Democrats must move to the center

[swing_voter]

trump painted Joe as a socialist and it hurt Joe. The word "socialist" stuck.

We need another president like Obama or Clinton, sans the hanky panky.

Stay away from AOC and Bernie.

Do you agree?

 

[bomberfox]

Joe is a centrist... like how much more centrist for the most wealthy and privileged can we get now?

 

[dex4974]

Hillary and Obama would be right wing in Europe. Corporate America has been dragging the left to the center for 40+ years.

 

[eohrnberger]

trump painted Joe as a socialist and it hurt Joe. The word "socialist" stuck.

We need another president like Obama or Clinton, sans the hanky panky.

Stay away from AOC and Bernie.

Do you agree?

Agreed, for the need to move to the center.
I would disagree with Obama being characterized as middle or moderate.

Looking at the party level dynamics of what's presently going on, rather doubtful the Democrats will be able to move to the center in the near future.

 

[dex4974]

Joe is a centrist... like how much more centrist for the most wealthy and privileged can we get now?

Seriously.

 

[Rhakron90]

trump painted Joe as a socialist and it hurt Joe. The word "socialist" stuck.

We need another president like Obama or Clinton, sans the hanky panky.

Stay away from AOC and Bernie.

Do you agree?

Going to have to move a Hell of a lot further to the center than Obama.

Someone like Clinton in the 1990s would be acceptable-ish.

 

[AJG]

If voters can be convinced that a centrist like Biden is a socialist, what do democrats have to lose by trotting out someone far more liberal like Bernie? No matter who they nominate they will be labeled as a socialist, so I'm not sure it really matters.

 

[Rhakron90]

If voters can be convinced that a centrist like Biden is a socialist, what do democrats have to lose by trotting out someone far more liberal like Bernie? No matter who they nominate they will be labeled as a socialist, so I'm not sure it really matters.

Its not that Biden himself is a Socialist. He's a half-senile stuffed suit.

Its that the Democratic Party itself has swung hard to the Left, and they will be the ones leading old Joe around by the nose.

 

[Airyaman]

Yeah, he would have been labeled a socialist anyway...that's what Hannity and the crew called Obama so it's their go-to label for Democrats.

 

[AJG]

Its not that Biden himself is a Socialist. He's a half-senile stuffed suit.

Its that the Democratic Party itself has swung hard to the Left, and they will be the ones leading old Joe around by the nose.

So the argument isn't that Biden himself is a socialist, but that because of his mental state he will be easily controlled by Bernie, AOC, and other left-of-center Democratic party members? That makes more sense.

 

[bomberfox]

Going to have to move a Hell of a lot further to the center than Obama.

Someone like Clinton in the 1990s would be acceptable-ish.

Ohnoes actually regulating banks and bringing back labor unions! Teh horror! Clinton’s signing away of glass steagal was so insanely right wing that even Mises.org thought that was insane.

 

[Rhakron90]

Ohnoes actually regulating banks and bringing back labor unions! Teh horror! Clinton’s signing away of glass steagal was so insanely right wing that even Mises.org thought that was insane.

His social policies, particularly with regards to things like public educational curriculum, were at least partially responsible for making Millennials into the absolute, dysfunctional trainwrecks they are today.

He basically let all the old 1960s radicals have their way with the place.

 

[Geoist]

trump painted Joe as a socialist and it hurt Joe. The word "socialist" stuck.

We need another president like Obama or Clinton, sans the hanky panky.

Stay away from AOC and Bernie.

Do you agree?

Biden is a neoliberal like the Clintons. Every Democrat is going to get painted as a 'socialist' no matter their ideology.

 

[Geoist]

Agreed, for the need to move to the center.
I would disagree with Obama being characterized as middle or moderate.

Obama is/was absolutely a moderate. Just because your side successfully painted him a 'socialist' doesn't make it so.

 

[ALiberalModerate]

Going to have to move a Hell of a lot further to the center than Obama.

Someone like Clinton in the 1990s would be acceptable-ish.

They don't need to win your vote. I suspect they would have to run a Ted Cruz equivalent with a D after their name to do that. What they do need to do is run more 3rd Way/New Democrat type candidates that would have more appeal in small cities. The Democrats that flipped the House in 2018 were mostly moderate Democrats. These AOC types are not the future of the party if they want to win outside of metro areas.

