Barack Obama: His Cabinet Choices, is He Really Conservative?

The 2008 election proved to be one of epic proportion. Millions tuned in to watch the democratic candidate Barack Obama pummel republican nominee Senator John McCain. Many evangelicals voted for McCain for his conservative views, little did they know Obama shared some of his views. As of now Obama has put conservative democrats and even republicans in to his cabinet. Republicans like Ray LaHood of Illinois to head the Transportation Department and Republican Robert Gates to stay on as defense secretary. Some now speculate that Barack is truly a conservative.

Some of his conservative views include opposition of gay marriage, pro drilling in Alaska, and he stands firm on the right to bear arms. Just stating those three things you most likely would assume a conservative republican, at least I would. Of course President elect Obama has "liberal" views some of which include his views on abortion, the war in Iraq, and economic policy. These things are what set him apart from McCain in the 2008 election. One can argue he leans right or left, but his voting record in 2007 depicted him as the "most liberal Senator", how can this be? Senate proposes, votes, then accepts or rejects bills. It's very possible some conservative ideas that Barack Obama is for, never came up in 2007. In 2007, no bills were proposed on the right to bear arms, but there were many bills on abortion and economic issues (which President elect Obama leans liberal). These two issues alone may have given Ex-Senator Obama his title as "most liberal Senator", maybe if it wasn't such a pivotal year for economics, he would have ended up as the "most moderate Senator" in 2007.

Truth be told Barack Obama is considered a liberal democrat. His recent cabinet choices do include republicans, conservative, and liberal democrats. Some would have expected him to load his cabinet with only liberal democrats, it ended up the exact opposite. The majority of Barack's Cabinet choices are conservative, but why is this? Barack Obama has stated that he wants experience over "political beliefs", according to him he picked the best suited for that position in a non biased fashion. If that's true, then there is no question President elect Obama is a liberal Democrat. I can see where some would start to question his motives with his recent choices in cabinet, but building a experienced diverse cabinet is essential in having a great presidential term.

To sum it all up, Barack Obama is not conservative, although he may have some conservative beliefs, he is still liberal. His choice in cabinet (which leans conservative) can easily be explained by his preference in experience. Although some questionable things have happened, it can all be explained. Are they excuses? We won't really know until his presidency begins, but until then I'm convinced that Barack is telling the truth.