The problem for the “Right” is that Obama is a Democrat. Remember how they went after Bill Clinton all eight years? The fact that Obama is a BLACK Democrat really drives them crazy.
Posted by James Faubel on May 8, 2012 at 11:57 AM
There is one flaw with the analysis. Republicans aren’t anti-government, they’re only anti Democrat-government. They love big government when they are in charge of it. I know it has been three years, but surely you haven’t forgotten Bush Jr. already.
Posted by Ayn R. Key on May 9, 2012 at 5:19 PM
One thing for sure is that Obama’s discretionary spending is no different than Bush’s especially if you don’t count military spending. According to an updated <a href = “http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/hist.pdf”>OMB</a> report, from FY2002 (Bush’s first actual budget) to FY2009 (his final budget), non-defense related discretionary spending in inflation adjusted 2005 dollars went from about $429 billion to $513 billion, nearly a 25% increase. Obama’s FY2010 budget for non-defense related discretionary spending was only $585 billion for an increase of only 12%. In FY2011 and beyond each year such spending has been cut, cut, cut and has declined every year. Defense spending, on the other hand, has increased.
The real cause of the deficit is not “big government” (unless its defense and war spending) but rather the recession, tax cuts for the rich and the unfunded wars. I’ve never seen such an easy and obvious truth to accept. The OMB figures are clear and Obama must step and prove what liars and morons these damn GOP charlatans really are. Its the only way forward to November. Whatever Obama’s flaws, and there are many, we can’t have a Republican Administration. It will destroy us all. The Democrats are now the only hope.
Posted by cabdriverinchicago on May 9, 2012 at 8:27 PM
“Obama is . . . the sort of authority figure many on the far-Right are conditioned to respect. But the context is all wrong. The messenger is a black man. The hope he offers is grounded in the possibility that human institutions can be expressions of the common good.”
That’s quite an assertion about those of us on the “far Right”! Got any evidence for it?
Specifically that we are “conditioned” to respect authority? (Yep, home schoolers do that, whereas kids in government schools are encouraged to challenge authority, right?!?)
And we have trouble with black men? Evidence?
And we DON’T see human institutions as “expressions of the common good”? What DO we see them as, then?
Sorry, this analysis is untethered to any sort of reality. The far Right you are discussing exists only in your own mind.
Posted by John McBride on May 10, 2012 at 6:36 AM
you lefties need to get out of your echo chamber. tea party is anti-DC establishment. they don’t hate Obama or anyone else. they are trying to persuade that big govt is a threat to individual liberty and an inferior substitute. we are the richest most tolerant nation on earth bc of this understanding. reagan was effective bc he tapped into something we all know is true, an instinctual, common sense, American understanding that govt should be limited, not least bc our experiences have taught us that it’s effectiveness to address every nuance of life for the “common good” ends in the reverse. big govt is the tail wagging the dog- if liberals valued results over intentions, they would see why many on the right are so “anti” big government. Obama is mocked as “the Messiah” bc religious esp. understand that man is flawed and imperfect, and those that govern are not “hoped” to be the answer for everything. voting for govt to take care of more and more people promotes the problems we are trying to address. opportunity and wealth creation enable individuals to sustain themselves and be part of a healthier society, while reducing the number of citizens who need our collective charity and assistance. liberals need to realize good intentions are not the answer. obama is not hated personally, he’s merely another arrogant, big govt advocate with predictable results.
Posted by jrl7 on May 10, 2012 at 9:07 AM
I Agree with Jon Lovitz, the guy is a f____a_____. He is so full of contempt for America and the hard working taxpayers who made it great. His marxist redistribution policies are anathema to freedom. His Napolitano Gestapo is 10 times worse than Bush on civil liberties. His attorney General Eric Holder is a gun runner to Mexican drug gangs. It will not be enough simply to get rid of Obama in Nov. We have to resolve to eradicate totalitarian socialism from our institutions.
Posted by Rick LaBonte on May 11, 2012 at 4:05 AM
If this article is meant to reinforce the prejudices and biases of your liberal readers then it is a fine piece of propaganda.
However, as an “analysis” of the motives and beliefs of conservatives, it is flat out incorrect, laden with broadbrushed stereotypes and bigoted projection. It carries the exact same intellectual validity as Jerry Falwell’s absurd assertion that Tinky-Winky was brainwashing our children to be gay.
Liberals claim to be the “critical thinkers” in our political world. This piece proves otherwise.
Posted by Dean Wormer on May 11, 2012 at 5:47 AM
Wow, no wonder so many on the Left are messed in the head. If I was fed garbage like this article all my life, I’d be going nuts as well!
