Obama Centrist

Pass the Blame, Pass the Center, Head for the Truth

Carol Smaldino | Posted 10.04.2011

Read More: Tea Party, President Obama, Massacre, Progressives, Norway, Obama Centrist, Congress, Obama, Poverty Education, Criminal Acts, Howard Dean, John Lennon, The Cabinet, Liberals, The President, New York Times, Racism, Christianity, Paul Krugman, Hillary Clinton, Health Care Reform, Republicans, Norman Lear, Centrist. Democrats, Politics News
Carol Smaldino

Maybe part of the issue is our own complicity by getting depressed rather than angry.

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Draft Moderate Manifesto Part 1

Sheri and Allan Rivlin | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Centrist, Progressives, Elections 2012, Moderation, Moderate Democrats, Progressive Politics, No Labels, Progressive Policy Institute, Moderate Republicans, Obama Centrist, George Lakeoff, Centrism, Centrist Democrats, Moderates, David Brooks, Paul Krugman, Wisconsin Protests, Third Way, President Obama, Politics News
Sheri and Allan Rivlin

In election after election, the same opportunity remains unrealized -- the possibility that either extreme could unite with the center to exclude the most extreme policies of the other.

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Centrism Wins! Media Marvel at Obama's Move to the Right

Peter Hart | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Centrist, State of the Union, Barack Obama, Sotu, Obama Centrist, State of the Union 2011, Obama State of the Union, Obama Moves Right, Sotu 2011, Media News
Peter Hart

There is little evidence that Obama's current approval ratings have anything to do with a rightward shift, and the entire conversation rests on the premise that Obama was governing from the left in the first place.

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Fatal Triangles

Robert Kuttner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bill Clinton, Triangulation, No Child Left Behind, Government Spending, Compromise, Obama Centrist, Regulation, Political Rhetoric, Obama Social Security, Obama Election, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Tucson Shooting, Gabrielle Giffords, Bipartisanship, Election 2012, Obama Approval, Third Way, Sotu 2011, State of the Union, Paul Ryan, Politics News
Robert Kuttner

President Obama is now Mr. Reasonable Centrist -- except that in substance there is no reasonable center to be had. Just how far right do we have to go for Republicans to cut any kind of deal?

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Redefining "the Center" to "the New True Center"

Norman Goldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bill Clinton, Triangulation, Independents, Dlc, President Obama, Obama Centrist, Democrats, Republicans, Politics News
Norman Goldman

To democrats, "the center" means being the same as corporatist Republicans: explicit, actual Republicans, but just slightly less so. This is not "the center;" this is mimicry.

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Yes We Can Win in 2012

Ed Koch | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Elections 2012, Obama Centrist, Moderate Democrats, Midterm Elections, Barack Obama, Tea Party, Elections 2010, New York News
Ed Koch

Will the Democratic Party learn from the drubbing and loss of one House? Probably not, but hope springs eternal. Maybe Democrats will take a hint and begin moving to a moderate left position.

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A Note to the President

Jim Neal | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: 2010 Midterm Elections, 2010, Midterm Elections, 2010 Elections, Elections 2010, Gop, 2010 Midterms, Jim Neal, Karl Rove, Tea Party, Liberals, Obama Centrist, Barack Obama, Lgbt, Conservatives, Chuck Schumer, Politics News
Jim Neal

There is a silver lining for the president. The heat's off. It's now the Republicans' economy to fix and it's the Republicans' responsibility to create jobs and stimulate economic growth.

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The Blame Game

Adam Neiman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama Centrist, Left Wing, Blame Game, Bipartisanship, Robert Gibbs, Centrists, Professional Left, Politics News
Adam Neiman

I don't blame the "professional left" or Robert Gibbs or Obama or even Rahm Emmanuel. I blame me. I was one of the last pragmatic progressives that swung from Hillary to Obama.

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My Private Obama

Robert Kuttner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Elizabeth Warren, Joe Stiglitz, Conservative Democrats, Liberals, Financial Reform, Health Care Reform, Obama Centrist, Paul Krugman, Bipartisanship, Sheila Bair, Blue Dog Democrats, Obama Reelection, 2012 Election, 2010 Elections, Elections 2010, Politics News
Robert Kuttner

History has seldom delivered a more graphic, teachable crisis than the one that Obama inherited. Although we voted our hopes that events could compel Obama to govern as a progressive, we are still waiting, and we are a cheap date.

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Obama Seen As Firmly Positioned In 'Radical Center'

Bloomberg | Al Hunt | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: White House Centrist, Al Hunt, Bloomerg Obama, Obama Critics, Centrist, Obama Centrist, Obama, Business Community, Obama Bipartisan, Politics News

President Barack Obama sees an irony in his relations with the U.S. business community. "On the left, we are perceived as being in the pockets of big ...

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A Tale of Two Obamas

Robert Kuttner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: US Economy, Tarp, Goldman Sachs, Obama Centrist, Federal Deficit, President Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, Politics News
Robert Kuttner

This president, who could have been such an insurgent at a moment demanding insurgency, has been so utterly captured by the Wall Street elite, the health insurance industry elite, and the military elite.

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Mark Another Coup for David Axelrod

Richard M. Benjamin | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Politics, President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, Obama Centrist, Henry Louis Gates, Race, Henry Louis Gates Arrested, Racial Profiling, Politics News
Richard M. Benjamin

Why do economic and racial segregation still dog us in 2009 -- the forty-fifth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act -- and what, if anything, can be done?

