[quote=cooprider][quote=gandalf]In traditional discussions of foreign policy, Obama’s positions are what we would term ‘conservative’. [/quote]

I didn’t revisit the now 6 pages of posts to see if this is where I originally found the link so don’t slam me if I’m reposting it.

Obama a conservative? Only if Marx was a catholic priest.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=302137342405551%5B/quote%5D
I read the editorial and it made the point effectively that Obama is a liberal and left leaning.

That is accurate.
That is why the public is voting for him.
Bush has really pushed the public to the left.

The problem in the editorial is that it pulls out a bunch of irrelevant shit (eg: why the influence of his dad who left him before he was 10?).

The other piece that your post addresses is Z’s article. That would be the one which this thread is based on.
It seems that the thrust of that article is that Obama has foreign policy that is mostly rooted in pre-neocon conservatism.
On that front he really has a point. He does draw on Reagan and Bush 41 as inspiration. They are not in his camp but they did have success.

Yes he is left-leaning on domestic stuff. He is not socialist (look at Germany’s system as a comparison) but he does lean more to the left that where we are today on domestic and social issues.

Also, Marx was an atheist Jew (I think…).