“No, I’m not going to engage in that,” replied the president.12
The next day he called the Times reporter, telling him: “It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question”. Obama then gave the reporter several examples of why his policies show that he isn’t a socialist.13
He didn’t have to convince me. Obama’s centrist bent is clear to anyone who bothers to look. But after the Times incident – which apparently bothered him – he may have felt the need to be more clear about his ideological leanings to avoid any further silly “socialist” episodes. The next day, meeting at the White House with members of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of centrist Democratic members of the House, Obama said at one point: “I am a New Democrat.”14
Most conservatives will probably continue to see him as a dangerous leftist. They should be happy that Obama is the president and not any kind of real progressive or socialist or even a genuine liberal, but the right wing is greedy.
Notes
- Washington Post, March 29, 2009
- “Russia Now”, in Washington Post, March 25, 2009
- Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1994
- Frank Bernack, Jr., Hearst Corp. President, address to the American Bar Association, early 1987, reported in In These Times magazine (Chicago), June 24 – July 7, 1987
- William Blum, “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower”, chapter 26
- Washington Post, March 5, 2009
- The Middle East Media Research Institute, “Inquiry and Analysis”, No. 95, May 30, 2002; also see Wikipedia, entry for Mahmoud Abbas, “Doctoral Dissertation” section.
- Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2009. See William Blum, “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II”, chapter 16 for what was left out.
- Washington Post, March 21, 2009
- Miami Herald, March 28, 2009
- Washington Post, March 22, 2009
- New York Times, March 7, 2009
- New York Times, March 8 2009
- Politico magazine, online, March 10, 2009
