Obama, The most liberal candidate ?

[Blarch]

"Unlike the Republicans, Democrats see little ideological difference among their leading Presidential candidates. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 30% of Democratic voters see Hillary Clinton as politically liberal. Thirty-one percent (31%) say the same about John Edwards and 35% view Barack Obama as politically liberal." http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/democratic_ideology


"WASHINGTON—The most liberal member of Congress running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination isn’t Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

It’s Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois." http://www.popmatters.com/pm/news/article/32046/obama-more-liberal-than-kucinich-analysis-reveals/


Will American elect the most liberal choice presented to them ?

[Radical Activist]

1. So all the spin about Obama being conservative was baloney?

No surprise there.

[goodgd_yall]

2. He isn't liberal

but the right wing media is painting him so. I got a good laugh out of hearing him described as very "liberal" on FOX News.

[papau]

10. I agree - O's liberal in speeches and small votes -but goes for "bipartisan" tax cuts in other bills

he is certainly not conservative - but has little in the way of liberal leadership to point to at the national level.

[aquart]

3. FUNNY!!!!

You're asking us to vote based on other people's PERCEPTIONS rather than actual facts. That's so cute of you I could just pinch your little puffy cheeks.

[Blarch]

9. well..

One is a poll of democrats, the other is based on voting records.

Now what ?

[readmoreoften]

4. No. This is just silly. /nt

[baby_mouse]

5. No. Liberals don't let "ex-gays" ride on their coat-tails. NT

[OzarkDem]

6. Crazy

more proof of media manipulation. The story of Obama is a "fairytale". He's about as liberal as Harold Ford or Clarence Thomas.

[rucky]

7. I think we tie ourselves in knots over this because...

1) the spectrum isn't very well-defined. the labels have been thrown around and misused so much, they're now meaningless.

2) the spectrum doesn't really fit modern politics anymore. Social or economic? Libertarian or Leftist? it's more about character, trust and leadership style than anything.

[Marrah_G]

8. I wouldn't call him the "most" liberal

[beyurslf]

11. No matter who wins our nomination, they will be the "most liberal" Dem

who ever ran for president according to the right wing.

[laconicsax]

12. This was posted a couple of weeks ago

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3897879#389817

I'll make the same response here that I made there. The data they're using is misleading.

Obama's 'lifetime' score is based on 2005 and 2006. Dodd and Biden's scores are based on 1981 to 2006, Kucinich's is based on 1997-2006, and Clinton's is based on 2001-2006. http://nationaljournal.com/voteratings/pdf/06democrats.pdf

If you limit everyone's 'lifetime' score based on 2005 and 2006, you get:

Obama: 84.3
Dodd: 81.9
Clinton: 75.3
Biden: 78.9
Kucinich: 90.4

If you wanted to skew the data for a head-to-head comparison against Kucinich, just put zeros in his column for the years 1997-2004. That would give you Obama 16.9 compared to Kucinich's 79.4 over the same period of time. Do the same thing with him up against Clinton, he gets 28.1. Put Obama up against Dodd or Biden using the same method and his rating plummets to 6.5.

edit: typo

[Radical Activist]

18. If you want to include more years

then look at Obama's state senate record. Its also very liberal.

[laconicsax]

21. I don't doubt it

The 'lifetime rating' is misleading because its based on 20+ years for two of the candidates and 2 years for another. Ideally, they should have included incorporated his Il. State Senate record in some way or another.

[TahitiNut]

13. Nonsense.

:eyes:

[Sparkly]

14. On policy positions and proposals, the three are virtually identical. nt

[OzarkDem]

19. Not on their health care plans

Obama's is much more friendly to private insurance companies, vague, full of loopholes and no real means of lowering coverage costs or forcing competition. It also doesn't cover everyone, just those people with jobs who can afford it and the very poor or elderly who are now covered by Medicaid or Medicare.

His plan for Iraq is also much more conservative than Edwards, calling only for re-deployment of troops in the area with no plan for getting out.

If you support him and consider yourself a liberal, you should really look more closely at his position statements on the issues.

[jayfish]

15. Oh Blarch...

You should now by now that whoever the Democratic front runner on nominee is they are always the most liberal candidate. ...ever!

Jay

[cooolandrew]

16. At least one thing he's smarter than the current guy with 180 IQ and how he's winning..

[Radical Activist]

17. Its time for dishonest spin from Edwards supporters to stop.

They've been on a campaign to paint Obama as a conservative for many months now. It was always bullshit. Time to cut the crap and face the reality that Obama is liberal and has a more liberal voting record then Edwards. Sirota can eat his words.

[Brother_1969]

20. The MSM is using the L* word because they can't use the N* word n/t