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Sonia, Who? Way Outta Center-Left Field

Richard M. Benjamin | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Supreme Court, Senate Judiciary Committee, Conservatives, Centrism, Judges, Liberals, Sonia Sotomayor, Religious Right, Obama Centrist, Federal Court, Republican Party, Barack Obama, Republicans, Politics News
Richard M. Benjamin

President Obama has chosen one tough, intellectually dazzling, judicially seasoned woman as his Supreme Court pick.

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Change?

Bernard Rowan | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Financial Crisis, Obama Change, Obama's Cabinet, Barack Obama, Financial Regulation, Obama Presidency, Obama Victory, Obama Cabinet, Automaker Bailout, US Auto Industry, Obama Economic Advisers, Clinton Obama, Hillary Clinton Secretary of State, President Obama, Obama Centrist, Obama Administration, Obama Economic Team, Obama Progressive, Obama Economic Stimulus Plan, Election Reaction, Obama Appointments, Obama First 100 Days, Obama Economic Policy, Obama Promises, Auto Industry Bailout, President Elect Obama, 100 Days, Politics News
Bernard Rowan

It's time to bring in a new generation of leaders to the White House, not just a new version of the same.

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Jason Linkins

This Day In 'Center-Right' Schizophrenia

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Alan Colmes, Karl Rove, Obama Centrist, Joe Lieberman, Obama Socialist, Barack Obama, Media News

Right-tilting pundits have fallen all over themselves to insist that the U.S. remains some sort of "center-right" nation -- this despite the fact that positions they once advertised as "extreme" are now, quite clearly, embraced fully.

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Why is Obama Losing?

Rabbi Michael Lerner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Dnc, John McCain, Flip-Flop, Sarah Palin, Obama Centrist, Israel, 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Home News
Rabbi Michael Lerner

Senator Obama is now trailing Senator McCain in many national polls. In fact, his national popularity has been falling ever since he received the nomi...

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Oh, Yes She Can

Kristen Breitweiser | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Moving to the Middle, Obama Centrist, 2008 Election, Politics News
Kristen Breitweiser

Obama's early supporters voted for him specifically because he said that he wasn't the type of person that he has now revealed himself to be.

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Why the Left Doesn't "Get" Obama

Peter Clothier | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bob Herbert, Bipartisanship, Election 2008, Jill Bolte Taylor, Barack Obama, Obama FISA, Obama Centrist, Obama Guns, Politics News
Peter Clothier

Flexibility and openness is Obama's way forward, and it's the kind of politics he has been championing from the beginning -- the kind of politics, let's remember, that had us all chanting, "Yes, we can!"

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Obama and My Achy Breaky Heart

Sherman Yellen | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: John McCain, Rush Limbaugh, Obama FISA, Independent Voters, Obama Centrist, Fisa, Barack Obama, Politics News
Sherman Yellen

Obama seems to be testing the waters, seeing what will work for him in order to gain more independent voters while still keeping his core beliefs intact; there's some fudging, but not yet any flip-flopping.

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Obama Must Be Doing Something Right: He's Got The Fundamentalists of the Left and Right Upset

Frank Schaeffer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama Centrist, Obama Evangelicals, Obama Middle Class, Barack Obama, Obama Religious Voters, Obama Campaign, Politics News
Frank Schaeffer

Obama's America is not about ideological vindication. Obama is not about progressive Americans "winning" or centrists winning. Obama is about American winning.

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Senator Obama in The Summer of Awful

Bob Cesca | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Barack Obama, Obama Centrist, Barack Obama Faith Based Groups, Obama Faith, Obama FISA, Fisa, 2008 Election, Politics News
Bob Cesca

Choosing to support Obama has never been about issues. Rather, it's always been about electing a president we can reference with pride -- a president who won't flatly embarrass us everyday, who can inspire and negotiate the necessary support he'll need to roll back the darkness of the Bush years.

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On Fellow Disgruntled Shareholders of Obama's Campaign

Max and the Marginalized | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama Centrist, Death Penalty, 4th Amendment, Barack Obama, Politics News
Max and the Marginalized

In a quest to impress the three people who drive lifted trucks who might vote Democratic, Obama will inevitably end up looking as ridiculous as he should look trying to achieve that end.

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I'll Pass On The Rubber Glove

R.T. Eby | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama FISA, Obama Redford Candidate, Obama Fisa General Election, Robert Redford, The Candidate, Redford Candidate, Obama Centrist, Redford Obama, Home News
R.T. Eby

I understand Barack Obama's stance on FISA. But when I look at his defense of the position, I imagine the men behind him, including an adviser wearing a rubber glove who has been probing the electorate.

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Jason Furman And Barack Obama

Mayhill Fowler | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama Economic Advisor, Furman Bush, Furman Obama, Lynn Sweet, Obama Centrist, Obama Administration, Obama Advisers, Lynn Sweet Furman, Furman Wal-Mart, Austan Goolsbee, Obama Wal-Mart, Barack Obama, Obama Corporate Tax, Furman Bush Economy, Jason Furman, Furman Centrist, Obama Taxes, Furman Obama Economics, Obama Economic Adviser, Home News
Mayhill Fowler

Furman as chief economic adviser tells us little about Obama economics but much about Obama. Furman is young and smart and he actually told the press that "Bush has had some bad luck with the economy."

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Thomas B. Edsall

Obama Moves To The Center

HuffingtonPost.com | Thomas B. Edsall | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Robert Reich, Barack Obama, Sandy Berger, Richard Holbrooke, Obama Centrist, Jason Furman, Obama Furman, Robert Rubin, Paul Krugman, Obama Moves Center, Bob Rubin, Obama Jason Furman, Obama Economic Adviser, Politics News

Barack Obama faces the difficult task of shifting his message away from the primary electorate to general election voters, while avoiding angering the...

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