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A Moderate Manifesto (David Brooks: "Barack Obama is not who we thought he was")
New York Times ^ | March 2, 2009 | DAVID BROOKS

Posted on 03/03/2009 5:02:37 AM PST by publius1

You wouldn’t know it some days, but there are moderates in this country — moderate conservatives, moderate liberals, just plain moderates. We sympathize with a lot of the things that President Obama is trying to do. We like his investments in education and energy innovation. We support health care reform that expands coverage while reducing costs.

But the Obama budget is more than just the sum of its parts. There is, entailed in it, a promiscuous unwillingness to set priorities and accept trade-offs. There is evidence of a party swept up in its own revolutionary fervor — caught up in the self-flattering belief that history has called upon it to solve all problems at once.

So programs are piled on top of each other and we wind up with a gargantuan $3.6 trillion budget. We end up with deficits that, when considered realistically, are $1 trillion a year and stretch as far as the eye can see. We end up with an agenda that is unexceptional in its parts but that, when taken as a whole, represents a social-engineering experiment that is entirely new.

U.S. has never been a society riven by class resentment. Yet the Obama budget is predicated on a class divide. The president issued a read-my-lips pledge that no new burdens will fall on 95 percent of the American people. All the costs will be borne by the rich and all benefits redistributed downward....

The U.S. has traditionally had a relatively limited central government. But federal spending as a share of G.D.P. is zooming from its modern norm of 20 percent to an unacknowledged level somewhere far beyond.

Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Front Page News; Government; Miscellaneous; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bho2009; bho44; charlesfreeman; cravensquish; davidbrooks; democrat; democrats; economy; impeachobama; obama; rinopurge; rinos; squish; vichyrepublicans
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To: abb; syriacus
If David Brooks didn’t know what Obama stood for all his political life, then he (Brooks) is too stupid to have a regular column in a major publication. There is no other possible explanation.

That's a big "if". Much more likely is that he was selected by the NY Slimes because he's a phony conservative who intentionally omits critical information about the far left.

61 posted on 03/03/2009 5:35:40 AM PST by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: wtc911

More like “BO is not the person that we all made him into in our own desires”


62 posted on 03/03/2009 5:35:45 AM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: lakertaker

That these “see-ers” could not grasp what so many others easily saw tells me a great deal about their lack of wisdom. It demostrates that these people merely run with the pack and fear breaching the groupthink that pervades the beltway and the corrupt MSM.


63 posted on 03/03/2009 5:36:04 AM PST by Obadiah (Party - my house - on December 22, 2012!)
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To: abb
-- then he (Brooks) is too stupid to have a regular column in a major publication. --

Hehe -- there is no such thing as "too stupid to have a regular column in a major publication," except for the expectation to generally use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. The substantive requirement is simple -- sell copy. Lie if that's what sells.

64 posted on 03/03/2009 5:37:01 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: stockpirate

When it comes to FUBO, I treat the willfully ignorant (as the author is) the same as those who actively supported him BECAUSE he is a Marxist.

The information was there, they just chose to ignore it.


65 posted on 03/03/2009 5:37:20 AM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: publius1

He’s exactly what I thought he was, however I’ll admit I didn’t think we’d bend over as quickly and as willingly as we have.


66 posted on 03/03/2009 5:37:34 AM PST by bgill
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To: publius1
Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was.

A bunch of naive drooling idiots.

67 posted on 03/03/2009 5:39:57 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The democRATS are near the tipping point.)
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To: publius1

Het Idiot Brooks: Obama may not be who YOU thought he was, but he is EXACTLY what WE tried to tell you he was


68 posted on 03/03/2009 5:40:19 AM PST by Mr. K (physically unable to proofreed (<---oops))
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To: publius1
Barack Obama is not who we thought he was.

This is a statement I fully expect to hear from average rather non-political voters, not from a journalist who makes his living staying informed. Who is he trying to con?

69 posted on 03/03/2009 5:41:23 AM PST by Bearshouse
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To: publius1

Thinking ahead doesn’t seem to be a moderate trait.


