USVI-On-Line

I'm so confused just now. I have just seen the daily dose about the American election.

People in Denmark were asked, who they want as a president in USA, and as expected 85% said that they want Obama. Then they were asked, if they thought that Obama was to the left, in the middle or to the right. Nearly all said that Obama was in the middle, which I would have answered too. At last a researcher with special knowledge about USA, should give the correct answer, and the answer was that Obama was to the RIGHT. If we should compare his politic with a party in Denmark,it would be the conservative

And some people here call him a socialist! As I said. I'm really confused now .

Linne

linne-I'll try to respond to your question. In this Country there are roughly 35% on the Right and 35% on the Left, leaving 30% in the middle. Each 4 years the Republicans and Democrats compete for those roughly 30%. Sometimes they move to the left and sometimes they move to the right. But often times you will see one side accuse the other of being Socialist or Fascist. The use of that kind of language appeals to the hard core voters on the side of the party using it.

Because of some remarks Sen. Obama made earlier in the campaign the Republicans began to accuse him of wanting to "spread the wealth around" and subsequently began to call him a Socialist. Those types of attacks also sometimes create fear in the minds of voters who are trying to make a decision. In this case the Republicans are trying to foster that fear.

I hope this has helped you understand the use of the term in this context.

DELETED

linne,
essentially our 'left' is your center (or right!)
our radical left might be closer to your moderate left. at least that is what my Danish friends tell me!

Compared to Europeans, Obama is pretty moderate. Of course, the conservatives here want to portray him as a socialist because Americans tend to be frightened by socialism.

Europe's policies on the whole are much more socialistic then the US. Obama's policy statements are quite socialistic for US standards but I would imagine they would be mainstream by most European standards.

Many in the US do not like the “socialism” label because is has a negative connotation here. It is because of this that many supporters of Obama rile at the notion of his policies are called socialism. But whatever label you want to give it, his visions are about redistribution of wealth and goverment having a much greater role, such as in providing everybody healthcare.

Thank you for the answers. I think it’s correct that you cannot compare the left and right in USA with the left and right in Denmark/Europe, I'm voting for a party, who in a way is to the right, but most of their politic is in the middle. They support our welfare system, but tries to lower the taxes and limit the immigration. The name of the party is very confusing for people outside Denmark.It’s “left”. They are in government together with the conservative. The biggest party to the left is a socialist party, but their politic is not very different from the governments politic, and they often make agreement together about new laws. We also have another socialist party more to the left, but they also sometimes make agreements with the government. Confused??

Our political system is totally different from USA, and when I vote, I’m not only looking at the leader of the party. It’s also very important for me, how the prominent people in the party are.

Here in Denmark it’s not a dirty word to be called socialist, but from the way “socialist” is named together with Obama, I can understand it’s a dirty word in USA. And no people here would be afraid, if a politician says that he wants to share the welfare. Actually I don’t think, I would vote for a party, who wasn’t ready to share the welfare. But it was still a little surprising for me that Obama should be like a Danish conservative, because they are perhaps the most “right” party we have. So it means that a party like the republicans is no- existing in Denmark.

I cannot say for sure how it is in the other European countries. I don’t know enough about that.

I have just seen a programme about the two candidates, their background etc. Both of them seem very competently, but I’m more and more convinced that Obama will be the right man for USA and the world (I have to admit that I supported Hillary before). So I cross my fingers for that the polls are telling the right thing. It’s very exiting.

Linne