'That one' is no liberal

First, let me say that I am delighted that Barack Obama is the President-designate. He won't be the President-elect until after the electors make it official in January. But this isn't the only mis-identification that is being tossed around.

How often have we heard that Barack Obama is the 'most liberal member of the Senate'? In the dying days of the campaign his opponents even labeled him a 'socialist'. This tag strikes fear in the hearts of most Americans. In reality he is neither a liberal nor a socialist. He is a centrist, probably best described as 'right of centre'. As a London Times journalist posited this past Sunday, Barack Obama is closer to David Cameron (the leader of the Conservative opposition) than Gordon Brown (the Labour Prime Minister). The erroneous tag of liberal/socialist/ communist is part of the fear language that is always carted out by the right when they wish to tar and feather an opponent.

Barack Obama assailed John McCain for not mentioning the 'middle class' during the three debates. I wonder why both candidates failed to mention the poor -whether working or unemployed. No socialist there.

President-designate Obama is proposing a insurance company based health-care system. In other words, he is leaving the health issues of a huge number of Americans in the hands of HMOs and pharmaceutical companies. No socialist there.

Obama's energy plan does move us toward a more renewable energy future. But it fails to nationalise public transportation, make it a priority, and move America toward reliance and utilisation of buses, trains and other forms of mass transit -which saves huge amounts of energy. It is only in the most major of our major cities that public transport is viable. And so, our city streets are clogged with cars which are only carrying a driver and a brief case. No socialist there.

These are only three examples of the centrist positions of Barack Obama. Fortunately, for all of us, the collapse of the world's fundamental economic structures brought Barack Obama into office. But, in these early days of the crisis, unregulated capitalism hasn't been discredited, as much as it has been propped up. Just ask anyone with a 401k how they feel about the massive CEO bonuses and golden parachutes which are still going to be paid.

It is time that liberal and socialist be forever banned from the American political lexicon. You have to go back to Eugene Debs to discover a liberal/socialist who had any political clout. And he isn't honored with any shrines in the nation's capital or a prevalent place on Mt. Rushmore. His memorial is confined to an obscure little house in Terre Haute, Indiana.

No, there won't be a massive swing to the left as some fright wing pundits are claiming. American politics will stay firmly rooted in the centre -and probably 'right centre' at that. The tragedy of this election was that there wasn't the viable choice that was often referred to by both presidential candidates. The election was fought out between the forty yard lines. For me, McCain's naming of Sarah Palin as his running-mate was my primary motivation for backing Barack Obama. My hopes are minimal, and in times like these, limited amounts of hope might be all that we have.