FYI:
—It was Michelle Obama that recently said, “This president has brought us out of the dark and into the light.” and that we were “blessed” to have him.
—It was Obama who, in his nomination victory speech stated, “generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children… this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”
—It was a liberal Newsweek editor Evan Thomas who stated, “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”
—It was liberal commentator Chris Matthews who stated, “This is bigger than Kennedy. [Obama] comes along, and he seems to have the answers. This is the New Testament,” as well as, “the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.”
—It was liberal commentator Ezra Klein that affirmed, “Obama’s finest speeches… do not inform. They don’t even really inspire. They elevate. . . . He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh . . . Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves.”
—It was the Daily Kos that mused, “Does it not feel as if some special hand is guiding Obama on his journey, I mean, as he has said, the utter improbability of it all?”
—It was the Left that put up prophetic Obama “HOPE” posters, encouraged children to sing Obama propaganda songs, and wrote Obama children’s books, as if children should somehow be indoctrinated to believe in how good he was.
The Messiah-like images were not the inventions of the Right. They were formed from the words of the Left. It was the Left that pinned all its hopes on this one man, this “Chosen One.” But now, as the man has turned out to be much less of a Savior than they were led to believe, it seems some on the Left wish to shed the Savior talk, and pin it on the Right. How childish.
The Tea Party is not one monolithic band of religious zealots. By and large, they don’t care about Obama’s skin color -it’s usually those on the left who bring it up- if Hillary had won, and were pursuing similar liberal policies, they’d be just as upset at her. Bill Clinton was more appreciated, not because he’s more white, but because he’s less Liberal. Clear it up any?
Posted by Chris Tampe on May 11, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Seems pretty clear that the Tea Party meetings you guys went to are not at the same place where I went…not only was there a little brouhaha about their favorite Nazi flag…(yes!) and not only did a couple of nasty old ranchers tell me about how ‘getting into the citizenship’ of the children of illegal immigrants’...was just a way to open the Contsitutional Amendments, and within twenty years they’d have voting for women tossed out.
That and some of the “Oathkeepers’ Videos ” which seem to this old ex-Green Beret to be subversive and traitorous…certainly turned ME off.
The fact that the old liars weren’t telling their wives and daughters in attendance of their intentions per THEIR voting rights tells me that not all is on the up-and-up.
And anyway, your analysis(?) of what the government is for and what’s off limits…is laughable.
AT one time I and some friends had a device we worked on for 8 years stolen…well, bought under false premises…and reverse engineered.
Do you think I EVER want to go to a system of government where corporations have their thousands of corporate lawyers and I can’t afford even one? You fools will be stupified further and crushed…it would almost be worth it to let you win and have your hellish cruel
way with American civilization, just to live long enough to see you all cry and beg for mercy…to who? your God? his book LIKES slavery, as your T Party compeers informed me. So you fools would do just fine, except you’re all too old and fat to be worth much even to an owner.
You guys. Where’s YOUR birth certificates?
And by the way, the “boys” were universally PO’d about a “n….” President…you’re probably right…T Party isn’t a monolith. It’s a loose movement. But the ones I’ve met don’t seem to be much brighter than rocks.
Posted by Leslie Victor Piper on May 12, 2012 at 6:44 AM
This is great stuff Theo!
A question for me is, which one is more powerful; the tragedian or the comedian?
Posted by Daniel Phelan on May 12, 2012 at 6:55 PM
Theo Anderson makes the classic mistake of confusing the “Tea party” progressives with the “Republican Right”.
Its probably deliberate, no journalist could be this naive.
Posted by nmwander on May 16, 2012 at 10:39 AM
It’s pretty clear why the tighties hated Clinton…he was basically trailer trash who made it to the White House in one generation, his own…while the scions of the four hundred families who fund and run the Reeps and the Teazer-wheezers have been grooming their sons for the Oval Office for generations…it’s a .01 % family sport.
As for why they hate Obama? In spades, of course. THEY have been focusing on the wrong curriculum: anybody who can become president of the most prestigious law school senior class, AND master the art of community ORGANIZING…ie, “What do you want and how can I help you ALL get it…?” is BOUND to organize the people who can boost him to be President.
Just a word to you, Koch. As for tearing DOWN the country, you’re doing fine. If you want a great-grandson to be Prez, you should take another look at the %$&!! you’re training Americans, thru your propaganda machines…to be STUPID about.
I suppose you can’t do any better, though. And maybe you don’t even understand the difference…sorry we have different interests and perhaps levels of understanding here.
