during the 2008 presidential election, the national journal just coincidentally timed the release of their annual reports of most liberal and most conservative senators right before the primaries, revealing that barack obama ranked #1. < sarcasm > pure coincidence, of course… < /sarcasm >

naturally, that headline got a lot of traction, particularly in the midst of the lying and fear-mongering related to rampant reports of him being a muslim, his relationship with jeremiah wright and oh yeah, the fact that he’s a black dude. once the headline hit, it became fuel for the fire of those who wished to paint obama as a radical left-winger.

i, among others, never really bought that. why? among other reasons, it was because we actually used our own ears and brains to listen to what he had to say, rather than forming an opinion based on incredibly biased “news” outlets or mass email forwarding. no doubt, barack obama championed many things that are traditionally democratic platform issues, but to be painted as some foaming-at-the-mouth, raving-mad left-wing commie was absurd.

fast-forward to his presidency over the last year or so. i’m consistently amazed at the people who still cling to this idea that obama is an extreme left-wing radical. his track record, thus far, simply does not back that assertion up. look no further than the healthcare vote. people act like he’s taken our country down the path of radical socialism. you mean the bill that ultimately strengthened the insurance companies? you mean the bill that had absolutely no public option? you mean that bill?

a couple weeks ago on real time with bill maher, his panel had a discussion about this very issue. now, many of you are turning off your brains (and interest) right now because you read the name bill maher. look, i hear you. but have a little bit of an open mind and realize the fact that the things they talk about aren’t some propaganda job, but a decent look at the realities of obama’s presidency. mix in a little short-term political history and they make a compelling case for widespread false thinking towards obama.