Obama wants to be the liberal Reagan.

[Unsane]

And I ask: why not???

I want there to be "Obama republicans." We need them to build a vast coalition of dominance.

Edit: Obama doesn't want to emulate Reagan's policies, rather, he wants to emulate the coalition building (only this time under a progressive theme).

[jlake]

1. Because he wants to be just like Reagan - not a liberal version.

[Name removed]

Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jlake]

9. Have you not listened to him?

All of his religious shit, thinking gays are diseased, wanting to increase the military....sounds like RR to me.

[Unsane]

13. Wow, what horseshit.

[jlake]

15. How so?

[FrenchieCat]

17. Looking at the pic of Hillary, and making it appear that she is saying that shit....

makes her look really, really bad.

[jlake]

21. Good to know your opinion.

I'll file that in the "worthless partisan Obamanation" file.

[Unsane]

19. I'll pay you $10 if you show me a quote where Obama says gays are "diseased"

That is just hogwash.

[jlake]

24. McClurkin, claimed this at a campaign fundraiser for Obama & Obama

refused to renounce the statement or apologize and continued to campaign with McClurkin.

[Hieronymus]

81. You bet, but that's all that Hillary supporters have.

[CTLawGuy]

47. BLATANT LIE

point me to a quote where Obama says "gays are diseased" or post an apology. I'm sick of lying Billary supporters.

[jlake]

49. Come on, you know Obama either believes or is fine with people saying it...

McClurkin, claimed this at a campaign fundraiser for Obama & Obama
refused to renounce the statement or apologize and continued to campaign with McClurkin.

[CTLawGuy]

50. he did NOT say it

He has never appeared with McClurkin since that unfortunate concert and he put out a press release that says he disagrees with McClurkin's views.

the point is Obama NEVER SAID ANYTHING LIKE THAT. And you are as dishonest as your DOMA-supporting candidate if you say otherwise...

[jlake]

51. I never said Obama said it. I said that he felt that way (condoned that message)

...and YES McClurkin CONTINUED TO WORK WITH THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN AFTER THAT EVENT.
Quit trying to dismiss it....that is the event that led to me switching from Obama to Hillary.
Obama is willing to sell me down the river for a few RW votes....and he has continued down that path ever since.
....maybe you'll get it when he trades your civil rights in for a few votes.

[CTLawGuy]

52. bull

you never supported Obama in the first place. and you said he thought gays were diseased (as in held a personal belief).

What about Hillary's comment that DOMA was a good thing becuase it allegedly forestalled a constitutional amendment against gay marriage? Do you think DOMA was a good thing?

[jlake]

56. What the fuck ever. I certainly did support Obama - and I would not

lie about that because I am ASHAMED that I fell for that fucking con artists schtick.
And yes, I will say that he Does either feel that way, or cares so little about GLBTers that he DOES NOT Rebuke McClurkin for what he said....and YOU LIED because McHomophobe continued to perform at Obama events after that incident.
I do not think Hillary is perfect on GLBT issues, but Obama is as bad as Republicans.... and you need to quit defending him because nobody is buying it.

[CTLawGuy]

67. where did McClurkin continue to perform for Obama??

I know that if the guy continued to appear for Obama it would have been blasted on this board at 150 decibels for a week afterwards.

[jlake]

69. He continued on the tour for every scheduled event.

"Update: About 6:40 pm , the Obama campaign issued a written statement from the candidate saying that he “strongly disagree(s)” with McClurkin’s views. Still, a spokesman said McClurkin would remain part of the concert line-up."

Google is your friend. And this board did go crazy about it.

Do you still excuse Obama, or do you realize he really does not care about GLBT people?

[CTLawGuy]

75. I thought he was just at the last event of the tour

he has not been seen since.

Does Hillary care about LGBT people?

"Clinton spokeman Phil Singer adds, "Sen. Clinton backed the Defense of Marriage Act because it enabled us to fend off right wing attacks like the Federal Marriage Amendment by keeping marriage as the purview of the states. She believes DOMA served an important purpose in that respect. Marriage should be left up to the states.""

