Wednesday, June 11, 2008
By now, everyone knows Barack Obama is a political phenomenon. An African American man who enjoys the support of college-educated, middle and upper middle class white voters, people under 30 and the LGBT community but conservatives for Obama? Who da’ thunk it?
The Boston Globe reports on the “Obamacons.” Self-described conservatives, many of them Republicans, who have publicly declared they will vote for Barack Obama and not John McCain in November.
One such “Obamacon” is high-profile Boston University professor, Andrew J. Bacevich. Bacevich was profiled in a recent pro-Obama article in the arch conservative magazine, The New Republic and who argues:
“Barack Obama is no conservative. Yet if he wins the Democratic nomination, come November principled conservatives may well find themselves voting for the senator from Illinois. Given the alternatives and the state of the conservative movement, they could do worse.”
Worse than John McCain? Bacevich continues:
“So why consider Obama? For one reason only: because this liberal Democrat has promised to end the U.S. combat role in Iraq. Contained within that promise, if fulfilled, lies some modest prospect of a conservative revival. For conservatives, Obama represents a sliver of hope.”
Such a conservative exodus to Obama does not bode well for the GOP’s chances of winning in November.
From the Left 
Genuine conservatives, fiscal conservatives, are just as appalled by the $12 billion per month on credit being spent on the Iraq war as are liberals and progressives. I think this article supports the claim that Bush isn’t a conservative but a sort of new, world order puppet, selected to sheppard in the start of a U.S. empire in the oil-rich Middle East.
Such a conservative exodus to Obama does not bode well for the GOP’s chances of winning in November.
I can’t figure out who makes up McCain’s base of support?
Are they old, white, pot-bellied white men and angry Hillbots who have gone through the change of life?
Don’t forget the corporatists, taco. They bow down and worship at McSame’s feet.
When he married Cindy he became a part of the club and they all hang out together and go to the same country clubs.
Fiscal conservatives – not to be confused with Bush Republicans, are truly worried about the amount of damage the Iraq war has done to the U.S. economy and the debt we have incurred to Red China. If the bully boys in Beijing called that debt in, the U.S. would slip into a depression and it would likely spell the end of this nation.
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McCain has no base of support. If the Fundies want to cross over, fine, welcome aboard, let’s work on common goals and mutual respect for a change. I’ve got nothing against Ned Flanders, as long as he keeps his blue freakin’ nose outta my bidniz.
The real conservatives used to have some points in common with us: freedom of conscience, respect for the individual, love of the land, belief in the sovereignty of other nations. What ever happened to those guys? Corporatism!
I never saw the political spectrum as a horizontal bar; more like a big circle, with anarchism at three o’clock, authoritarianism at nine o’clock, progressives/democratic socialists at noon, and classic conservatives at 6am.
There’s a constant struggle, with a tendency towards dynamic equilibrium at six or twelve, alternating, if we’re lucky. But if we could work together, we might be able to completely eliminate corporatism/ fascism from the circle. It’s in everybody’s interest. There are no liberal or conservative roads, bridges, schools or hospitals.
Or tomatoes. Obama needs to pick up on this issue. Food safety is everybody’s concern: Except McBush and the corporatistas. Here’s another bumper-sticker for Obama: “Vote Your Conscience.”
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If conservatives reject McCain and embrace Obama in the General Election, that’s fine with me. As long as Obama wins.
Barack Obama has done something refreshing that hearkens back to bi-partisanship in the days of John F. Kennedy: he’s conveyed that he would like to be a president for ALL of us and NOT just for his special little base, or to “get back at those guys.” We’ve had 8 years of this under George Bush and the nation can’t survive another administration who behaves like the mob.
Remember, Obama in his 10 years as a senate legislator (8 in state, 2 in Federal), proved he could reach across the aisle to get things done for the people who elected him. In the 2 years he was in majority in his state senate, he sponsored 780 bills, and 280 of those were signed into law. In his first year as U.S. Senator, Obama held 39 town hall meetings throughout Illinois, and in senate, sponsored 152 bills and resolutions, and cosponsored 427 more.
He has a proven track record on public display of working to reach solutions that all sides can support, or at least accept as well-intended leadership.
The division in Washington DC has to stop. Things are as bad as I’ve ever seen and the bickering on Capitol Hill is only hurting the American people.
If Obama can get a meaning energy bill through and end the subsidies to Big Oil, force them to reinvest their profits in new refineries and fund the search for alternate fuels, that’s enough for me.