Posted by Leslie Victor Piper on May 16, 2012 at 11:13 AM
Reader Comments
The problem for the “Right” is that Obama is a Democrat. Remember how they went after Bill Clinton all eight years? The fact that Obama is a BLACK Democrat really drives them crazy.
Posted by James Faubel on May 8, 2012 at 11:57 AM
There is one flaw with the analysis. Republicans aren’t anti-government, they’re only anti Democrat-government. They love big government when they are in charge of it. I know it has been three years, but surely you haven’t forgotten Bush Jr. already.
Posted by Ayn R. Key on May 9, 2012 at 5:19 PM
One thing for sure is that Obama’s discretionary spending is no different than Bush’s especially if you don’t count military spending. According to an updated <a href = “http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/hist.pdf”>OMB</a> report, from FY2002 (Bush’s first actual budget) to FY2009 (his final budget), non-defense related discretionary spending in inflation adjusted 2005 dollars went from about $429 billion to $513 billion, nearly a 25% increase. Obama’s FY2010 budget for non-defense related discretionary spending was only $585 billion for an increase of only 12%. In FY2011 and beyond each year such spending has been cut, cut, cut and has declined every year. Defense spending, on the other hand, has increased.
The real cause of the deficit is not “big government” (unless its defense and war spending) but rather the recession, tax cuts for the rich and the unfunded wars. I’ve never seen such an easy and obvious truth to accept. The OMB figures are clear and Obama must step and prove what liars and morons these damn GOP charlatans really are. Its the only way forward to November. Whatever Obama’s flaws, and there are many, we can’t have a Republican Administration. It will destroy us all. The Democrats are now the only hope.
Posted by cabdriverinchicago on May 9, 2012 at 8:27 PM
“Obama is . . . the sort of authority figure many on the far-Right are conditioned to respect. But the context is all wrong. The messenger is a black man. The hope he offers is grounded in the possibility that human institutions can be expressions of the common good.”
That’s quite an assertion about those of us on the “far Right”! Got any evidence for it?
Specifically that we are “conditioned” to respect authority? (Yep, home schoolers do that, whereas kids in government schools are encouraged to challenge authority, right?!?)
And we have trouble with black men? Evidence?
And we DON’T see human institutions as “expressions of the common good”? What DO we see them as, then?
Sorry, this analysis is untethered to any sort of reality. The far Right you are discussing exists only in your own mind.
Posted by John McBride on May 10, 2012 at 6:36 AM
you lefties need to get out of your echo chamber. tea party is anti-DC establishment. they don’t hate Obama or anyone else. they are trying to persuade that big govt is a threat to individual liberty and an inferior substitute. we are the richest most tolerant nation on earth bc of this understanding. reagan was effective bc he tapped into something we all know is true, an instinctual, common sense, American understanding that govt should be limited, not least bc our experiences have taught us that it’s effectiveness to address every nuance of life for the “common good” ends in the reverse. big govt is the tail wagging the dog- if liberals valued results over intentions, they would see why many on the right are so “anti” big government. Obama is mocked as “the Messiah” bc religious esp. understand that man is flawed and imperfect, and those that govern are not “hoped” to be the answer for everything. voting for govt to take care of more and more people promotes the problems we are trying to address. opportunity and wealth creation enable individuals to sustain themselves and be part of a healthier society, while reducing the number of citizens who need our collective charity and assistance. liberals need to realize good intentions are not the answer. obama is not hated personally, he’s merely another arrogant, big govt advocate with predictable results.
Posted by jrl7 on May 10, 2012 at 9:07 AM
I Agree with Jon Lovitz, the guy is a f____a_____. He is so full of contempt for America and the hard working taxpayers who made it great. His marxist redistribution policies are anathema to freedom. His Napolitano Gestapo is 10 times worse than Bush on civil liberties. His attorney General Eric Holder is a gun runner to Mexican drug gangs. It will not be enough simply to get rid of Obama in Nov. We have to resolve to eradicate totalitarian socialism from our institutions.
Posted by Rick LaBonte on May 11, 2012 at 4:05 AM
If this article is meant to reinforce the prejudices and biases of your liberal readers then it is a fine piece of propaganda.
However, as an “analysis” of the motives and beliefs of conservatives, it is flat out incorrect, laden with broadbrushed stereotypes and bigoted projection. It carries the exact same intellectual validity as Jerry Falwell’s absurd assertion that Tinky-Winky was brainwashing our children to be gay.
Liberals claim to be the “critical thinkers” in our political world. This piece proves otherwise.
Posted by Dean Wormer on May 11, 2012 at 5:47 AM
Wow, no wonder so many on the Left are messed in the head. If I was fed garbage like this article all my life, I’d be going nuts as well!
