Nixon's liberal legacy and Obama the conservative

I think it's been common knowledge among conservatives that Nixon was a very liberal President, domestically (just as G.W. Bush was).

But apparently it's something of a shock to the left, who just seem to be coming down from Nixon Derangement Syndrome to finally add Nixon to the long list of "Republicans we really like (now that they're dead and out of power)." Kevin Andersen writes wistfully about Nixon in the New York Times.

The column itself is unremarkable:

• Republican Nixon was really a big ol' liberal (and wasn't it great?)


• Modern conservatives are actually unhinged, reckless fanatics


• Obama, "Mr. Transparent and Reasonable" (said unironically!), is "so prudent, straightforward and even-keeled", so full of "nonconfrontational reasonableness," so full of virtuous traits he sucks as a negotiator against those unhinged, reckless fanatics.

But what's really amazing is the comments section. It truly demonstrates that leftists are living on a different planet (emphasis below is mine):

"The tragedy is that [Obama], a true conservative, has taken the whole Democratic Party with him to the right."

Would that were true.

---

"Obama is a Republican in his behavior. The health care law was a boon for pharma and HMOs. Continued futile wars. Broken Guantanamo promise. No tax increase for multimillionaires and billionaires. Fake Wall Street reform. He doesn't cave. He talks a liberal line and walks a conservative one."

Because Republicans were all in favor of that health care law, right? Oh, wait... As for the wars and Guantanamo, I think we on the right put that down to "facing up to reality," and why has the left not gotten wise to the fact that you could confiscate everything the "multimillionaires and billionaires" own and not fund the country through the end of the year? And why would you expect Wall Street Reform from the candidate most in the pocket of Wall Street? Of course, the biggest problem with Wall Street is that the government keeps messing with it. We're beyond fixing the fixes now, we're fixing the fixes of all the fixes and "reforms" that have gone before.

---

"Nixon's dirty tricks, his bigotry, his military escapades, and his Watergate burglars seem positively quaint when measured against the standard of today's Republican leaders. The shocking things Nixon said that were preserved for posterity on the Oval office tape recorder pale in comparison to comments made publicly against Mr. Obama by the current crop of esteemed conservatives."

Obama is a victim! Evil Republicans actually criticize him!

And of course there's the obligatory tea-party and Republican bashing, because, somehow, trying to take a stand against out-of-control spending is just crazy.