Because the Obama White House has pointed out the obvious (that FOX News acts like the communications arm of the GOP) some mouth-breathers have started claiming that this creation of an “enemies list” is downright Nixonesque.
While this is catnip for the drooling masses it is testimony to how far to the right this nation has moved over the last 40 years that for Obama to be more Nixonesque he’d actually have to move a few steps to the left.
Under Nixon, government benefits like food aid, public assistance, and social security increased, defense spending decreased, he approved the creation of the the Environmental Protection Agency, authorized the Clean Air Act, and established OSHA. Nixon supported the Equal Rights Amendment, signed Title IX into law, and was pro-choice. Nixon ended the war in Viet Nam, was an advocate for universal health care, and direct cash payments to the working poor.
He did a lot of crummy conservative things too (like appointing Rehnquist to the Supreme Court) but it’s difficult to imagine Obama doing the equivalent of creating OSHA or the Environmental Protection Agency today, or advocating for direct cash payments to the impoverished, or appointing a Supreme Court judge as far to the left as Rehnquist was to the right.
In fact, is there any “liberal” policy Obama supports which has not at some time been supported by Republicans of the present or past?