If I was advising them I would tell them to come off the gun issue, drop the more extreme woke shit, and forget the green new deal.

 

[Geoist]

Going to have to move a Hell of a lot further to the center than Obama.

Someone like Clinton in the 1990s would be acceptable-ish.

Obama's Administration might as well have been Clinton 2.0.

 

[eohrnberger]

Obama is/was absolutely a moderate. Just because your side successfully painted him a 'socialist' doesn't make it so.

ACA was moderate, was it?
You know that if Obama and the Democrats thought that they could government run single payer through, they'd have done that, right?

So, not so moderate.

Time for Truth in Labeling: Obama Is Not Centrist
. . .
But on all five major issues that divide the Democratic Party's liberals and moderates — the budget deficit, income inequality, the environment, social issues, and America's role in the world — Obama is on the leftward side.
. . .

No, I don't think that Obama was a moderate (centerist).
Pushing left even further left to make room for Obama to appear to be moderate isn't making it so, it's moving the goalposts, isn't it?

 

[Rhakron90]

Obama's Administration might as well have been Clinton 2.0.

Sure... Ya know, just without the economic growth, prosperity, jobs, rising median incomes, regulatory policies, or basically anything else that made the 90s such a golden American era.

 

[SimpleTom]

Agreed, for the need to move to the center.
I would disagree with Obama being characterized as middle or moderate.

Looking at the party level dynamics of what's presently going on, rather doubtful the Democrats will be able to move to the center in the near future.

Obama was amazingly moderate... He practically sprinted to the center. Even Obamacare was a version of Romneycare because that was middle enough.

 

[Geoist]

ACA was moderate, was it?
You know that if Obama and the Democrats thought that they could government run single payer through, they'd have done that, right?

So, not so moderate.

ACA was the tiniest of tiny steps towards 'universal healthcare.' We are pretty much the only large developed country to not have universal healthcare. Other developed nations have their own conservatives who gain power. They never try to get rid of their universal healthcare because it would be political suicide. Even they think we're nuts to not have it. That is exactly how far right the USA has become.

 

[eohrnberger]

Obama was amazingly moderate... He practically sprinted to the center. Even Obamacare was a version of Romneycare because that was middle enough.

As cited:
"But on all five major issues that divide the Democratic Party's liberals and moderates — the budget deficit, income inequality, the environment, social issues, and America's role in the world — Obama is on the leftward side."

How is being on the left side of an issue, multiple issues in fact, being 'moderate'?

 

[eohrnberger]

ACA was the tiniest of tiny steps towards 'universal healthcare.' We are pretty much the only large developed country to not have universal healthcare. Other developed nations have their own conservatives who gain power. They never try to get rid of their universal healthcare because it would be political suicide. Even they think we're nuts to not have it. That is exactly how far right the USA has become.

Other countries are other countries. This is the US. They are not the same thing.
It is immaterial that other nation's conservatives "never try to get rid of their universal healthcare".
It is immaterial that other nation's "think we're nuts to not have it".

This is the US and the US is not those other nations.

 

[HIP56948]

Just because the idiot, uneducated rubes have no idea what some words mean, doesn't mean that the rest of us have to compromise our existence.
And...Just because the Republicans and their Pig-F*cking constituency are totally out of touch with the real world doesn't mean that I have to change what I know is true.

 

[Geoist]

Sure... Ya know, just without the economic growth, prosperity, jobs, rising median incomes, regulatory policies, or basically anything else that made the 90s such a golden American era.

In case you forgot, the Obama Administration had to dig the country out of the economic crater that was made during the Bush Administration. Even with that, GDP growth was 2.3% average during his second term. Trump's average was 2.5%, so it essentially continued on the same trajectory as the 'Obama Economy.'

 

[Nickyjo]

Yeah, he would have been labeled a socialist anyway...that's what Hannity and the crew called Obama so it's their go-to label for Democrats.

True, communist, the old word used, wore out as an epithet. Socialism is back in, (there was a"creeping socialism" scare in the 1940s-50s), irrespective of the fact that we all enjoy the benefits of socialistic ideas and programs, though we may not acknowledge them. It's summarized by the person who supposedly said during the debate on Obamacare, "keep your government hands off my Medicare!"