Cenk: The Political Line Has Moved so Far Right Reagan Couldn't Run as a Republican.
Cenk Uygur points out that the US is now so far to the right that Ronald Reagan could no longer be elected by the present day Republican party.
Consider what Reagan did whilst in office and imagine if Obama did any of that today - and what would happen if he did:
-Gave Amnesty to Illegal ImmigrantsAs Cenk says:
-Negotiated with Terrorists (Traded Arms for Hostages with Iran)
-Raised Taxes
-Negotiated with the "Evil Empire" without Pre-conditions
-Made a Decision to "Cut and Run" From Lebanon After Our Troops Were Attacked
The bottom line is that, no matter what the reason, Obama seems to be in some important ways significantly to the right of Reagan on the political spectrum. If Reagan ordered the execution of US citizens abroad, he might have been impeached. If Obama tried to give undocumented immigrants blanket amnesty the way Reagan did, he might be impeached.The US has gone so far to the right that it would no longer elect Ronald Reagan. Oh, they hold him up as their great hero.... But if anyone today behaved as Reagan did, that person would be pilloried by the right wingers as a leftist failure.
I don't think Obama is a hard right-winger. It's just that the political establishment in this country has moved so far to the right (though not the public, according to polls on specific issues) that as a natural politician when he goes to appease them, he is solidly center-right on the spectrum.
And the political line has moved so far that if Reagan tried to run as a Republican now he would be the laughing stock of the party. Rush Limbaugh would tear him to shreds and Bill Kristol would say he is Neville Chamberlain. He would be run out of town as a tax-raising, amnesty giving, terrorist negotiating, cut and run no-good lib who hates the troops.
And anyone who claims otherwise is being absurd. As Reagan once said, "Facts are stubborn things."
They may label Obama as a socialist-Marxist-Nazi, but the truth of the matter is that the extremists in the US are on the right of the political spectrum, and the present day Republican party would be unrecognisable to the man they claim to adore.
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2 comments:
I don't get it. Reagan seems to be worshiped like a second Jesus by Republicans, and pointed at by Democrats as both proof that conservative policies are a failure and that Reagan was a liberal.
He was a Democrat for the first fifty years of his life. He never really changed his opinions much when he switched.
What he really is is the king of the Neocons; those who stand in the middle and hop back and forth to whichever of the two centrist parties is a better bargain.
I find it fascinating that the people on the right who clearly adore him, would attack anyone else should they nowadays emulate him.
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