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Thom's blog
The Myth of Obama Moving to the Left
The line in right-wing media today is that last night’s State of the Union address is a sign that President Obama is moving to “the left.”
The Washington Examiner, for example, is calling Obama’s speech a “leftward lurch.” The Washington Times, meanwhile, says that it shows that the President is embracing a “left-wing” agenda. And over at The Hill, Dick Morris says that we should now expect President Obama to spend the final years of his presidency “selling his new radical left-wing agenda to America.”
There’s no question that many of the policies President Obama unveiled last night in his State of the Union address are without a doubt solid, progressive policies. Free community college, paid sick leave, a minimum wage - these are all bread and butter Democratic issues, and if they were put into place or expanded, our country and our economy would be a lot more prosperous and equal. But they’re not "left-wing" policies. And that language speaks to a bigger problem we have in this country about describing what's "left-wing" or "right-wing."
The left, the real left, is way more radical than President Obama, or anyone in the Democratic Party, for the matter. The real left wants to nationalize industries and redistribute the means of production so that workers control the entire economy. That’s been the case since Karl Marx first published The Communist Manifesto back in 1848, and it’s still the case now. And, just in case you hadn't noticed - the real left is almost totally absent from American political discourse. The last time I had the president of the Communist Party of the United States on my show, they had fewer than a thousand members.
And contrary to what you might hear over at Fox So-Called News, President Obama is not moving in that direction. He does not want to nationalize all industry and he does not want to redistribute all wealth. All he wants to do is tweak around the edges of an out-of-control jungle-capitalism system and put into place changes that will make our economy and body politic a little fairer for working people.
That’s not left-wing, that’s just common sense, and it’s perfectly in line with the main thrust of this country’s political history. It's totally mainstream, and consistently supported by more than half of America - including people of all parties
-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Greenpeace responds to the State of The Union (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
Green report: Greenpeace responds to the State of The Union- Rick Hind, Greenpeace 
Daily Take: The myth of Obama moving to the left
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Wednesday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: The myth of Obama moving to the left
Quote: "April is the cruellest month" - The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot.
Article: " 16th Amendment. " The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
Article: " Constitution of the United States" Article 2 section 2." ... [The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; ..."
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Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
I'll be talking with America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio about the issues of the day...
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Thom's Poll
Are you satisfied with President Obama's State of the Union address?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
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In tonight’s State of the Union Special, Thom delivers his fourth State of the Union Address and discusses his plan to get America back on track. Joining Thom in the Politics Panel are Jennifer Kerns, Contributor at the Washington Times & The Blaze, Neil Sroka, Communications Director at Democracy for America and Dr. Day Gardner, President of the National Black Pro-Life Union and host to “The Day Report.”
Ian Vandewalker, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice talks about the Citizens United decision five years later and the lasting, harmful impact on our country.
The Koch Primary...
Free Trade Killed the American Middle Class...
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