Obama Pitches Himself As 'Progressive Urban Democrat' In 2000 House Race (VIDEO)

In 2000, Barack Obama, then a state senator, sat down with his two Democratic opponents in a race for the 1st Congressional District in Illinois and described himself as a "progressive urban Democrat."

In an appearance on WTTW's "Chicago Tonight," clipped above via BuzzFeed, Obama debated his two rivals, incumbent Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush -- who would go on to win re-election and hand Obama his lone electoral loss -- and fellow state Sen. Donne Trotter, and claimed he shared "most views" with them.

It's interesting to see Obama's political metamorphosis from proud, progressive "community organizer" -- a term that has since been adopted by his opposition as an insult -- to a president who has led the country, as political scientist Keith Poole calculates, as "the most moderate Democratic president since the end of World War II."

Click over to BuzzFeed for more of Obama's radio ads from the campaign that The New York Times characterized as his one "glaring episode of political miscalculation."

Comments

[regulargal]

04:30 PM on 02/11/2012

He's consistent throughout the years.

Obama 2012!

[frdm399]

03:15 PM on 02/11/2012

Progressive Urban Democrat, is that liberal speak for socialist?

[ConservativeChampion]

02:37 PM on 02/11/2012

obama has been a disaster from day one. The problem is that now obama has bankrupted the USA after he was a back bencher as someone who bankrupted ILL-ANNOY.

[field-man]

05:15 PM on 02/10/2012

Yep 'Progressive Urban Democrat' PUD that works for me

[field-man]

05:06 PM on 02/10/2012

Year 2000 Obama is a lot more honest about his political views than 2012 Obama. Note: Bobby Rush is about as far to the left as it gets.

[ssmrtnup]

01:53 PM on 02/10/2012

If you stand on the equator facing north and you begin to travel north when you reach absolute magnetic north at the north pole, . . if you continue from there in any direction you will automatically be traveling south ! . . Then when you travel back across the equator and down south to the south pole when you leave absolute south at the pole and travel in any direction you will automatically be traveling north. . . . So, one is able to travel both north and south by continuing to travel in the same direction. . . .
However, . . If you stand on the equator at any point and face north, . then turn left and begin to travel you will be going west { left } and as long as you continue in that same direction you will always be traveling west. . . And if you travel to the right, or east . .
What liberal democrats don't understand is that when they turned left at the beginning they will always continue to travel and be left facing. . . The only possible way for them to alter that left thinking is to change direction and go in ANY other alternate direction available to them at any time. . . It seems so simple yet they are unable to figure it out !!! . . .

[field-man]

05:07 PM on 02/10/2012

Ok Forrest Gump

[ChantalDesigner]

11:17 AM on 02/10/2012

Ladies & gentlemen, this is just about too much curbing my freedom.. the issue discussed is 'hot' & would normally yield hundreds of responses.. but -- very few today, HuffPo you are becoming obsolete..!

[ChantalDesigner]

11:11 AM on 02/10/2012

Oh my goodness, I would have a field day if I could fan all those I agree with.. I am a fighter & not about to stop..

[ChantalDesigner]

11:04 AM on 02/10/2012

Wow, HuffPo sure makes quite an effort NOT to allow us to fan like minded.. Too many of us now? ;))

[wIsGoinOn]

11:36 AM on 02/10/2012

bet it's possible to 'unfan' --- sad, really.

[hughsie2]

11:01 AM on 02/10/2012

This guy is actually a chamelion, he becomes whatever he thinks people want him to be to get elected and remain in power.

[whslwalker]

10:21 AM on 02/10/2012

I keep hearing folks throw out labels like "Socialist" and "Communist", with apparently little-to-no understanding of what these labels actually mean.

By definition, socialism is, "an economic system characterized by social ownership or control of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy,and a political philosophy advocating such a system." and communism is "a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, stateless and revolutionary socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production."

At worst, one MIGHT be able to label President Obama as a Social Democrat (one who "advocate[s] redistributive taxation in the form of social welfare and government regulation of capital within the framework of a market economy."), but then he didn't start the social welfare system -- that would be a different Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt and his "New Deal" of 1933 -- and history has shown that it was because of the delays caused by the Republican Party in response to the U.S. economy that the Great Depression occurred, and if Roosevelt had been allowed to implement his programs FASTER, the suffering of hundreds of thousands of American people might have been avoided.

[ChantalDesigner]

11:01 AM on 02/10/2012

There are PLENTY of American people who have no earthly idea what is about to happen to this Nation.. but I am glad so many have finally WOKEN UP..!

[corneliusmcgee]

11:18 AM on 02/10/2012

I'm going to copy and save this comment. If this were a classroom I would give this an A+ and a smiley face sticker.

[whslwalker]

10:20 AM on 02/10/2012

Folks seem to be conveniently forgetting that it was a Republican who got our country into this economic mess -- one who had two terms to rectify the problem, but failed to do so. Likewise, folks seem to forget that President Obama, in both his Acceptance Speech and his first State of Union address, REPEATEDLY said (or alluded to) that it took the previous 8 years to create the problem and it would take YEARS to fix it! From the very beginning, he begged the politicians to put aside political differences, to work together FOR A CHANGE in order to save our country from disaster, and from the beginning, our Senators and Congresspeople put their own petty wants above the needs of the American people as a whole.

We FINALLY got an intelligent, compassionate, capable, and I guess unfortunately, idealistic President in the White House, and the ignorant, callous, apathetic and selfish masses can't wait for him to leave. It just boggles the mind...

[ChantalDesigner]

10:58 AM on 02/10/2012

Insisting that we at least have an ELIGIBLE president is NOT petty..

[whslwalker]

11:46 AM on 02/10/2012

"Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004." (wikipedia)

Now, it WHAT way is Barack Obama not eligible to be president of this country?

[fillmore1]

02:11 PM on 02/11/2012

Have you forgotten that it was the Democrats that forced the banks to give home loans to people who had no business having them? I recall the banks put up a big stink about it but Barney Franks put a stop to that!

[whslwalker]

04:33 PM on 02/11/2012

Actually, there were three main factors that led up to the mortgage crisis: 1) the removal of the interest rate cap in the 1980's; 2) the Tax Reform Act of 1986, and 3) the ability of the banks to subsequently offer sub-prime loans to high-risk borrowers. This all happened while Ronald Reagan was president and the Senate was controlled by the Republican party. In no way, shape, or form did the banks protest -- in fact, they actually wanted to be able to make these loans because they stood to make a fortune in selling the bonds (which they did). Sorry, but you can't blame the Democrats for this one...

[January Day]

10:05 AM on 02/10/2012

Wow...Obama would have fit right in with the OWS crowd. No wonder they are his base.

[redcoat]

09:57 AM on 02/10/2012

'Progressive Urban Democrat' I guess that what aol is also

[Prnzez]

09:32 AM on 02/10/2012

He keeps digging the hole deeper. Keep going!!