FYI:
—It was Michelle Obama that recently said, “This president has brought us out of the dark and into the light.” and that we were “blessed” to have him.
—It was Obama who, in his nomination victory speech stated, “generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children… this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”
—It was a liberal Newsweek editor Evan Thomas who stated, “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”
—It was liberal commentator Chris Matthews who stated, “This is bigger than Kennedy. [Obama] comes along, and he seems to have the answers. This is the New Testament,” as well as, “the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.”
—It was liberal commentator Ezra Klein that affirmed, “Obama’s finest speeches… do not inform. They don’t even really inspire. They elevate. . . . He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh . . . Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves.”
—It was the Daily Kos that mused, “Does it not feel as if some special hand is guiding Obama on his journey, I mean, as he has said, the utter improbability of it all?”
—It was the Left that put up prophetic Obama “HOPE” posters, encouraged children to sing Obama propaganda songs, and wrote Obama children’s books, as if children should somehow be indoctrinated to believe in how good he was.
The Messiah-like images were not the inventions of the Right. They were formed from the words of the Left. It was the Left that pinned all its hopes on this one man, this “Chosen One.” But now, as the man has turned out to be much less of a Savior than they were led to believe, it seems some on the Left wish to shed the Savior talk, and pin it on the Right. How childish.
The Tea Party is not one monolithic band of religious zealots. By and large, they don’t care about Obama’s skin color -it’s usually those on the left who bring it up- if Hillary had won, and were pursuing similar liberal policies, they’d be just as upset at her. Bill Clinton was more appreciated, not because he’s more white, but because he’s less Liberal. Clear it up any?
Posted by Chris Tampe on May 11, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Seems pretty clear that the Tea Party meetings you guys went to are not at the same place where I went…not only was there a little brouhaha about their favorite Nazi flag…(yes!) and not only did a couple of nasty old ranchers tell me about how ‘getting into the citizenship’ of the children of illegal immigrants’...was just a way to open the Contsitutional Amendments, and within twenty years they’d have voting for women tossed out.
That and some of the “Oathkeepers’ Videos ” which seem to this old ex-Green Beret to be subversive and traitorous…certainly turned ME off.
The fact that the old liars weren’t telling their wives and daughters in attendance of their intentions per THEIR voting rights tells me that not all is on the up-and-up.
And anyway, your analysis(?) of what the government is for and what’s off limits…is laughable.
AT one time I and some friends had a device we worked on for 8 years stolen…well, bought under false premises…and reverse engineered.
Do you think I EVER want to go to a system of government where corporations have their thousands of corporate lawyers and I can’t afford even one? You fools will be stupified further and crushed…it would almost be worth it to let you win and have your hellish cruel
way with American civilization, just to live long enough to see you all cry and beg for mercy…to who? your God? his book LIKES slavery, as your T Party compeers informed me. So you fools would do just fine, except you’re all too old and fat to be worth much even to an owner.
You guys. Where’s YOUR birth certificates?
And by the way, the “boys” were universally PO’d about a “n….” President…you’re probably right…T Party isn’t a monolith. It’s a loose movement. But the ones I’ve met don’t seem to be much brighter than rocks.
Posted by Leslie Victor Piper on May 12, 2012 at 6:44 AM
This is great stuff Theo!
A question for me is, which one is more powerful; the tragedian or the comedian?
Posted by Daniel Phelan on May 12, 2012 at 6:55 PM
Theo Anderson makes the classic mistake of confusing the “Tea party” progressives with the “Republican Right”.
Its probably deliberate, no journalist could be this naive.
Posted by nmwander on May 16, 2012 at 10:39 AM
It’s pretty clear why the tighties hated Clinton…he was basically trailer trash who made it to the White House in one generation, his own…while the scions of the four hundred families who fund and run the Reeps and the Teazer-wheezers have been grooming their sons for the Oval Office for generations…it’s a .01 % family sport.
As for why they hate Obama? In spades, of course. THEY have been focusing on the wrong curriculum: anybody who can become president of the most prestigious law school senior class, AND master the art of community ORGANIZING…ie, “What do you want and how can I help you ALL get it…?” is BOUND to organize the people who can boost him to be President.
Just a word to you, Koch. As for tearing DOWN the country, you’re doing fine. If you want a great-grandson to be Prez, you should take another look at the %$&!! you’re training Americans, thru your propaganda machines…to be STUPID about.
I suppose you can’t do any better, though. And maybe you don’t even understand the difference…sorry we have different interests and perhaps levels of understanding here.
Posted by Leslie Victor Piper on May 16, 2012 at 11:13 AM