Today’s WSJ has a letter from a writer in North Carolina who understands that there isn’t a lot of difference between the big government conservatism we endured under Bush II and the big government liberalism we’re enduring under Obama.
Separated at Birth? 43 and 44 Are Close
James Taranto, in “The Difference Between 43 and 44? Not So Much” (op-ed, April 26) points out the similarities in various opinions about President George W. Bush and President Obama.
He could have also shown the similarities in many of their major policy achievements. For example, in health care, Mr. Bush greatly expanded Medicare in ’03 with his Medicare Modernization Act. Mr. Obama completed the federal expansion with ObamaCare in 2010. Mr. Bush expanded federal regulations in 2002 with Sarbanes-Oxley, and Mr. Obama doubled down when he signed Dodd-Frank in 2010. To avert recession, Mr. Bush signed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, and Mr. Obama, of course, took the idea to extremes. Not every policy was similar (taxes), but Mr. Taranto could have asked the same question about the differences in policy as he did the differences in various opinions and polls and had the same answer: “not so much.”
Robert Sargent
Brevard, N.C.
