President Obama administration is nothing at all like that. Sure there are specific issues that appear to be the same but in reality the overall approach and priorities are completely different.

[treestar]

63. And some things will be the same

anyway - that's what gets me, when they attack those things.

Like, he's living in the White house, just like Bush did! And so the government continues on, the FISA courts, the security apparatus, as provided for by statute. The constant critics talk as if they thought the whole government would be changed, like statutory provisions ignored and swept away. Previous law did not have to be followed. Congress should just be a rubber stamp body ( and they accuse of us cult of personality, when some of them demand that Obama by force of personality should mesmerize Congressmen and Senators so that they'll vote for a single payer system no matter how they actually think on the subject).

[DCBob]

64. Yeah, especially regarding things like national security.

It would be very difficult and risky and mostly futile for the President to buck against the security procedures currently in place.

[BenzoDia]

27. Refreshing read. It's good to see some level headed comments out there.

[Bluenorthwest]

33. From the article itself:

“I was a big believer in hope and change as of May 2009, when he [Obama] talked about our values and principals,” said Morris Davis, a former Air Force colonel and prosecutor at Guantanamo under former President George W. Bush. “I was extraordinarily optimistic when he gave this talk, and disappointed a few months later, he began to backpedal.”

Now, Davis praises the efforts of groups like Code Pink, saying the member who interrupted the president’s national-security speech, showed “strength and courage.” “There were people who had their Bush blinders,” Davis said. “And there are people with their Obama goggles. If the reality was half as good as his rhetoric, we wouldn’t be having this panel today.”

Noreen Shah, a lecturer at Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute, derided Obama’s tenure as “a presidency that says all the right things, but doesn’t provide much evidence it’s actually doing them.”


The text of the piece is not as imbalanced and slanted as the OP suggests.

[forestpath]

46. +1

[iandhr]

34. Only morons think that way.

[Kolesar]

49. And RW trolls promote it on DU ... eom

[broadcaster75201]

37. Saying something with conviction does not make it true

Obama is a Reagan Republican. This is George Bush's 4th term. The biggest problem? Obama is a Hell of a lot smarter.

[Kolesar]

48. Wow, such insights

[leftynyc]

73. Bullshit

No Reagan republican would be pro choice, would never have dumped DADT, would never be for gay marriage, would never have put Kagan and Sotomoyer on the court. I can't believe the unbelievable amount of bullshit I'm reading on this board these days.

[lobodons]

47. Alito, Roberts vs. Kagan, Sotomayor

nuff said

[blkmusclmachine]

50. Yeah, Obama is NOT Bush Lite; he's more like Bush Regular.

[SkyDaddy7]

54. FINALLY!!

Well, not "finally" but it is nice to hear. I know many many Liberals who do not in any way think Obama is Bush Lite...And they don't think Snowden is a hero because he went way too far by giving the Chinese classified info...Who knows what he is about to give the Russians?

[Skraxx]

55. You Mean REAL Activists Who Actually DO REAL Things in the REAL WORLD Don't Think He's Horrible?

Howard Dean – the former Vermont governor popular with the Netroots crowd, who 10 years ago lit a fire under liberal activists when he announced his run for president – also struck a pragmatic tone.
"Is the president perfect? No,” he said in a speech here Thursday night. “But it is sure a whole lot better than having Bain Capital, I mean, Mitt Romney in there. Progress has been made."
Jim Dean, the Vermont governor’s brother, who chairs the advocacy group Democracy For America, said his group will push Obama when necessary, such as on surveillance and Social Security, but will advocate for him on issues they agree on, which are the majority.
“There’s a little frustration going on,” Dean said, “but it’s not about Obama.”
Instead, he said, it’s about changing the Patriot Act, and the crop of post-9/11 laws that curtail some privacy rights. “It’s about a bunch of stuff cobbled together,” Dean said, “a thing that’s a mess.”

[Fearless]

57. Bush was an ignorant fool

Obama is apparently an inept Democrat. Or a DINO as it now looks. What a shame.

[WilliamPitt]

67. Ah, America.

Where "Not as bad as Bush" is something to celebrate.

[Scurrilous]

72. K & R