Obama is afraid to Stick his socialism straight up just as the Republican Party wont stick Conservatism straight up.
Everyone just caters to this Mushy so called Middle, The Idiots who are to cowardly to take a stand until someone else tells them where to stand
the way to the middle is for conservatives to rename themselves pragmatists while retaining the pragmatic values of conservatism. If communists can continually rename themselves and co opt the term liberal which in the classical sense it’s what most today’s conservatives are, then we should use the same tool. Perception is reality in politics and we have allowed the left to rename us and define us. It’s time to take the bull by the horns and start redefining ourselves. After all who is against pragmatic approaches? Nothing that is advocated by the left can be dubbed pragmatic. Envious? Jealous? Emotional? anything but pragmatic.
Too many of them - all on the left and an annoying chunk on the right - redefine the objective terms ( like Conservatism or Socialism) to fit their needs. That’s not how it works. The terms are objective and static. They do not change. Conservatism is what it is. Socialism is what it is.
Politicians who govern in conservative manner are conservatives. Politicians who govern in a socialst manner are socialists. When they vote opposite what they say they are (i.e. When Snow or Collins vote for TARP) they do not change the definition of what a Conservative is. They have abandondoned conservatism.
The problem we have is that they still cling to the mantle even when their actions say otherwise. And in a soundbite on the nightly news, the newscaster might say “Leading conservative republican George Voinovich agreed to vote in favor of the Stimulus package”. That happens alot and it’s wrong. If a politician is governing away from conservative principles then that politician is no longer a conservative.