QUESTION: Would Obama be moved further to the left if congress was 80% democrat?

[uponit7771]

Seems it'd be easier to promote a progressive agenda and work to push congress more to the left than to push the executive branch to the left that has to fight a very center left to moderate congress on almost everything and some times not at all.

Your take?

[NJmaverick]

1. Your question is fundamentally flawed

It should ask if the President would move further to the left if...

[uponit7771]

2. Thx, I do feel he is notably left of center

[zipplewrath]

3. Ha

yeah, right. Center of what?

[NJmaverick]

4. The more Dems the President has in Congress the more of the progressive agenda

he can enact.

[Warpy]

6. Only if they're not New Democrats

who, as we all know, are nothing but Old Eisenhower Republicans.

Unfortunately, the DLC is still powerful enough within the party that these are the main candidates still being proposed.

[NJmaverick]

7. That is only true in some cases. In areas of the nation where liberal Dems

can't get elected, it's still very helpful to elect a moderate Dem over far right Republicans. In areas where liberal Dems can be elected, what you say holds true.

[TheKentuckian]

5. Other: Depends on how many of the Democrats are Republicans

with a D by their names.

Obviously, 80 non-corporate taint licking and non-authoritarian would force him to the left or toward responsible widely beneficial policy since he couldn't even veto them effectively. another 20 or so like the majority of what we have might be a noticeable but still non-transformative shift.

[uponit7771]

11. True, good observation

[leeroysphitz]

8. The more democrats there are in congress the more liberal they ain't. n/t

[gulliver]

9. No, he wouldn't be "moved." Biased questions.

Obama would definitely take more action on the left if he had a bigger Democratic majority in Congress. That is because a bigger majority of Democrats would likely mean a bigger representation for all shades of left.

Obama is more to the left philosophically than the current political leadership mix in the country allows him to be. Your notion that he is somehow fighting left agendas (in your first question) is just incorrect. There seems to be a misconception that, because Obama is President, he should just attempt to enact whatever he wants, in its entirety, all at the same time.

Nothing works that way, of course. You can't always get what you want. (You can quote me.)

Some on the left seem to have have forgotten that the Republicans are their political enemies.

[uponit7771]

12. I put "further" in the question to indicate he's already to the left, he's the most progressive this

...country has had in 30 years imho

[harun]

10. Other: Depends if they were Blue Dogs or Progressives.

If Progressives, yes; Blue Dogs, no.