Is Obama a Liberal or Moderate?

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Republicans claim he's a free-spending liberal but Democrats claim hes too far in the center. By his policies he seems like a moderate, but he's running as a progressive. What is he?

[Comrade Funk]

He's governed as a moderate, though he does run a populist campaign.

[GLPman]

The problem with this thread is that the answers you'll receive are going to reflect the exact divide that you discussed - liberal democrats will see him as more center, and republicans will see him as extremely liberal.

Anyway, I'd place him to the left of the center, but I wouldn't label him as a progressive. He's had mostly liberal policies, but he's also supported a few measures that push him to the right.

[Vosem]

In the context of American politics, simply trying UHC makes you a liberal.

[Gass3268]

Left of center moderate

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Despite some clear differences on some social issues, a lot moderate Republicans from the 1970s/1980s would have a lot in common with Obama.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Center-left.

[pepper11]

Very very left.

But at least he is pretty incompetent so he doesn't accomplish much.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Very very left.

But at least he is pretty incompetent so he doesn't accomplish much.

Lol... on what planet... ah, Planet GOP where political definitions are clear... anything to the left of us, is ultra left wing.

[pepper11]

Very very left.

But at least he is pretty incompetent so he doesn't accomplish much.

Lol... on what planet... ah, Planet GOP where political definitions are clear... anything to the left of us, is ultra left wing.

I should have said economically. Foreign policy is center left.

[ajc0918]

He's governed as a moderate, though he does run a populist campaign.

I agree with this.

[President von Cat]

Very very left.

But at least he is pretty incompetent so he doesn't accomplish much.

Lol... on what planet... ah, Planet GOP where political definitions are clear... anything to the left of us, is ultra left wing.

I should have said economically. Foreign policy is center left.

You must be dying inside about the fact that the ultra left auto bailout has probably taken OH and MI out of Republican hands for the 2012 cycle, and possibly a generation.

[Maxwell]

I think of Obama has governed as a left of center moderate. That being said, he campaigns as a progressive, something that worked in 2008 with anger towards Bush (some of it rightly so).

The major disappointment I have in Obama is that, even though he was a constitutional law professor, he still violated the Constitution, and shamefully, in the same ways Bush did, thus making extreme violations on our habeaus corpus rights bi-partisan.

The only problem with getting rid of Obama, who chooses to say states rights for an issue that shouldn't be in the governments hands at all (Marriage), but claims federal power in something that, at least, should be handled at the state level (Medical Marijuana), is that his opponent cares even LESS about our Constitution, and could only care more about mimicking George W. Bush's disastrous policies.

[Cobbler]

Moderate, left of center. At least, this is how he has governed. A bunch of his positions once were Republican ones (Cap and Trade, Romneycare), been tough on illegal immigration, he has cut taxes many times and had a very strong foreign policy (which is not normally attributed to the left).

He definitely campaigns in a more populist/progressive tone however. Obama may or may not be actually more liberal than his record as president shows, but its clear to me that his governing style isn't about getting his way entirely, its about getting a consensus and therefore has tended to be more centrist in his approach.

[opebo]

Center-right. 

[Niemeyerite]

Center-left.

[Vosem]

Very very left.

But at least he is pretty incompetent so he doesn't accomplish much.

Lol... on what planet... ah, Planet GOP where political definitions are clear... anything to the left of us, is ultra left wing.

I should have said economically. Foreign policy is center left.

You must be dying inside about the fact that the ultra left auto bailout has probably taken OH and MI out of Republican hands for the 2012 cycle, and possibly a generation.

That isn't true -- in the immediate aftermath of the auto bailout in 2010 Republicans were elected Governor in both states, took control of the entirety of the state legislatures, and majorities in the House delegations. It's true Obama is leading in both states now, but only by narrow, single-digit margins.

[Velasco]

Very very left.

But at least he is pretty incompetent so he doesn't accomplish much.

Lol! If Obama is an ultra leftist I don't want to know where is Hugo Chávez in the political spectrum. About incompetence is a good thing remembering the disastrous administration George W Bush administration. But well, all opinions are subjective, all is debatable, etcetera.

Moderate progressivist in my opinion.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Reformed progressive. Obama isn't a revolutionary. When he had a Democratic Congress in 2009, it was thought that he was gonna be very much one but the stimulus was too small and unemployment went up beyond 8.1% and the GOP gained Congress and he had to change his agenda from to a more reformest agenda not a bold one.

[Kushahontas]

center-left here, center-right christian democrat everywhere else

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

He's a liberal and there's no way around it. When you endorse gay marriage, and attack religious freedom via obamacare you're a leftist by American standards. When you force out a secular dictator in Egypt in favor of Islamist radicals while not coming to the aid of the Green Revolution which wanted representive government (democratic republican) you are incompetant in foreign policy. A radical leftist in America wouldn't be a center-right Christian Democrat elsewhere.

[TJ in Oregon]

Very very left.

But at least he is pretty incompetent so he doesn't accomplish much.

Lol... on what planet... ah, Planet GOP where political definitions are clear... anything to the left of us, is ultra left wing.

I should have said economically. Foreign policy is center left.

You must be dying inside about the fact that the ultra left auto bailout has probably taken OH and MI out of Republican hands for the 2012 cycle, and possibly a generation.

Ohio out of Republican hands for a generation!? Ohio has elected a Republican governor, the Republicans have taken control of the state house, while keeping control of the state senate, kept an open US Senate seat, and knocked off five incumbent Democrats in the US House of Representatives all since the auto bailouts. Yeah Romney's polling numbers aren't so good in Ohio at the moment but "out of Republican hands for a generation"? Hyperbole much?

[minionofmidas]

I don't see the contradiction.

[ajb]

It's all relative, isn't it? Richard Nixon cosied up to one of the most violently left-wing radical governments in world history (China during the Cultural Revolution), founded the EPA, enhanced safety regulations, funded methadone clinics, increased social welfare spending till it amounted to more than 150% of defense spending, and tried to implement universal health care. All of which were, in his time, moderate policies, likely to appeal to many Republican voters.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

It's all relative, isn't it? Richard Nixon cosied up to one of the most violently left-wing radical governments in world history (China during the Cultural Revolution), founded the EPA, enhanced safety regulations, funded methadone clinics, increased social welfare spending till it amounted to more than 150% of defense spending, and tried to implement universal health care. All of which were, in his time, moderate policies, likely to appeal to many Republican voters.

To me Nixon was a corrupt progressive trying to be an opportunist riding on the backs of conservatives.