Posted on 09/12/2010 7:47:02 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Orszag: Obama “not a socialist”
Former Director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag told Fareed Zakaria on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that President Barack Obama’s critics are wrong to say that he has a socialist economic philosophy.
“President Obama is not a socialist,” Orszag said. The label reflects a “yearning for pragmatic solutions to the problems that we face. And socialist just -- I mean, again, it just does not fit.”
Orszag said that given the actions that the Obama administration has taken to deal with the economic crisis, labeling Obama as a socialist is misguided.
“One would think that a socialist would be all in favor of jumping at the opportunity to nationalize banks,” Orszag said. “He has maintained the basic structure of our capitalist system despite the fact that we have gone through a very dramatic period.”
The very fact that this is a topic of discussion speaks volumes. If it walks like a duck....
where’s the “like” button?
I agree he’s a fascist. He wants the government to pick the winners and losers in the economy. i e the GM bondholders got screwed and car dealers who supported Dems stayed in business while those that supported Republicans were shut down. He wants the taxpayers to prop up “green” companies while trying to drive other energy companies out of business.
If a Leftist says it, it MUST be the truth. That’s the way they and Big Media think.
Yeah, fascist was the first term I thought of too.
—where’s the “like” button?—
Not the first time this has been suggested...
A great idea, and could be easily implemented
If Jim could do it without crashing the server
I’ll take “Fascist” for $200., Alex....
And Bears don’t **** in the woods.
He wouldn’t be addressing this in an open manner if the DNC brand were not feeling the heat that people certainly DO think this.
Baghdad Bob would have more credibility than Orzag when it comes to this topic.
So he doesn't want to actually own industries, he just wants to tell them what to do.
You're right, that's not socialism, it's fascism.
But it's a fascism that lacks even the somewhat-redeeming patriotism of the original.
Actually - like many liberal republicans and most off of the democrats he’s a “Regulatory Socialist.” Meaning he may not think that the government needs to own everything - but the government can and should regulate almost everything.
Peter Orszag lies like a rug!
Hussein is a statist and collectivist.
Great post!
BUMP for excellence in freeping.
I guess Obama got the memo from Fidel:
Communism doesn’t work
Orszag has to remember to keep that toupee of his on in the hot sun- he’s fried what brains he has.
I thought this clown set sail already.
Technically, that last is really more the Fascist model than it is Communist/Socialist. Of course, the Left has so abused the meaning of "Fascist" over the last 65 years that you get really weird and vehement reactions on this assessment from many (mostly those on the Left). Nevertheless, for those who have informed themselves on the political and economic history, it is true.
There is a Hayek quote that applies here, that I keep on my FR profile page:
Although our modern socialists' promise of greater freedom is genuine and sincere, in recent years observer after observer has been impressed by the unforeseen consequences of socialism, the extraordinary similarity in many respects of the conditions under "communism" and "fascism." As the writer Peter Drucker expressed it in 1939, "the complete collapse of the belief in the attainability of freedom and equality through Marxism has forced Russia to travel the same road toward a totalitarian society of un-freedom and inequality which Germany has been following. Not that communism and fascism are essentially the same. Fascism is the stage reached after communism has proved an illusion, and it has proved as much an illusion in Russia as in pre-Hitler Germany."The point to that is that there isn't a nickel's difference between the various forms of Statists, and Obama is just using all the various techniques of Statism as he can depending on the opportunity and situation of the moment.
No less significant is the intellectual outlook of the rank and file in the communist and fascist movements in Germany before 1933. The relative ease with which a young communist could be converted into a Nazi or vice versa was well known, best of all to the propagandists of the two parties. The communists and Nazis clashed more frequently with each other than with other parties simply because they competed for the same type of mind and reserved for each other the hatred of the heretic. Their practice showed how closely they are related. To both, the real enemy, the man with whom they had nothing in common, was the liberal of the old type. While to the Nazi the communist and to the communist the Nazi, and to both the socialist, are potential recruits made of the right timber, they both know that there can be no compromise between them and those who really believe in individual freedom.
-- F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
Peter’s right - he’s not a socialist. He’s a Marxist.
Hussein is a tyrant in the making wanting ultimate power to vest in his new Cordoba House @ 1600 Pennslyvania Ave...
.....ever wonder why zero is popular with the muslims?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2585916/posts?page=27#27
That makes me feel sooooooo much better...........NOT.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.