President Obama, Demopublican

President Obama's signal accomplishments could easily have been signed into law by a moderate Republican.

The corporate Mainstream Media depends on ideological differences to generate "news" and advertising revenues, and the Status Quo depends on ideological differences to generate fear "of the other side" and enthusiasm "for our side."

As the 2012 election season kicks off in earnest, we have to ask: exactly what is the difference between President Obama's actual policies and those of centerist Republicans?

The president recently highlighted three centerpiece accomplishments of his supposedly rabidly Democratic administration:

1. Ending the war in Iraq

2. Ending the Armed Forces' policy of "don't ask, don't tell"

3. Passing sickcare reform, oops, I mean "healthcare" reform

If we examine these supposedly tremendous accomplishments, we find that moderate Republicans were equally capable of passing such lukewarm reforms. The war in Iraq was deeply unpopular, acceptance of gays is increasingly mainstream, and healthcare reform had been on everyone's agenda for years.

Anyone with the slightest grasp of American history could find equally "liberal" accomplishments in the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and even George Bush 1. Indeed, it could easily be argued that Obama ended the war far later than a moderate Republican might have, and that he caved into the sickcare Status Quo to such a degree that his "reform" essentially accomplishes nothing.

The hundreds of pages of reform boil down to a super-committee that is supposedly going to set prices and practices lower in the future. Meanwhile the program is at least 40% waste and fraud and continues growing at multiples of the underlying economy and tax revenues.

By any measure, this "reform" simply confirms the healthcare cartels remain firmly in charge.

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