alternatehistory.com

In retrospect, it's bizarre that many conservatives slammed Obama as a "socialist" when in reality his policies were quite centrist; the ACA was a Republican idea after all. In interviews Obama has compared himself to a moderate Republican and as President he went out of his way to accommodate conservatives on the deficit, foreign policy, and even entitlements by proposing to raise the retirement age as a part of his Grand Bargain. Some of this was driven by a desire to compromise with Congressional hardliners, but at the same time I do think that Obama is genuinely not near as liberal as many thought at the time. What would it take to push Obama along the political path of a moderate Republican, as opposed to a fairly moderate Democrat?

Some references:
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/...m-hed-be-seen-as-moderate-republican-in-1980s
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/197334-obama-nixon-was-more-liberal
Top