Saturday, August 07, 2010

Every Now and Then, One of Them Comes Up Sane

Former G.W. Bush speechwriter David Frum and I would probably disagree on just about everything. But he's one of the few n the Right who's willing to be honest and push back against some of their more ridiculous nonsense.

In this great piece, he takes on the whole "Obama is a socialist" malarkey:

Why didn’t Obama—the alleged socialist—fight for the public option? Why didn’t Obama—the alleged socialist—follow the recommendation of many, including Paul Krugman and Rep. David Obey, that the stimulus be much larger than what he ultimately proposed? Why didn’t Obama—the alleged socialist—give the American people just a small taste of real socialism and, at least, temporarily nationalize the large banks? (After all, even George W. Bush’s administration nationalized AIG, the largest insurance company in the world. Is Bush a socialist? Is Ben Bernanke? Is Henry Paulson)? Why didn’t Obama support a financial regulation bill that would actually break up the big banks and link bankers’ compensation to institutional performance? Why didn’t Obama withdraw American forces from Afghanistan as soon as logistically possible—why did he increase American forces there? Wouldn’t the fiscal savings have helped with the “transition” to socialism? I know I know—according to Kurtz, this is all part of the plan. But if this is the plan, the plan doesn’t really make much sense, does it?

The whole thing is worth a read.

4 comments:

Jim Hetley said...

I rather think of Obama as a closet fascist, rather than a socialist. Keeping the so-called Patriot Act, attempting to expand it, keeping "Real ID" and the passport mess at the Canadian border . . .

Charlieopera said...

If Obama is a socialist, I'm a very thin, non argumentative, best-selling author.

Let’s break that down (in reality):

I’m a horse.
I’ll argue with the rain.
I think we sold 11 copies of Johnny Porno (with several returns).

Obama is Bush III ... or as DOC and I prefer to call him at my place (for very different reasons), President Fredo.

There’s been no bigger friend to Big Business (and enemy to the working man) in a VERY long time.

Celine said...

There was one guy who wandered thru the Faire wearing a T-shirt that said "Our Country Deserves Better -- No Socialism" with an illustration of Obama in whiteface. I am SO glad he didn't stop at our booth. If it had been just the slogan, I'd have written him off as (1) ignorant about what socialism really is and (2) too fucking lazy to go look it up. But with the image, that was a self-labeling back-country racist asshole.

John McFetridge said...

Charlie, I thought the war against the working class was won in the '70's - when was the last time you saw a positive portrayal of a "working man" on TV or in the movies - now it's the middle class realizing they have no friends.

Or not realizing it, I guess.