Obama Is A Right-Winger, If We’re In Norway

Posted by | July 9, 2009 18:35 | Filed under: Top Stories



Professor George Lakey of Swarthmore examines the Norwegian view of Obama.  Norway’s political specrum is different than ours and, let’s face it, we’re further to the right as a country than we often acknowledge.


When Norway hit a major financial crisis in the early ’90s (from a real estate bubble and speculating banks), the Norwegians decided against bail-outs. Three of the biggest banks were simply taken by the government, their senior management fired, their stockholders sent packing. The government nursed the seized banks back to health over time while the economy made a quick recovery. The other troubled banks were left to declare bankruptcy or find new capital. Norway’s action sent a clear message to the banks: mismanagement and greed don’t pay. The result is that today its own financial sector is clean and only needs to deal with the impact of other countries’ disasters. Norway’s strategy was very far from Obama’s bank-friendly game plan.


And when oil was discovered, there was no private ownership.  As a result, seacoasts were protected and profits put into a pension fund that shores up Norway’s economy.  There is countrywide support for Norway’s single-payer universal health care system across party lines.  Lakey sums it up:


By contrast, Obama says he backs the failed U.S. private insurance scheme and his team is wobbling on his own modest proposal to add a public option. So I would have to say to thoughtful Republicans: even if you don’t like the Nordic blend of capitalism and socialism, with its virtual abolition of poverty, free university education, and enlightened environmentalism, you’re only confusing the issue when you try to label the President with the “S”-word. You may think his policies are wrong, but in Norway even conservatives would say the Democrats and Obama don’t go nearly far enough.

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Copyright 2009 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

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