A Time for Change

During the 2008 campaign, John McCain and his chief agent of divisiveness, Sarah Palin,  referred to Barack Obama as a left wing liberal who would take the country towards socialism.  Many have accepted this as a fact based upon the much touted exchange between Obama and “Joe the Plumber” where Obama tried to explain his tax plan to Joe and ended up saying that Joe would have to “spread the wealth.”  Afterward, Sarah Palin campaigned with the Plumber and in addition to claiming that Obama was palling around with terrorists, that his supporters were un-American, she also claimed that he was a “socialist.”  But is that true?

In a recent commentary written for CNN, Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, says no, that is not true based upon the team that Obama has recruit to help him govern.  Professor Zelizer has stated that he has surrounded himself with centrists.

The most striking characteristic of the current lineup is how the personalities reflect the centrist vision of the Democratic Party promoted by Bill Clinton and his colleagues at the Democratic Leadership Council in the 1990s.

Obama has called on experts who aggressively promoted globalization and deregulation on economic matters, pushed for welfare reform, and accepted the necessity of military force and a strong defense. There are exceptions, but overall thus far, it appears Obama will be advised from the center.

During the campaign, McCain and Palin repeatedly tried to twist Obama’s voting record to make it appear as if he is a radical liberal and that combined with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, his Presidency would drastically impact this country in a manner that is inconsistent with the moderate views expressed by the majority of the country.  But, as Professor Zelizer notes:

A close look at Obama’s development since 2004 suggests centrism should have been expected. There is little evidence beyond his history as a community organizer to indicate Obama is left of center.

That’s part of the irony of the attacks made by Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin against Obama for his association with 1960s radicals and statements about progressive taxation.

 How ironic then that McCain and palin would obfuscate and misrepresent Obama’s views by claiming that they are radically left when the platform that they were pushing was radically right of what the majority in this country want.  Recent polls have shown for example that the majority of Americans oppose overruling Roe v. Wade and want women to be given a choice on abortion and they favor stem cell research. 

McCain and Palin did this country a disservice during the election by making many afraid of Barack Obama, but so far he has made wise choices, with the right experience and has demonstrated that he wants to make some real changes in Washington.  This is a real breath of fresh air given the last eight years that has been filled with cronyism, refusal to acknowledge that the majority does not have the same ideology as the extreme right and refusal to listen to anyone other than an inner circle all of whom share the same views. 

As early as his keynote speech at the Democratic national Convention in 2004, Obama gave an early indication of the central them of his political views:

When Obama was introduced to the national scene at the 2004 Democratic Convention, his keynote speech focused on the need to overcome political polarization and long-standing divisions. In the most famous part of the speech, Obama said, “there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America – there’s the United States of America.”

At defining moments such as the one that we face today, the right man at the right time that has been able to lead the country out of troubled times has recognized that division gets us nowhere.  I did not initially support him, but I do so now and am excited about the path that this country may take and that has not happened for a very long time.