President Obama is outside the ideological mainstream, viewed as very liberal by an electorate that’s moderate or somewhat conservative. His domestic policies are unpopular, notably his health care law, economic stimulus, and spending plans. His foreign policy initiatives—curbing Iran’s nuclear weapons program, improving America’s position in the Middle East, fostering better relations with Russia—have failed. The public wants Obama to jettison his ineffective economic policies and implement new ones. But he refuses.Yes I know, Fred Barnes is an idiot but he fails to recognize that a majority of voters don't want any more wars and interventions. They are tired of extremists in Israel dictating U.S. foreign policy. They are tired of Bibi Netanyahu interfering in U.S. election politics. They are tired of the tail wagging the dog.
I have to give Joe Klein a pat on the back for the second time this week.
Notice the absence of facts, polling data. Notice the absolute wrongitude of Barnes’s foreign policy postures: the truth is, the American people–and most foreign policy experts who are not neoconservatives–believe that Obama has been a very successful foreign policy President. The public has mixed feelings about Obama’s domestic policies, which have not been a roaring success, but not nearly the utter failure that Republicans seem to have imagined in their Fox-Rush echo chamber. The stimulus prevented a Great Depression. Most of the health care plan hasn’t been implemented yet and the parts that have been are wildly popular, especially the “pre-existing condition” rules and the extension of coverage to children up to the age of 26. As for spending, his proposed balance of new revenue and entitlement reform, though relatively modest, is deemed far more realistic than the Republican tax cuts forever and ever mantra.
These are not “very liberal” policies. They used to be Republican policies, especially the health care provision and the intelligent use of force overseas against our Al Qaeda enemies. The notion that Barack Obama is anything beyond a moderate liberal is laughable, especially given the wildly right-wing Romney positions on social issues, foreign policy and the aggrandizement of the plutocracy.As Daniel Larison pointed out the other day the Republican party lost their foreign policy advantage because of the neoconservative misadventures championed by the likes of Fred Barnes.
Update ;
Ben Jacobs nails the hypocrisy:
For a party that focuses so much on individual responsibility, it’s ironic that Barnes is blaming others, rather than Boston, for Romney’s faults.
Related:
Joe Klein on Netanyahu and Iran
Republican Foreign Policy and Iraq
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