You know Bruce Bartlett, don’t you? He was a domestic policy adviser (he worked under Gary Bauer of all people) to President Reagan, and deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury under both Reagan and Poppy Bush. Fairly conservative credentials, if not quite at the level of Tea Party radicalism. In short, Paul Krugman he is not. So you might be surprised to learn that Bartlett considers Obama an essentially a conservative president. In fact, his latest column in the Fiscal Times (hardly a “Professional Left” rag) is titled: The Democrats Richard Nixon.

Liberals hoped that Obama would overturn conservative policies and launch a new era of government activism. Although Republicans routinely accuse him of being a socialist, an honest examination of his presidency must conclude that he has in fact been moderately conservative to exactly the same degree that Nixon was moderately liberal.

Here are a few examples of Obama’s effective conservatism:

  1. His stimulus bill was half the size that his advisers thought necessary;
  2. He continued Bush’s war and national security policies without change and even retained Bush’s defense secretary;
  3. He put forward a health plan almost identical to those that had been supported by Republicans such as Mitt Romney in the recent past, pointedly rejecting the single-payer option favored by liberals;
  4. He caved to conservative demands that the Bush tax cuts be extended without getting any quid pro quo whatsoever;
  5. And in the past few weeks he has supported deficit reductions that go far beyond those offered by Republicans.

Now it’s no surprise that Paul Krugman thinks Obama has been far too conservative a President at a time when we needed, in Krugman’s opinion, a far more liberal one. People here either regularly applaud or attack Krugman for making this very argument. But Bartlett, a man who supported supply side economics during the Reagan years has come to the very same conclusion as Krugman. Indeed, if you read his column you may note that he considers Eisenhower as more liberal than either Obama or Clinton, the last two Democratic Presidents.

Yet all too often, when people criticize President Obama for behaving as a conservative (and in my mind deeds do trump words) they are labeled members of the “Professional Left” or Obama haters or people who will desert the Democratic party or just plain stupid evil Green Party loving, Naderites. Well I have news for you. Not every criticism of Obama comes from one of the mythical “Professional Left.” For the most part they come from people like me who have voted a Democratic straight ticket most of their lives, who voted for Obama in 2008 and will vote for him again in 2012.

We aren’t the problem. The problem is that Republicans are more likely to win, if not the Presidency, a majority in the Senate and House next year if Obama is seen as behaving as a conservative, especially one that proposes weakening Medicare and Social Security. Why do you think that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are upset with Obama? After all the work that made the general public (i.e, those not obsessed with politics) view the Republicans as the party that wants to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare (thank-you Paul Ryan), thus strengthening Democratic chances to reclaim the House and retain control of the Senate, President Obama over the last few weeks has damaged that advantage by talking about his willingness to — weaken Social Security and Medicare.

Will I vote for Obama in 2012. Yes. I’m not the problem, nor are the majority of Democrats, liberals and progressives at this site who criticize President Obama when he behaves as a conservative, as Bruce Bartlett has documented. The problem is how do we sell the Democrats as the defenders of our social safety net to Independents and other low information voters if Obama himself has already publicly come out in favor of cuts to those programs? How do we energize the coalition who supported the President and Democrats in 2008? How do we overcome the attacks that we know the Republicans and conservatives are already planning to paint Democrats as the party that will destroy Social Security and Medicare? You know they will.

So get off your high horse, all of you so quick to label critics of the President as the “Professional Left.” There is no “professional left” in this country, except for perhaps the unions whose membership is under constant attack. I’m certainly not one. No one pays me a dime to post at this site. What I am is a concerned citizen, who views president Obama’s actions as more worthy of attention than his rhetoric.

I am a concerned citizen who fears that any “Grand Bargain” that President Obama cuts with Boehner will hurt my future benefits and the benefits of my children.

I am a concerned citizen who fears that the Democratic party may be irreparably harmed if it is seen has having abandoned its core principles of defending Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the rest of our social safety net (h/t Digby).

If conservatives such as Bartlett are calling Obama a conservative based on his actions, who are you to criticize people agreeing with him? Who are you to demonize critics of Obama as “the Professional Left” which is a right wing meme by the way. You hear it on Fox News every day along with other lies like the “liberal media” and the charge that Demcorats, including Obama, are radical socialists.

If you want to defend Obama do it by convincing me his actions are for the best, don’t do it by ad hominem attacks on anyone who criticizes him. You do us all a disservice when you employ right wing, conservative memes and phony talking points against us. We aren’t the bad guys you should be looking for. Even Bruce Bartlett, professional conservative, could tell you that.