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0607/Hillary_repudiates_DOMA.html

Sounds to me like a "with friends like these..." moment.

How is Donnie McClurkin worth all this ire, but this is ok?

[jlake]

76. I do not agree with Hillary on that. But it is a far leap from that

to holding a fundraiser with someone who declares gays are diseased and trying to kill children.

[LittleClarkie]

63. Then why did you ask if we'd listened to him

We, unlike you, can not hear his thoughts. And unless you are clairvoyant, neither can you.

[jlake]

65. quit conflating my posts. I said he never said gays were diseased, just that

he approved the message. -- But if you LISTEN to Obama, you will hear very GOP things coming from him.

[gmudem]

74. Wow

Does it hurt to lie so blatantly?

[Mass]

80. You of course realize that either Hillary or him are going to be the nominee.

If it is Hillary, you realize how your attitude is hurting her, are you?

So many of your posts are to insult Obama and his supporters that it is making her look really bad. I have to say that these last few days have made Edwards come back second in my book, not because of something he or she did, but because most of his supporters seem more rational than hers.

[maddiejoan]

2. Let me know

when he becomes a liberal.

[Bicoastal]

3. Same goes for your candidate. nt

[Lerkfish]

oh, snap!

[maddiejoan]

6. I made no such claims.

The OP, however, did.

Though I dare say, Hillary's leanings are decidedly more liberal than Obama's.

[Unsane]

5. Obama on abortion

http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm

[Unsane]

7. Obama on civil liberties and civil rights

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=9490&type=category&category=13&go.x=9&go.y=9

[Unsane]

10. Obama on budget, spending, taxes

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=9490&type=category&category=10&go.x=12&go.y=8

[jlake]

16. Exactly. LOL

[Politicub]

44. I'm waiting for that, too.

I would even take mildly progressive, but I'm just not seeing it.

[LisaM]

4. The words "liberal" and "Reagan" are incompatible

Perhaps you don't remember Reagan or perhaps his policies didn't hurt you.

[angie_love]

8. How is Obama a republican????

I don't know why some Hillary supporters are saying this? He leans LEFT of Hillary on a number of issues. The Reagon comparison is misconstrued. People are just saying that Obama can do for the Liberals what Reagon had done for the conservatives. Ie, instead of Liberals ashamed of being liberals instead of the usual CENTRIST, he can make us proud to be liberals. THATS ALL.

[DJ13]

20. Re: I don't know why some Hillary supporters are saying this

"The Reagon comparison is misconstrued. People are just saying that Obama can do for the Liberals what Reagon had done for the conservatives."


The Clinton supporters dont understand how to build alliances, they only understand power and the gratification they get from beating the GOP.

Thats why the Democratic Party lost control of Congress when Bill was President.

[Cant trust em]

28. Liberal Reagan means...

creating a coalition of liberals under one candidate. I'm totally supportive of this.

[rodeodance]

11. 'liberal Reagan'= oxymoran

[avaistheone1]

79. That's correct.

[chimpymustgo]

12. The question is: HOW?? Reagan appealed to racism, insecurity - with some very

specific language and messages. White people knew EXACTLY what they were getting.

What's Obama selling?

[Barack_America]

14. You're watching Tucker Carlson...aren't you?....n/t

[robbedvoter]

30. Is F*er trying to sell this one? Figures...

[Mz Pip]

18. Looks like a number of people

don't share the sentiment. Reagan, for reasons I don't understand, is often touted as a great president. He won 49 states in his second run. I'd love to see Obama do both of those.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[rwheeler31]

22. This is so sad. There will be no change..

[awaysidetraveler]

53. It's a little early for moping. "Trajactory" means the direction of change, not quality therof.

[redqueen]

23. I would say "why not?" if it weren't for all the DLC talking points in his book.

It's worrying, for me.

[avaistheone1]

25. Forget it. Reagan was a crook and a disaster. No thanks.

Obama is gong to be a big disappointment if he models himself after him.

