On which issues is Mitt to the left of Bush?

[Wonkish1]

I laughed at the notion that Obama is to the left of Bill Clinton on really anything.

1) You're talking about a guy that was very close to offering up a compromise on social security to allow private accounts in exchange for removing the cap on pay roll taxes(a deal I would take in a heart beat) and they were going to do something similar for Medicare. Than Lewinsky blew up and ended the negotiations. It was detailed in a book called "The Pact".

2) Obama is not to the left of Clinton on healthcare. Hillarycare was worse than Obamacare, but that isn't because of Obama's views. Instead it was because they were forced into it to get the votes. Obama's initial plans were to the left of Hillarycare. And Clinton didn't alter his health care plans because they figured out that they wouldn't be getting anything through.

3) I'm quite sure that Obama doesn't share really any different views that Clinton on estate taxes. The deal in 2010 was crafted the way it was because democrats know that the estate tax is not really much of a revenue generator. They would rather draw the line in the sand over the highest tax bracket than the estate tax because of the revenue differences.

Hell Clinton even came out recently arguing that our corporate tax rate is way to high and basically put together a very conservative argument as to why we should lower it.

Take a look at welfare reform as well. Take a look at regulation.

I mean I'm hard pressed to think of a single issue that Obama is to the right of Bill Clinton on except maybe his desire to not cheat on his wife.



If instead you mentioned that Obama might have some views to the right of Lyndon Johnson I probably wouldn't have scoffed as much, but Clinton...please. Clinton's been the most moderate Dem president in the history of the US by a huge margin.