70 posted on 03/03/2009 5:42:43 AM PST by Desdemona (Tolerance of grave evil is NOT a Christian virtue. http://www.thekingsmen.us/)
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To: MrB
"BO is not the person that we all made him into in our own desires"

Lol! THERE was the clue all along that he and his agenda stunk! His initials are B.O.! I never thought about that until now. I'm sure some of you did though.

71 posted on 03/03/2009 5:42:50 AM PST by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: publius1
"The only thing more scary than Obama’s experiment is the thought that it might fail and the political power will swing over to a Republican Party that is currently unfit to wield it."

Could David Brooks be any more insulting?

72 posted on 03/03/2009 5:43:13 AM PST by Obadiah (Party - my house - on December 22, 2012!)
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To: publius1

Another “moderate” get runover!


73 posted on 03/03/2009 5:44:37 AM PST by Obadiah (Party - my house - on December 22, 2012!)
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To: downwdims

Love it, too bad we can’t change bears to obama.


74 posted on 03/03/2009 5:47:31 AM PST by sweetiepiezer (I have a Pal in Sarah)
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To: publius1; kabar

As long as Conservatives continue to mock and disparage EVERYONE’s epiphanies that Zero is counter-productive to the country’s best interests, we will continue to sink in quicksand.

EVERY person who admits to any degree of buyer’s remorse, and questions what the Kenyan is doing, is a movement away from the Fraud and towards opposition, even when couched in language that doesnt embrace full-blown Conservatism.

Of course libtards who didnt know who he really was were out to lunch and sucked in by the propaganda machine- that’s the purpose of propaganda.

But when he writes:

“The first task will be to block the excesses of unchecked liberalism...It will be up to moderates to raise the alarms against these ideological outrages.”

we should be happy that some people out there are beginning to GET IT, to WHATEVER extent.

It is easy to see why Cons are not going to win elections when they continue to chastise everyone else who doesnt see things just exactly as they do.

For those who have forgotten: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.


75 posted on 03/03/2009 5:48:25 AM PST by Canedawg (Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.)
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To: publius1

And these are the smartest among us - sheesh.

Brooks must have finally taken a look at the dive his 401K has taken.


76 posted on 03/03/2009 5:50:26 AM PST by randita (Starve the beast - earn as little as you can get by on and spend even less.)
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To: publius1
We support health care reform that expands coverage while reducing costs.

To believe such a thing is to believe in magic or 'divine' intervention.

There is no such thing as magic mr. brooks and emperor bammy teleprompterus is certainly no god.

If this soft headed belief in magical healthcare is what passes for critical thinking in your head, I strongly suggest you and your compatriots consider all other beliefs you hold as also suspect.
77 posted on 03/03/2009 5:50:41 AM PST by Dr.Zoidberg (Warning: Sarcasm/humor is always engaged. Failure to recognize this may lead to misunderstandings.)
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To: Obadiah

I would certainly LOVE to see the GOP wield the power that the democRats have arrogated to themselves. It wouldn’t change many minds on the left, though. In fact it would just affirm to them that the problem wasn’t with the centralized power, but just that the wrong people are in power.

FA Hayek warned SPECIFICALLY of this in Road to Serfdom. Collectivists think the road to Utopia is through central planning and centralized power. They set these central power institutions up, and tear down those that impede centralized power, then along comes Hitler.


78 posted on 03/03/2009 5:51:37 AM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: Dr.Zoidberg

It is a logical extension of their worldview that solutions without tradeoffs actually exist and are achievable with the right people with enough power.

The “short term” difficulties (like authoritarian rule and destruction of freedom, genocide, etc) are “worth it” because in the end, the “solution” will be perfect.


79 posted on 03/03/2009 5:53:42 AM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: publius1

.. them libs, are peelin’ their cute little Zero bumper stickers off by the thousands..........where’s my axe handle?


80 posted on 03/03/2009 5:57:50 AM PST by gitmogrunt (the stupidity of the American people never ceases to amaze me.)
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