re: #278 Rightwingconspirator

You conclude that despite a Democratic President and his party in a majority of both houses. Huh. Gotta think about an issue driven spectrum rather than power structure spectrum.

I would argue that the policies of the Democratic Party are hardly leftist. In health care reform, they went for an odd combination of mild fixes, rather than single-payer or even a national health service. They generally tried to leave the private health insurance system in place. On climate change, they go for cap-and-trade, rather than draconian restrictions on industry. Even in bailing out corporations during the worst of the downturn, they were careful to keep the organizations largely private, minimizing elements of nationalization. Truly leftist policies would be far different.

In the main, the policies of the current administration are more similar to those of the previous administration than different, but for those where an element of Religious Right purity crept into GW Bush administration, such as the abortion gag rule and gay rights.

Looked at along a left/right spectrum, the domestic policies of the Obama administration are, more often than not, about in line with those of the Nixon administration. (Imagine trying to pass the Clean Water Act in today’s Washington.) The political center in Washington, if not in the population in general, has shifted notably rightward in the last 40 years.