The Center Has Drifted to the Left

[draft_mario_cuomo]

==By E. J. Dionne

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Why can't the left get any respect?

Whenever you use the word "left" in American politics, you feel almost compelled to add quotation marks. Today's left is not talking about nationalizing industry, abolishing capitalism or destroying the rich. What passes for "left" in American politics is quite moderate by historical standards.==

==This approach is about abstractions, not concrete political problems, and it misses the dynamic in American public life, which is the move away from the right and a discrediting of the conservative era. The political "center" of today is not where the "center" was even five years ago.==

==It's like that on a lot of issues. Just a few years ago, the prevailing view held that national action for universal health insurance coverage was politically impossible. Now, pressure for comprehensive health-care reform is broad and deep, arising from major businesses as well as traditional liberal bastions. When two leading Republicans, former governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, decide to embrace comprehensive health insurance coverage for their own states, it's clear the winds are changing.==

==The most important sign that the center has shifted left (or, if you prefer, away from the right) is the behavior of Republican politicians who are thinking about their prospects beyond the Bush years.==

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/the_center_has_drifted_to_the.html

[nickgutierrez]

1. Good concept, bad headline

The center isn't drifting to the left - it's spent the better part of the past decade shifting significantly to the right, and only now is it starting to find its bearings again. Slowly but surely, the center is moving toward an actual center, but it's not there yet, and it certainly isn't to the left of it.

[Forkboy]

2. Bingo

[draft_mario_cuomo]

3. Good points, I agree nt

[CreekDog]

4. I think it's drifing to the left

and I agree that it's drifting back after moving rightward for 20 some years. But over the past few years, I think it's moved farther left than in my lifetime.

One hopes that the government will follow.

I do know that Nancy Pelosi is very liberal, I wish she could pass all the stuff she's wanted to pass over the years, but then there's the Republicans, the President and the Blue Dogs to contend with. Oh, and the Senate.

[Totally Committed]

5. This Party has been triangulated so far to the RIght, it only SEEMS that way....

I think we are making baby steps back to our real roots, to be honest. Enough people are finally disgusted with being in a Party that has become, esentially, Repunlican Lite that they are rebelling. I can only see this as a goos thing, and would like to see it happen quickly -- like a polar shift that would upend our political apathy, and get back on the correct path, but, that's only wishful thinking.

TC

[Perry Logan]

6. America is racing to the left!

Drifting? That's like calling a tsunami "moisture"!

Look around. After six years of mind-boggling Republican screw-ups, global warming and health-care are suddenly back on the table. Congress has passed the first gun control legislation in over a decade. A woman and an African American both have excellent shots at becoming the first elected President of the 21st century.

That's a helluva drift to the left. And it's not about to end: the young voters of today are the most Democratic generation ever--even more Democratic than the youngest voting generations of the New Deal and the 1960s.

So fasten your safety belts and prepare for some more high-speed "drifting"!

[ShortnFiery]

7. Whaat?

Your rationale is so full of holes I don't know where to begin.

No, our country is not going left or right but GREEN. Not that one but that almighty MEAN GREEN.

Yeah, Bay Buchanan, Elizabeth Dole, J.C. Watts, Condi Rice and Alan Keys are real examples of Leftward Drifts. :crazy:

America has become a combination of a Mega-Corporation that disdains all things remotely associated with "The Feminine."

Our bloated big bad empire goes tear assing around the world looking to either sell armaments or the JOY of blowing up shit ourselves. :thumbsdown:

Leftward Drift? Bullshit! We're a disgustingly corporate loving wannabe empire.

As such, the Democratic Party has also FULLY signed on to the corporate mantle with a few notable exceptions seated on "the second tier" of Presidential Candidates.

Democratic Party Moving Left? No, thanks to the M$M and the DLC. :(

[dionysus]

8. good post

[OHdem10]

9. Correction Please. We Have Not Seen Center in Years

I am aware the Beltway Crowd is out of touch but I had had
hopes for EJDionne.

We have been operating a Center Right Government--Center Right.
This is why the country says We are going in the wrong Direction.
Joe Sixpack realizes there is something bad wrong in our country
and may not be able to articulate it in Left-Right Terms, but
he knows it is wrong.

Over the last year and a half pundits, commentators have openly
stated we are a Center Right Goverment.

Tom DeLay took time out to explain it step by step on such shows
as C. Matthews and C Rose. These two come to mind right off the
top of my head.

We have not seen center in years. If there is any movement
as described by Dionne, there may be a creeping toward the center.
We are not yet at Center. --Forget Left for new.

This is why we need to get some real Dems in Senate.