There was a 90 percent top marginal tax rate under President Dwight Eisenhower. Ronald Reagan raised taxes nearly every year he was in office and still managed to quadruple the national debt. Teddy Roosevelt was an anti-business "trust buster" who snatched Yosemite away from private profits. Gerald Ford ended a long pointless war in Vietnam, even though pontificators like Pat Buchanan claim we could have won... eventually. George W. Bush bailed out the banks and the auto industry. I won't even utter the names Herbert Hoover or Richard Nixon (Republicans sure won't).
Historians agree the best Republican president was also the first: Abraham Lincoln. Who's runner-up? Which president has represented Republican values best? Easy. President Barack Obama.
First off - his signature legislative accomplishment was to implement a Republican/Heritage Foundation idea from 1989. Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans reads, "[N]either the federal government nor any state requires all households to protect themselves from the potentially catastrophic costs of a serious accident or illness. Under the Heritage plan, there would be such a requirement... A mandate on households certainly would force those with adequate means to obtain insurance protection."
The Heritage Foundation has since recanted and even filed friend-of-the-court briefs against the mandate. This is only after an alleged Democrat was for it. There's been a pattern of this partisanship before policy since Obama was sworn in.
But if you ignore the misplaced (and often misspelled) vehemence against the first African-American president as a communist/socialist/Marxist/bad "ist" du jour and instead just look at the policy - we have a stellar Republican in the Oval Office.
Obama renewed the Bush tax cuts. Republicans love those tax cuts even more than they love being against something once Obama has signed it. In fact the President hasn't raised taxes at all - just like Republicans say they won't (see: "Read my lips - no new taxes."). The only tax he's raised is on smokers. Obama increased the tax on cigarettes even though he's an admitted (reformed) smoker. But even that is ideal in a Republican hypocrite kind of way (see: too many anti-gay Republicans in gay sex scandals to list).
And on top of the Bush tax cuts, Obama cut even more taxes for 95 percent of Americans.
Plus, he's cut the size of government! Yes. Regardless of all those email forwards your kooky great-aunt sends you from her decades-old AOL account - the public workforce has been reduced under an Obama presidency - therefore "shrinking the size of government." The reason we had no net job growth in August is because the public sector (i.e., the government) lost jobs due to cuts. The private sector gained the exact amount, resulting in a push.
President Obama has managed to quell all anti-war protests and even start a new conflict. That is surely to be the envy of any Republican president who's ever served.
Guantanamo Bay? Still open. Osama bin Laden? Shot in the head.
Talk about getting 98 percent of what they wanted. If the GOP didn't have to change their goal post so Obama could never score in their view - Republicans could be dumping Gatorade on Rush Limbaugh by now.
How about the GOP-despised EPA? You know, that "job-killing" governmental regulatory agency GOP candidates Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Ron Paul all promise will go dark when they become president? That agency's pinko plot for cleaner air estimated to stop tens of thousands of premature deaths? Gone. And guess who said this about it: "I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover." Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)? Maybe Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)? Some tea party speaker at some quarter-full rally somewhere? Who said it? The socialist Nazi radical/current occupant of the White House - Barack Hussein Obama! He's a wonderful Republican.
The right wing says Obama is left of Lenin - in reality he's barely left of Goldwater.
What does this mean? It means we currently have eight GOP candidates running against what's essentially a GOP incumbent. It means we have eight mediocre Republican candidates running against the best Republican president since Lincoln. The safe bet is that a Republican will win the next election.
To be clear, I'm not a Republican - but I have undeniably voted for one.
In the ‘80s there were Reagan Democrats. I'll solve this whole thing by just calling myself an Obama Democrat.
Tina Dupuy is a syndicated columnist and the managing editor of Crooks and Liars. She can be reached at tinadupuy@yahoo.com.
hoopydreams posted at 10:05 am on Fri, Sep 9, 2011.
If he was all white the Tea Party and GOP would be behind him as one of the greatest leaders, but because he's 1/2 black, they will never accept him. Plain and simple.
sockratties posted at 6:04 am on Fri, Sep 9, 2011.
It really doesn't matter what a president accomplishes, it's the House that pays the bills. The president can only set the agenda. The longer the country remains in recession the more the public becomes unhappy with the current administration. The current bickering, stonewalling, posturing, foot-dragging and negative rhetoric that comes out of congress is designed to create dissatisfaction and tilt the vote in favor of the GOP. Unfortunately political ploys are always at expense of the public. Both Democrats and Republicans do it but the Republicans are better at it.
Dale Whiting posted at 9:28 pm on Thu, Sep 8, 2011.
Hey Tina,
I read Obama's books before I voted for him. And most everything he's done in office was what I expected him to do. I agree. He is a decent conservative president.
Cerulean posted at 8:34 pm on Thu, Sep 8, 2011.
Speaking of President Lincoln, it was during his presidency between 1861- 1863 when congress was relieved of the Southern vote that a majority of Republicans were able to pass historic legislation. “The Homestead Act, which promised 160 acres of free public land largely in the West to settlers who agreed to reside on the property for five years or more; the Morrill Act, providing public lands to states for the establishment of land-grant colleges; and the Pacific Railroad Act, which made the construction of a transcontinental railroad possible. The 37th Congress also laid the economic foundation for the Union war effort with the Legal Tender bill, which created a paper money known as “greenbacks.” A comprehensive tax bill was also enacted, establishing the Internal Revenue Bureau in the Department of the Treasury and levying a federal income tax for the first time in American history” (Team of Rivals by D. Kerns Goodwin)
Today Republicans would call these Acts socialist, Marxist or leftist . . . etc.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:52 pm on Thu, Sep 8, 2011.
Maybe we can do a swap ???
3-R.I.N.O.'s ....for .....1-D.I.N.O.
Yup, Folks we wil trade....US SENATOR JON KYL.....US SENATOR JOHN MC CAIN ...AND US CONGRESSMAN JEFF FLAKE....3 Republicans In Name Only....
for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES UNIONS, BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA...a Democrat In Name Only.
Cerulean posted at 3:06 pm on Thu, Sep 8, 2011.
Tina,
Your words are so true, it's sad. [smile]
chatmandu002 posted at 12:06 pm on Thu, Sep 8, 2011.
I getting the feeling you are regretting your vote. What happened to all that hope and change stuff? Like all the openness, transparency, income redistribution and social justice. I'll tell you what happened, the Tea Party.
Stop the deficit spending.
Stop big government.
Let the free market do its thing, make money and jobs.