What is Progressive? What is Liberal, Moderate, Conservative, Radical

 

by Bob Randall

Guest Blogger

(Editor' Note:  Good friend, Ranger Bob, is back with another opinion piece for The Ramble.  Bob has been absent - and sorely missed - from this blog for awhile, but yesterday he submitted four essays for publication.   They will run over the next few days.  Today's posting is in response to a piece that I wrote a few weeks back which offered support for Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City.  Bob had replied that Democratic candidates would be wise not to back Mamdani because he would be seen as a radical and drag them down.  In an email back to Bob I noted that Obama had also been seen as a radical and cited some things that he accomplished in his administration.   This piece is a response to that statement.  I believe that we both remain steadfast in our earlier views, but true friendship prevails over political differences.  It's always a treat to be able to share my friend's words of wisdom. - Pa Rock)

I'm to the left of Ted Cruz. If you're reading this on Pa Rock's Ramble (and you are) you have to be left of Ted Cruz, too. I'm to the right of Bernie Sanders. I could be liberal or conservative with those choices. Is a Democrat liberal and a Republican conservative? As a general rule of thumb, yes. If a Democrat supports climate change but generally backs police, is that person a moderate? What if someone owns a firearm or two but supports background checks, gun training, and limited magazines? What if a Republican supports trans-rights including marriage, job protection, housing rights, pronoun preferences, but just doesn't accept that sex is a continuum? So who gets to decide where you are on the political spectrum? The answer is that everybody does that and none of their opinions matter except mine.

Remember, we're not talking about looking back at history as a whole, we're looking back at issues in their respective timelines. Obama Care was not marketed as social medicine by Obama during the 2008 campaign. It's only by looking back from 2025 that one can say that Obama Care was progressive. A quick ask of AI came up with this response: "The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, is generally considered to be a product of liberal policy goals but is arguably not fully progressive in its scope or approach to healthcare reform." Good ol' AI.

During the 2008 campaign, Obama did not propose a Medicare-for-all type of system. According to Commonwealth Fund, Obama's plan "... would encourage the continuing participation of employers in the health insurance system, expand eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and create a new insurance market "exchange"—with consumer protections, choice of public and private health plans, and income-based premium subsidies—that would largely replace the individual market." None of that sounds like socialized medicine and was controversial primarily to big money interests, not so much the voters. The ACA was not an issue during the election. Remember that we're talking about electability. Not Mamdani's electability, but Democrat victories across the board. 
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2008/oct/2008-presidential-candidates-health-reform-proposals-choices

Gay Marriage: NBC News 
"Since stepping on to the national stage in 2004 when he ran for the Senate in Illinois, Barack Obama has shifted his views on whether same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry. “My feelings about this are constantly evolving,” Obama said about same-sex marriage in December of 2010.  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/evolution-obamas-stance-gay-marriage-flna763350  Looking back from 2025, Obama wasn't a progressive on that subject, now, was he?

A visit to Cuba? Yes, he did that but not until March of 2016. He had already been elected to his second term, actually it was nearly over. He wasn't elected despite his controversial visit, he was elected prior to that visit. The Cold War ended in 1991, 25ish years before B.O. had a chance to smoke a Cuban cigar. The general public didn't care.

I don't see a clear comparison between Obama and Mamdani. I'll take it a step further. Mamdani is starting off with a very radical progressive agenda. Obama never reached that level of radicality. 

Mamdani will not be the next Obama. He will drag the Dems down.