Though the Republicans have largely discredited themselves by their recent poor execution in governing, that has not stopped them from taking swipes at Obama as the President tries to lead the country in these difficult times. The deteriorating economic conditions have propelled Obama to support and pass a stimulus package which Obama hopes will ease the pain as the economic difficulties continue to worsen. Despite the lack of alternatives being offered by Republicans at a time when Americans are looking to the federal government to avert an economic collapse, Conservatives are loudly protesting Obama's stimulus plan with many asserting the details of the stimulus plan reveal Obama to be a dangerous left wing radical. Don't believe this nonsense. There is little to suggest so far that Obama is either a radical or a closet socialist.
Let's start with the stimulus plan. If Obama were a true radical, his stimulus plan would be even bigger than what has been enacted. Fiscal Conservatives will lament the almost $800 billion price tag of Obama's stimulus plan, but many leftists argue the stimulus plan isn't big or bold enough to rescue the economy. Moreover, Obama did include a generous helping of tax cuts in his stimulus package that must warm the hearts of Conservatives. When an economy is clearly ailing, it isn't radical to spend a healthy amount of government money to give the moribund economy a shot in the arm. At times of distress, deficit spending is an accepted strategy to turn things around. So though Republicans decry Obama's stimulus plan as a dangerously radical scheme, it is actually less radical than lowering taxes while initiating wars which was a hallmark of Republican rule.
Nothing better exemplifies Obama's mainstream tendencies than his continuation of the Bush policies to prop up the financial industry. Though there are whispers in leftist publications and even in Conservative circles to nationalize teetering banks, there is little indication Obama intends to do that. Obama's economic team is hardly radical, and if anything has shown a tendency to be overly deferential to Wall Street and the big banks. There is an argument to be made that a failure to nationalize troubled banks is only prolonging the misery. Yet, so far the Obama team has shown little inclination to take over shaky financial institutions. Given Obama's apparent aversion to nationalizing troubled banks, if he is really someone who is on the leftmost fringe, he is concealing it rather well.
Obama has plans to broaden health insurance coverage. This isn't radical given the 47 million Americans without health insurance. Any plan to increase health insurance coverage is laudable. To call this radical is ridiculous, yet Republicans are attacking Obama for spending money to attain more universal coverage. A truly radical step would be to support a government run single-payer health care system that would replace the unwieldy and spectacularly inefficient system we have today. This is the dream of many leftists. Yet, Obama isn't planning a complete overhaul of our health care system much to the dismay of many Liberals. Conservatives may not agree with spending money to increase the number of Americans with health insurance, but they are stretching the truth to the breaking point in describing Obama's health care policy as radical.
Conservatives are seemingly in love with fossil fuels. Their adoration for fossil fuels have seemingly blinded them to the reality that the earth is not blessed with infinite supplies of fossil fuel. And while scientists largely agree that the burning of fossil fuels is contributing to the phenomenon of global warming, Conservatives largely reject this premise. Thus, they may disagree with the need of government to spend money to promote alternative renewable energy sources. But, that hardly sounds radical to me.
What seems strikingly evident after Obama's first fifty days in office given his actions and his words is he is no radical. This won't stop Republicans from accusing Obama of being an extremist, but right now such accusations are wholly bereft of merit.
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