If Barack Obama Were a Republican, Would He Win?

With his trademark eloquence and depth, Gnade once again taps into and confronts the zeitgeist.

Obama as a Republican–now there’s an interesting thought. In fact, one wonders, really, how much different his views would be from a moderate Republican like, say, Colin Powell. I shook Colin Powell’s hand in 1994 and I thought, Hopefully, I just shook the hand of the next President of the United States. Sadly, I had not.

If Obama were to somehow survive the gauntlet of the conservative elements of the party and become the Republican nominee, would evangelicals stay home on election day? And if they did, would he still be elected anyway?

Maybe. Your thoughts?

Oh well, an interesting conjecture, but it is what it is–first he must face the steely teeth of Team Clinton. Audacious Hope vs. Old Timey Cynicism.

I wish him the best with that. I really do.

11 Comments

  1. Jeff Slater

    I find THIS rather troubling…..

    (no, it’s not the only issue I think important. It is just very troubling to me)

  2. JRB

    JS, not to say that the article to which you link is not troubling and not to diminish the issue, but that particular post was awfully written and not persusasive. It stacks a lot of innuendo and leaps of logic to carry its conclusion, and we certainly should not rely on the reporting it claims. He says that Obama “mischaracterized” his own position, which is hard to do, then sets out to characterize it himself. It smacks of prooftexting.

  3. Mike the Eyeguy

    Jeff, I don’t agree with Barack Obama on every particular of his abortion stance. However, as important an issue as it may be, I don’t consider the absolute cessation of abortion via legislation The Greatest Need of the Hour.

    And it was the same in 1994 when I shook General Powell’s hand.

    As for the article, well, it is an opinion piece, and I’m left wondering if there might be some pieces of information relating to Illinois legislative procedure that the author left out in order to paint his portrait of Obama as “The Most Pro-Abortion Candidate Ever.”

    Quite a claim, don’t you think?

  4. Jeff Slater

    I agree with both of you. And as I said, it is not the only issue I’m concerned about. But I do find it very troubling.

  5. JRB

    JS and MTEG, here is the pertinent Obama website:

    http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/womenissues.

    I think we all are pro-life and that no politician is “pro-abortion.” I also do not think that overturning Roe V. Wade would have much effect on national abortion policy, and I also do not think that criminal prohibition addresses the problem. I do not know if Obama agrees with that or not, but I do very strongly believe that every single other issue he lists on this page would have a positive effect in reducing abortions. Increase birth control access and education, increasing support in health care, employment, etc. for single moms and the other economic and justice issues all would reduce abortions, more systemically and more realistically. In fact, I wonder whether the economic and social policies promoted by the “pro-choice” Dems would not have a much bigger and realistic effect of reducing abortion rates than the rest of the loud-speaking, do-nothing “pro-life” GOPs.

    For what it’s worth. . .

  6. Mike the Eyeguy

    That link doesn’t seem to be working. Try again?

  7. tarwater

    “I don’t consider the absolute cessation of abortion via legislation The Greatest Need of the Hour”

    Could you elaborate on this?

  8. JRB

    women.barackobama.com. Follow the links to “Learn.”

  9. Mike the Eyeguy

    Thanks, JRB.

    tw, I’m referring to the outright criminalization of abortion under all circumstances which some voters see as the sine qua non of the current political landscape. Perhaps that is a better way of phrasing what I intended to say.

    Of course, with public opinion polls showing a very low percentage of Americans who actually favor such a move, that seems unlikely even if Roe v. Wade is eventually overturned.

    And yet, the rate of abortions continues to fall–thank God.

  10. tarwater

    Can I ask a question, I do not mean it as rhetorical either.

    When is an unborn child a human being?

  11. Mike the Eyeguy

    You may certainly ask the question. And I, as the proprietor of this joint, may decline to answer.

    But I will talk with you about it at lunch! 🙂

Comments are closed.