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August 13, 2006

Keep To The Center

At least one pundit thinks that we are misreading Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman last Tuesday.

Lieberman may have lost because of his identification with the war policies of President Bush, but he lost among Democrats and not in a general election. At least one poll shows that as an independent, Lieberman can beat both his Republican and Democratic opponents in November.

Interestingly, he seems to think that we are going to have to go centrist to win the White House in 2008, and uses history as a guide to make his point.

Since the 1972 presidential election, when the George McGovern left wing took control of the party and led the Democrats to a crushing defeat by Richard Nixon, strategists have been trying to patch the basic and enduring schism between those who want the party to be more liberal and those who are moderate centrists -- those who believe the party cannot win a presidential election if it tilts too far to the left.

They succeeded when the party united around centrist Democrats Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1992, both of whom were elected president. But, more frequently, the liberal left (and, for Republicans, the conservative far right) have dominated the debate over who should set the party's political direction, often seeming bent on alienating or punishing those who stand in their way.

A fundamental political reality the Democrats cannot escape is that a large majority of Americans are just center-left or center-right in their voting habits and sentiments. An increasing number of voters feels disenfranchised by the tyranny of extremes that has too often paralyzed our politics, largely due to the gerrymandering of voting districts that keep incumbents in office.

This is a point that is worth remembering as the liberal wing gets some victories in the next couple of months. I know that during my time as a political hack, my eyes were opened wide when I went outside the beltway and the big cities.

It's places like Evansville, Indiana and Napoleonville, Louisiana - not to mention the Chicago suburbs - where we are going to make gains, and they are, if anything, practical people. They don't want to go to far in any direction when it comes to social issues.

I do believe, though, that the war in Iraq has taken a different turn. As thousands of our kids are coming home without hands, arms, or legs - or in caskets - and people don't believe what we are being told about why we are there, being in favor of pulling out has become the centrist position.

I do think its important to be aware of the center. But it's just as important to know where the center is moving as times change.

Posted by Alan at August 13, 2006 07:15 AM