A Liberal in a Centrist’s Clothing

When Barack Obama ran in the primaries against Hillary Clinton, he sported his liberalism.  While running against John McCain in the general election, as most candidates do, he moved toward the center.  Those who reviewed his record in the Illinois State Senate and in the U.S. Senate typically concluded that he is pretty far left of center and left of most Democrats in general.

Now that he has begun to pick his Cabinet and White House Staff, many are finding him to be pragmatic and are claiming that he is the centrist they had hoped he would be.  Others on the liberal left, have been concerned about this supposed centrist attitude.  I have found myself pleasantly surprised by some (certainly not all) of his picks.  But there is a new theory of thought abounding in the Internet News Media and Blogosphere that puts a bit of a different spin on his appointments, i.e., they are an overt cover for his truly liberal agenda.  Here are just a few of the articles that deal with this perspective:

There’s a method to Obama’s madness of continuing Bush’s policies that are designed to bring the war to a peaceful and honorable conclusion, even if Obama is revealing his campaign deceit in the process. This will help create the climate for him to usher in his radical domestic agenda, from a new New Deal (on steroids) to nationalized healthcare to the Fairness Doctrine…      What the Obama Cult Factor Portends

So, while the nation is lulled into thinking that Barack is moving to the center, his minions who are actually carrying the water will be hard-core “progressives” moving the leftist agenda forward largely out of the public’s sight in the mid-level management positions of the government’s sprawling bureaucracy.  Much of the real action will happen behind the scenes in thousands of small decisions and initiatives that will remain nearly invisible until — like the explosion in the number of mother-only families that followed from Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty — the transformation of their cumulative effects begins to emerge…  Buyer’s Remorse on the Left

Peter Beinart, one of the smarter and saner liberals, assuresthose to his left, pulling their hair out that Obama is putting all these “hawks” into national security /foreign policy/defense roles, that they should not worry. Beinart argues that Clinton, and Gates and General Jones will give Obama cover on the right, when he shifts policy on Iraq, Iran and Israel and the Palestinians…    Liberal Tells Liberals not to be Fooled by Obama Appointments

I think it is probably far too early to tell how Obama will actually govern.  It seems likely to me, based on all of the information available regarding his political ideologies prior to being elected President, that his potential pragmatism when faced with the reality of holding the job of the Presidency will not outweigh his liberal leanings.  Of course, given the state of the current economy and increasing tensions throughout the world, we must reserve judgement until the man actually takes office and we see an agenda actually implemented.

Update 3/11/2009

It is clear now that Barack Obama is no pragmatist and that his liberal voting record reflecting his ideologies has come to fruition in exactly how he will govern.   He is a far left ideologue who is taking this country in the exact opposite direction of where the majority of Americans regardless of political affiliation believe she should be headed.  This will lead to the downfall of President Obama, and the fall will be long and hard.