What Obama REALLY said about Reagan

There is a bit of disinformation going around the internet that I think needs to be clarified about Obama's sit-down interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal.

I watch the whole interview and Obama NEVER SAID the following:

"When the country was so sick of a blue state president, Carter, Reagan was able to tap into it by being 100% red-state," said Obama. "Reagan knew the electorate was so sick of a blue-state president and blue-state policies, they we're willing to go 100% red. Reagan didn't mince words. He ran on a 100% red-state message. When Reagan won with a 100% red state message, Reagan had a 100% red-state mandate. Reagan knew transformation was all about mandate. Reagan ran a clear red-issue campaign. He never reached out to blue. Reagan was able to bowl over any resistance in Congress because he had a clear 100% red-state mandate. When you have a 100% red-state mandate, no one is surprised by what you do. Reagan, therefore, was able to get all the changes he wanted. Reagan was for those reasons...transformational."

He DID say the following:

I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure.  I think part of what's different are the times.  I do think that for example the 1980 was different.  I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not.  He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it.  I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating.  I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.

Tags: Reagan and Obama (all tags)

Comments

13 Comments

Obama isn't a Democrat

He is a Surrendercrat who advocates selling out to Republicans in the name of bi-partisanship.  He wants his face on coins and he'll roll over for John Boehner and Mitch Connell to get there if he has too.

His "Democrat for a day" nonsense infuriates me.  I want people who want to be Democrats for life.  Not Republicans who want to cross over one day to stick it to Bill Clinton one last time.

by dpANDREWS 2008-01-17 10:12AM | 0 recs
not a dpandycrat

Well, all you're proven is that Obama is not a 'dpAndycrat'. So what. Have a nice life.

We know. All things 'NOT Hillary' are evil.

by JoeCoaster 2008-01-17 11:16AM | 0 recs
Take it that way if you must

But I am not the only one here or elsewhere pointing our Obama's Lieberman like quality of taking loyal Democrats for granted as he steps on them in his rush to shake Republican hands.

by dpANDREWS 2008-01-17 11:28AM | 0 recs
Re: Take it that way if you must

Right there are about ten of you guys.

So Leahy is a republican now, too.

by labor nrrd 2008-01-17 12:25PM | 0 recs
Uhm, no

by dpANDREWS 2008-01-17 12:40PM | 0 recs
Re: What Obama REALLY said about Reagan

You're just making it worse by elaborating on it.

Obama has been making a series of statements recently, and all of them are disparaging of "pre-Obama" Democrats.  He's been attacking regular Democrats for months now.

This is not just one statement that someone is over-interpreting or reading into.  This is a whole pattern of anti-Democratic rants by Obama that has become particularly apparent to us in the past few days, as he amps it up, apparently to try to win over some rednecks in SC and NV and FL.

by enthusiast 2008-01-17 10:29AM | 0 recs
Re: What Obama REALLY said about Reagan

You need to review the entire video interview if you are able. We have been informed that there are edits as well an inaudible portions of the interviewer's questions. The full interview does not lead to the conclusions many have hoped for, the Clinton supporters, I mean.

by shergald 2008-01-17 12:54PM | 0 recs
The real problem is

that you are too stupid to understand what he meant.

That's the problem with you Hillary-bots. You are all as dumb as posts, and Obama is just too complicated for you.

by dataguy 2008-01-17 05:52PM | 0 recs
Re: What Obama REALLY said about Reagan

Where did that quote come from that CBS had?

by Jerome Armstrong 2008-01-17 10:46AM | 0 recs
I do not believe he said it
and I wish he would have said something like that because if he did, he would not be running the post-partisan campaign that he is now running. the fact is this diary is silly as it seeks to refute Obama saying something he SHOULD say and take to heart.
by Big Tent Democrat 2008-01-17 10:55AM | 0 recs
Re: What Obama REALLY said about Reagan

I answered this in your other diary.

by Steve M 2008-01-17 10:58AM | 0 recs
Why Obama likes Reagan

Reagan didn't take running government seriously either.  He napped during meetings.   Maybe Obama is thinking he can take some cat naps too.  After all Obama doesn't think the nuts and bolts day to day stuff is important.  

by dpANDREWS 2008-01-17 11:27AM | 0 recs
Re: What John Edwards REALLY said about Obama

"I would never use Ronald Reagan as an example of change...

"He was openly -- openly -- intolerant of unions and the right to organize. He openly fought against the union and the organized labor movement in this country. He openly did extraordinary damage to the middle class and working people, created a tax structure that favored the very wealthiest Americans and caused the middle class and working people to struggle every single day. The destruction of the environment, you know, eliminating regulation of companies that were polluting and doing extraordinary damage to the environment...

"I can promise you this: This president will never use Ronald Reagan as an example for change."

Well, whaddya know? A REAL Democrat. John Edwards.

Barack Obama is just a pseudo-Democrat, and in fact, he ought to be running as a Republican.

Lambert at Correntewire has Obama's number:

Bush Latte: Obama keeps moving right, cites Reagan's "optimism" and "clarity"
Submitted by lambert on Thu, 2008-01-17 00:36.

http://www.correntewire.com/bush_latte_o bama_keeps_moving_right_cites_reagans_op timism_and_clarity
Well.

Wouldn't it be simpler for Obama just to run on the Republican ticket? They really need a decent candidate over there, and I think Obama is just as adept and far more eloquent than Romney, has better hair, a better baritone--and he doesn't have the funny underwear thing the Mittster has, either. I'd call it a win-win situation.

I think, at this point, we can forget about the biography, and the position papers, and the oratory, stop listening to the music, and start listening to the lyrics.

First came Obama's infamous dogwhistle to the Village that put Social Security in play, a right wing talking point. Then there was calling unions "special interests", a right wing talking point. Then there was tax cuts as a panacea, a right wing talking point. Meanwhile, the Oborg consistently leverage right wing talking points like "trial lawyers" to trash Edwards, not to mention Hillary hatred, all the while explaining what Obama "really means," and airily denying it all. Then there was the trashing of Gore.

And finally we've got the infamous Florida brochure, where Obama encourages Republicans to become "Obamacrats" just for one day to vote for him, and then re-up as Republicans again. (Way to party build, there, guy.) Obama is a highly skilled politician and a Harvard-schooled lawyer. None of this can be accidental.

Read the rest of it, so you know exactly what Lambert said. It might wake you up a little.

by Tennessean 2008-01-17 11:44AM | 0 recs

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