[awaysidetraveler]

54. I have the link to the quote here, it's not that offensive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1esS0AEzk&feature=related

[jlake]

26. How is being like Reagan compatible with hope and change.

Reagan played to peoples basest fears and desires.
Hate, bigotry, racism, homophobia, and greed .... its all coming into focus for me....not sure why so many are so blind.

[awaysidetraveler]

57. Out of context Hillary. Take a look at the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1esS0AEzk&feature=related

[jlake]

72. I've seen it. I am referring to the OP. Thanks though.

[robbedvoter]

27. Is this like "The Sun - New York Post for Intellectuals"? Cuz, nobody buys THAT either

Liberal raygun, liberal Rove, liberal Rush Limbaugh - why don't I let someone more eloquent say it?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4088845&mesg_id=4088845
"

We often pine for a progressive Rove, a progressive Rush Limbaugh, a Democratic Reagan. But much of the efficacy of those people is inexorably tied to ugly aspects of human nature.

Nobody would listen to a Rush Limbaugh who told the truth. The appeal of Limbaugh is the wicked thrill of believing lies because they feel good. The fact they are lies is part of the mode of persuasion. Believing lies is an ACT; an act of allegiance, and an act of WILL. It constitutes, in a demented way, 'fighting back.'

[awaysidetraveler]

58. Here's the link. It's out of context. Obama's talking about movements of people in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1esS0AEzk&feature=related

[Cant trust em]

29. DU is an amazing place

Without even thinking, people saw the word Reagan and immediately went slightly insane. I'm sure that you mean that Obama is interested in creating a coalition of liberals under a single candidate as Ronald Reagan did with the republicans.

[robbedvoter]

31. "Reagan offered Americans a sense of common purpose that liberals seemed no longer able to muster."

Obama's book, p 32

[Unsane]

32. What's incorrect about that? By 1980, the FDR coalition was DEAD.

Obama wants to build a new progressive coalition.

[robbedvoter]

33. EVERYTHING. Sad you have to ask. I guess you're too young to know the spin

and how Obama buys into it. It was raygun who made liberal a dirty word. Obama seems to follow that in his commentary.

[Unsane]

34. Nice retort, not.

[avaistheone1]

36. I don't like how Obama seems to puting down the Dems in order to inflate himself.

Yuck.:puke:

[Cant trust em]

38. I honestly would prefer a little self analysis...

than to say that everything is hunky dory. I certainly can't say that I agree with everything that the Dems are doing right now.

[robbedvoter]

42. Wise, but try to be as wise about what GOP did back then - Carter, reagan. get the truth.

[hayu_lol]

39. As a Californian at the time, I watched in horror as Reagan destroyed what...

was best in that liberal state. Using the same speeches that got him elected in California, he swept the nation and did the same thing in Washington.

I guess that you had to lived under Reagan to understand.

The kids in college at the time were rebelling against the Nam war. Reagan brought in a Canadian hardnose to make draconian changes in the UC system to weed them out. The 'kids' finally did convince us to stop the Nam war, but not in time to save the 58,000 who died.

Reagan was a mindless moran with a superior ability to memorize and present powerful speeches. But, under that benign smile, there was no one at home inside.

[awaysidetraveler]

59. I'm not too young, and this is taken out of context.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1esS0AEzk&feature=related

[Cant trust em]

37. I don't have a frame of reference for the late 70's/early 80's

I was just a little guy then, but there's probably a reason that Jimmy Carter was only able to make one term in office.

[robbedvoter]

41. Yup. Poppy conspiring with Iran to keep the hostages throughout the elections

They were freed Inauguration day.
or you thought Bush The Lesser invented dirty tricks all by his little self?
It would behoove you to learn a bity of history. Not the official version - ask people who lived through it.

[Cant trust em]

48. I knew that one

I hope that we do the same when Castro dies.

[awaysidetraveler]

60. Reagan was bad... real bad. Obama's doing this to get independent votes in Nevada, I think.

[Cant trust em]

68. I know that Reagan was bad

talking about his scapegoating of the straw man welfare queen makes me cry a little tear. Trickle down economics? Give me an effing break!

