Comments on: Obama And The Libertarians

By: Billy Beck

Billy Beck — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:54:18 +0000

“Will the same thing happen with Obama ?”

…and a Democratic congress? Look out.

This is going to be an unprecedented disaster. Now, you just watch.

By: Quincy

Quincy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:33:55 +0000

I guess I just don’t see Obama as the type who could moderate himself. His ideas and way of thinking are straight-line “government is good”, a mindset that comes from his roots as a community organizer. He’s shown a total inability to think outside this particular box, and I doubt that’ll change if he gets into the White House.

By: Libertarians on Obama - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:17:04 +0000

[...] Doug Mataconis responds: Chapman does raise some good points, and some of the dire predictions coming from Republicans these days about Obama remind me of the things that were said about Bill Clinton when he was running for President in 1992. Yes, things looked bad at the beginning when he tried to ram Hillary-care down our throats, but once that failed he moderated significantly and actually became the Democratic Leadership Council-type President that some thought he would be. For the most part, the Clinton years weren’t any worse than the last eight years of George W. Bush, and there’s some reason to argue that, for liberty, the Bush years have actually been worse. [...]

By: TerryP

TerryP — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:56:10 +0000

TBlair

The point is that even though Congress had not officially changed over to the Republicans the mood of the country had switched and it was just a matter of time until the elections for the switch to be made. Some of the democrats bailed on Hillarycare because they thought if they didn’t, they would lose their jobs. Many lost their jobs anyway.

And it wasn’t just about Healthcare. Once it was a forgone conlcusion that the republicans would take over congress because of their Contract with America talk, Clinton didn’t have much choice but to moderate on positions. I doesn’t look like Obama will have to do that with a Democratic Congress ready to do his will and an electorate that is still stinging from the idiotic Bush years and that is not comfortable with the republicans at the moment.

As I said before, Obama will be able to push through some terrible policy ideas, including National healthcare, because he will have nothing in his way. With McCain he would at least have the potential of slowing down what the democrats want to throw at us.

By: ThomasBlair

ThomasBlair — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:21:20 +0000

TerryP,

The Health Security Act (Hillarycare) was introduced on Nov 20, 1993 and spent a year floating around committees and debate before Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell introduced a bill to delay the start of Hillarycare until 2002 and exempt small business. Even with that, the bill died before the 1994 midterm elections.

The point? It wasn’t that Clinton came up against a Republican congress – the Democrats squashed HillaryCare.

By: Doug Mataconis

Doug Mataconis — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:57:25 +0000

What concerns me about Obama isn’t so much the man himself but the people he will bring into office with him.

By: TerryP

TerryP — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:55:58 +0000

You make a good point that with Clinton, he moderated after not getting through national health care. The big difference is that Clinton came up against a republican Congress and the mood of the country switching to a much more conservative way. Obama will not have that barrier. He will have a democratic Congress and the mood at this time in the country seems to still be more anti-Bush, which some parlay into anti-conservative.

Obama will be able to take many terrible partisan policy ideas and walk them right through Congress, including National Health Care. Clinton was never able to do that.

If there is only one good thing about McCain it is that he is not Democrat. It would at least give a little bit of balance in Washington.