Bruce Bartlett: Obama's a Conservative or Something

You really have to wonder what this guy's been sniffing.

Here are a few examples of Obama's effective conservatism:

His stimulus bill was half the size that his advisers thought necessary;

He continued Bush’s war and national security policies without change and even retained Bush’s defense secretary;

He put forward a health plan almost identical to those that had been supported by Republicans such as Mitt Romney in the recent past, pointedly rejecting the single-payer option favored by liberals;

He caved to conservative demands that the Bush tax cuts be extended without getting any quid pro quo whatsoever;

And in the past few weeks he has supported deficit reductions that go far beyond those offered by Republicans.

Really? Obama hasn't offered a single thing to the public other than an endless series of temper tantrums.

It gets loonier. Cue the deranged Paul Krugman.

First, Obama gets no credit for his moderation, and never will. No matter how far right he moves, Republicans will move further right; and nothing he can do will keep them from denouncing him as a radical socialist.

According to these folks to most far-left president in our history is now a radical right-winger or something.

Good grief.

Some comedy gold in the comments.

A postscript: I don't see Obama as a moderate conservative. He's to the right of Reagan, so where does that leave him? Or is it that Obama and Clinton and the Dems have let the whole spectrum be pushed so far to the right that Reagan is now a centrist?