Midnight at Noon

Amid all of the ridiculous Obama bashing from the Republican candidates recently, Andrew Sullivan makes an excellent examination of his presidency, revealing why he is not a Socialist and why he is not incompetent as the candidates would have us believe.  He argues that the stimulus was a success, adding 2.4 million jobs, more than Bush created in his entire presidency.  Meanwhile, government jobs have declined 2.6% (more than under Reagan). What happened to Obama massively increasing government?  Furthermore, Obama has lowered taxes for 95% of the population.  He has created $1.4 trillion in new spending , a;though that is more conservative than Bush's $5.07 trillion.  His healthcare program will reduce the deficit, unlike the results of Bush's Prescription Drug Benefit. In terms of foreign policy, Obama has "simply, quietly, relentlessly decimated our real enemies, while winning the broader propaganda war."  Sullivan also discusses why the liberal critiques of Obama are also off the mark, arguing that the President makes pragmatic progress rather than being a "liberal crusader."  Additionally, Sullivan has presented a graph on his blog regarding defense spending which shows the truth in response to the oft-repeated lie that Obama is neglecting the military and slashing funding.

While I can't agree completely with Sullivan, I think the operation in Libya was justified, and I think that Obama does share too many of his predecessors' traits of pro-corporatist policies, he presents a fair look at his accomplishments.  It would seem that the Republicans don't have much in the way of real issues and solutions to base their arguments on.  They are left to spin the truth in a desperate and jealous attempt to advance their ideology against a president that has been more competent than their own party members.