But I understand Obama's point about creating a coalition of liberals like Reagan did with conservatives. My lack of frame of reference means that I don't really know what the liberals looked like in the late 70's that he refers to in that book excerpt.

[Ken Burch]

35. There are worse ambitions...

Let's face it, folks, if Mondale had campaigned on the '84 GOP platform and Reagan had campaigned on ours, Reagan STILL woulda carried 49 states.

I attribute this to the following:

1)The sense of optimism and of striving towards a positive goal that the man conveyed(yes, the goal he strove for was ugly and bogus, but he made it sound like a good thing);

2)The fact that he made his party's core believers feel that he actually respected their party's convictions(something none of our recent candidates have been good at);

3)A brilliantly effective use of media. The TV age has been a mostly Republican age, and their ability to use television and other media forms to flatter their candidates(even Nixon, ffs) has been key.

Note that I don't at all attribute Reagan's success to genuine popular support of a right-wing agenda. This is because their wasn't. But our party was not good at mobilizing the public's support of progressive ideas of the day(the nuclear freeze, defense of the labor movement against right-wing attack, national health insurance, leaving Central America alone)and making those winnable issues for us.

[robbedvoter]

40. But none more absurd

Brilliant use of the media ? yeay, it was just becoming the propaganda arm of the RNC. Silly Clinton, why didn't he " USE" the media? Ah, wait, it belonged to raygun's guys.

His party convictions? yeah - welfare queens have more money than you, civil rights made darkies uppity, USA = #1!!!!!

Optimism - see "we're # 1 again.

Nice wholesale repackaging of the original propaganda. It's precisely why people who actually LIVED back there are so angry today. Obama. you - regurgitate GOP propaganda at us.

[Ken Burch]

43. What I'm talking about is why the propaganda worked.

And, fyi, I DID live back there(campaigned for Jesse both times, helped win our state's caucuses for him in '88). I'm as anti-Reagan as anybody. And I don't back Obama now. But I'm just offering an explanation(and an alternative to the DLC's "Everybody actually wants what Reagan wants so OUR party has to come out for all that too" theory) for why the guy and his handlers were able to pull it off.

And the fact that he won by honoring the uglier beliefs of his base doesn't mean we CAN'T win by honoring the positive, ideal-based beliefs of ours. The people are listening. They'll respond to a positive, conviction-based approach and take a clear and unambiguous defense of progressive ideals as strength and leadership(which it is).

What they used for evil, we can use for good. That's all I'm sayin'.

[robbedvoter]

45. You can't use for good strategies based on hatred and bigotry!

here's a better way to express this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4088845&mesg_id=4088845
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4088845&mesg_id=4089017

[awaysidetraveler]

64. If this Reagan quote was all it took to convince Nevada independents, is it worth it?

[silverweb]

46. Works for me.

I've even changed my blue GObama! graphic to purple to help stress the unity theme. :)

Like Howard Dean said back during the 2004 campaign and Obama says now (and I paraphrase both men broadly), there really are more things that unite us than divide us, and we need to look beyond the divisive issues.

Welcome to DU, Unsane! :hi:


GObama! _YES, WE CAN!_

[Truth2Tell]

55. How bout the "progressive Hitler?" Even better. nt

[Unsane]

61. American presidents are now comparable to Hitler?

The first person to invoke Hitler automatically LOSES.

[CTLawGuy]

70. I hereby

invoke Godwin's law on your post.

Cheers!

[Tennessee Gal]

62. "Obama wants to be the liberal Reagan." He can freakin' forget it!

[awaysidetraveler]

66. Here's what he said. It's more of a nod to the right, than it is a denial of the left.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1esS0AEzk&feature=related

Though it is regretable.

[smiley_glad_hands]

71. Obama is NOT A DEMOCRAT.

He's just more of the same bullshit we've been fed for the past 8 years. Only, he's better spoken.

[bratfavre]

73. If Reagan was great, according to him,why not just be the conservative Reagan? n/t

[Essene]

77. Exactly. And this threatens folks on the extremes.

As we can see here...

[stravu9]

78. Sorry! I Just Threw Up In My Mouth A Little!

.