How Partisanship Hurts Conservatism

Written By: Jack Hunter  |  Posted: Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Obama-loving liberals are goofy. Despite their once fierce - and warranted - hatred for George W. Bush, Democrats now make every excuse in the book for a president who behaves just like him. Obama first burst on the national scene promising to reverse the Bush policies most unpopular with the Left - quagmire wars, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, torture - yet he has not only continued each, but expanded them. Leftist Noam Chomsky noted, at the beginning of this president's first term, "As Obama came into office, [former Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice predicted he would follow the policies of Bush's second term, and that is pretty much what happened, apart from a different rhetorical style." Obama Democrats continue to confuse that style for substantive difference, exemplifying the same sort of mindless partisanship that characterized the Bush Republicans they once abhorred.

Mistaking style, or mere surface differences, for substance is by no means exclusive to the Left. When Michelle Obama took a trip to Spain recently, a man called in to the radio station where I'm employed to voice his anger over it. Puzzled by the caller's rage, I sort of dismissed him, only to learn that talk host Rush Limbaugh had also harshly criticized the first lady for the same reason. Standing in a restaurant later that day, I overheard a group of old men having a political discussion. "Barack Hussein Obama, " said one man, repeatedly. Another declared, "If the Republicans don't win the next election, there's going to be riots."

Sign into your account to read the rest of this article. »