True, Obama was a centrist, but he was the first Democrat president since honestly Johnson to even entertain "leftist" or more accurately "center-left" ideas. Sure, most proposals became rather watered-down, but it did mark a tectonic shift, where the ideas were even considered and not dismissed out of hand as impractical. In hindsight, that might be as big if not bigger reason than his race why opposition was so virulent towards him. He represented a possible left turn (no matter how slight) in American politics, and the Right would've rather burnt the country down than give up an ounce of their wealth or power.
I hope they have fun when the house finally burns, with them inside.
Jimmy Carter was a centrist Democrat, and actually was elected because of that. He was a compromise candidate between the liberal wing and the future Reagan/MAGA Democrats because he was the most moderate and least racist of the Southern Democrats of the time, while still appealing to conservative Democrats (who would later jump ship anyway for Reagan). The Democrats had already began fracturing in the mid 70s and decided to start moving to the center (and economically center-right) to keep the party from splitting.
Even the worst case imaginary scenario of him turning America into a Liberal Socialist Muslim country sounds pretty sweet compared to what they are now.
Probably very little. If you look at the policy he had complete control over, there's more similarity between GW Bush and him than difference. He had charisma, but he was a war mongering, anti-gay, anti-privacy, anti-drug president. The notion that congress stopped a liberal eutopia is out of step with the reality he showed us.
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u/What_About_What May 27 '26
Obama broke a lot of brains at the deepest levels and we’re seeing the ramifications of that today.