Does anyone think Obama is running center and will move to the left? ..

[Hieronymus]

I would like to think so, although his health care plan leaves a lot to be desired.:eyes:

[redqueen]

1. I sure hope so.

If he could unite the misinformed people in this country with the rest of us, and guide the country in a more sane direction... the entire world would be forever grateful.

[LostinVA]

2. No -- he seems to be doing the opposite as time goes on

[NMDemDist2]

7. that's my fear too, I think Hillary is running to the center and will govern more from the left

I fear Obama will do the opposite

[LostinVA]

13. Yeah, that's my take on both of them, too

[Big Blue Marble]

30. Hillary will govern from the left?

You mean the way Bill did?

[Tulkas]

14. I agree

HEHE. We don't agree on anything so I had to get that in.


Obama started more to the left but is making statements that appeal to the middle. I don't see any change in policies but he is trying to set himself to appeal to the middle (if only for California's open primary)

I don't think his policies will move to the middle but his rhetoric will.

[Lucinda]

22. That's what I'm seeing too.

[BringEmOn]

3. If the MSM succeeds in silencing Kucinich and Edwards, Hillary and Obama will

try to outflank the Republicans...on their right.

[terisan]

4. I don't see how he can move left and he has no reason to in a ge because the left will

have no where else to go.

[RaleighNCDUer]

36. Wrong. They can go home. n t

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. Nobody runs center in the primary and moves left in the GE. It;s a fantasy.

[redqueen]

26. I thought they meant run center in the primary & GE, then govern left.

:shrug:

[Hieronymus]

45. That IS what I meant. FDR did that.

[redqueen]

47. Thought so!

:hi:

[Mojambo]

6. That's not usually how it works. n/t

[KennedyGuy]

8. Hopefully he'll run..........away.

[Hello_Kitty]

9. I don't care for any of the health care plans of the top 3

I'd rather have single payer and be done with it but Obama's smart for not having a mandate. Mandates will be turned into the new Death Tax in the general. Just as the estate tax only affects very few people but the repukes were able to turn popular sentiment against it, they will have voters convinced that everyone be forced into Hillarycare even though most people won't.

[redqueen]

27. I'd rather have single-payer... but having so many say that Edwards' plan

is as close as we'll get from the top three is what caused me to passionately throw my support to his candidacy.

[Hello_Kitty]

32. His plan is the best of the top 3 but either get rid of the mandate or

find a real good way to spin it. I don't know what that would be. All I know is that I can feel in my bones that "mandates" are a general election loser for us. Harry and Louise will be back, with a vengeance.

[redqueen]

33. Harry and Louise are going to be there no matter what...

any time you try to pry profit out of those greedy fatcats' hands, there will be swift and strong retribution.

[Sparkly]

10. No, I think he really believes in compromise and unity.

He's been pretty consistent in saying he wants to bring people together to get things done -- that's the "new" or the "change," I think.

He's also "running ultra-Christian" and I really hope that would change once he was in office, because it's the anti-Muslim sentiment in this country that's really the problem, not Obama's background.

[Onlooker]

12. Under Bill Clinton, that gave us NAFTA and welfare reform n/t

[Hieronymus]

19. Bill is often called a good republican president .. Would Hillary be too?

[Kucinich4America]

34. No, Hillary would be a BAD Republican president.

She's much farther to the right than Bill was in 1992.

[Hieronymus]

46. I agree ... Bill ran to the left and governed to the right.

[Sparkly]

24. True, which I think underscores the importance of a Democratic Congress...

Hopefully, with a Democratic majority, our leadership can pull the Republicans over to our positions (or shut 'em out depending on numbers). With a Republican majority, the Democrats get pulled way over to the right, and the president doesn't have good options for "getting things done."

[Onlooker]

29. I think that's the point a lot of people miss

We need to get a Democrat in the White House, but frankly if it's Clinton or Obama, we are not going to have a liberal. It will be up to a progressive Congress to force their hand.

[RaleighNCDUer]

37. We HAD a Democratic majority when Bill was elected.

Under his stellar leadership, we lost it after two years, for the next 12 years.

[Onlooker]

11. I don't think he can

He's trying so hard to woo Reaganites, Republicans, and Independents that he will be somewhat beholden to them. That said, he's no worse than Clinton, and Edwards seems to be out of contention.

[rodeodance]

15. last Pew poll showed him to be left of Hill.

[BootinUp]

18. that's perception though

can be different than reality.

[RaleighNCDUer]

38. Well, who in Democratic party isn't? nt

[FiveGoodMen]

16. No

[PATRICK]

17. All the subtleties that

no one is paying attention to and the gratuitous lengthening of inner thinking says no to the critical issues. We would be damned lucky to get voter protection and campaign finance reform. I would settle for just that at this point. He will have to face the dilemma(if it hasn't been sandblasted away already) of horrendous treason investigations against the neocons. He seems pre-conditioned to try to find the quiet way out. If not, he is biggest concealing liar we have running. We hate to admit that good or bad, all the pols are open books.

edwards' followers admit his failings and possible flaws in performance. The "winners" the MSM is cheering on as they bleed them have no such doubters. People have torn out their own eyes and will more than pass on that treatment to critics. And if we lose in November because of blind vulnerabilities, after feeble attempts at rationalizations, they would go completely silent too late. or once in office we would see anti-progressive justifications more than reborn to defend the soft capitulations pretty well advertised. More secret plans, "realism", the need to elect more centrist Dems so that single GOP Rep. won't block passage of mildly liberal legislation the Bush court will smack down. More likely we will have triangulated gridlock, POTUS to Congress to SCOTUS where we usually will lose.

We are playing their game so far again with nary a peep about the reality of the game. It is sealed guaranteed never to stop with each sweet surrender.

[redqueen]

28. What a depressing post...

I hate to agree with it... but... *sigh*

[TeamJordan23]

20. Didn't the ACLU have him being the most liberal candidate running? nm

[JDPriestly]

21. No, my child. He is running left and will turn right as soon as he

gets the nomination. That is how it works. That is why you need to vote for the only progressive running: John Edwards. Why base your vote on hope when you can base it on knowledge.

[bartholomewjohn]

23. Do you mean he could be a...(gasp) triangulator?

I hope not.

[Radical Activist]

25. If his entire career and life story are any indication

then yes. He is making a progressive message appeal to moderates. I don't see his actual policy positions as being centrist at all.

[LWolf]

31. No. I believe he'll run further to the right in the GE.

His current "centrist" positions are supposed to prepare us for a further shift.

[RaleighNCDUer]

35. It's nonsense to think that EITHER of those two will govern to the left.

Both Hillary and Obama are, and have been, center right. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding himself.

Anyone who wanted a candidate to govern from the left should have supported Kucinich when it might have still mattered.

[oasis]

39. If longing for the good old days of Reaganomics is any indication,

then I guess so.:puke:

[krabigirl]

40. Not if he wants to win some Obamacons.

[democrat2thecore]

41. I'm for Obama and health care is my #1 domestic concern

I wouldn't pay a lot of attention to the fine details at this point. ANY Democrat will try their hardest to give us and push for universal care. The fine points will change a thousand time between now and that point. I worry about ANY Republican winning as this issue will again go to the back burner for years. We MUST elect a Democrat in 2008. Yes, even Hillary if she's the candidate. Unity after the convention!

edit - spelling

[FiveGoodMen]

44. "ANY Democrat will try their hardest to give us and push for universal care"

You're kidding yourself.

[readmoreoften]

42. No. He's to the right and plans to stay there while keeping progressive rhetoric. /nt

[FrenchieCat]

43. I do!