11 Comments Add your own

• 1. echo4charlie  |  November 5th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

  It’s too early for me (personally) to tell…………………………

• 2. echo4charlie  |  November 5th, 2008 at 5:58 pm

  Wherever we are, we need to get behind President Obama. Not even 24 hours after his election, and this falls onto his plate:

  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5090077.ece

• 3. PeterGunn  |  November 5th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

  Unless reality is thrown out the window

  (And those day’s are over now)

  It’s without a doubt now a “Liberal” Nation, Center Left putting it mildly
  since we elected the most “Librul” member of the Senate by a large margin.

  CoatTails not withstanding on the House and Senate side

• 4. DingDong  |  November 5th, 2008 at 9:09 pm

  Sorry Peter don’t believe that it is a liberal leaning nation. Obama became much more of a centrist during the campaign so he could win. Obama knows what the people want and he played it beautifully.

• 5. DingDong  |  November 5th, 2008 at 9:26 pm

  Also, the other reason I don’t believe the country is left leaning, look at the ballot initiatives. The majority of the outcomes tend to lean to the right.

• 6. Veritas  |  November 5th, 2008 at 11:23 pm

  Pat, did you read through all the venomous blog comments on the page you sent us to? Not sure the “Think Progress” title of the site applies to the less-than-charitable sentiments expressed. In any case, I congratulate Sen. Obama—and the country—for the obvious progress we’ve made in electing a man of color only one generation removed from the days of Jim Crow laws. However, it’s baloney to think that the election alone certifies that the US as a whole is left-leaning—especially if you define “left” as including a pro-abortion stance, societal secularization, public normalization of homosexual lifestyles and expansion of the Great Society—all planks of the Democratic party platform. We know that 95% of a record number of black voters supported Obama, as did a large percentage of new, young voters. That, along with an uncertain economy and a weak Republican candidate, is what tipped the balance toward the Democratic ticket. Here’s one example of how the election-proves-we’re-left argument is simplistic and likely incorrect: How do you explain that 95% of blacks voted for Obama, but 70% of California blacks voted for Prop 8 to sustain heterosexual unions as the standard for marriage? (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3388430/Barack-Obama-may-have-helped-California-Proposition-8-gay-marriage-ban-pass.html) The answer is simple. Most blacks understandably voted for Obama primarily because he is black, even if some might have had concerns about his politics or experience. This is not in the least a racially disparaging remark—just an intuitive observation of our societal situation. The conclusion can only be that most African-Americans and many other Obama supporters are morally conservative, but feel compelled to vote Democrat by tradition, association, or whatever. In other words, don’t confuse political leanings with moral views since, due to many factors, they are not always aligned—and for better or worse, moral issues are what have become the defining elements of “left/liberal” and “right/conservative.”

• 7. Jason C  |  November 6th, 2008 at 3:48 am

  Neither. It’s dead-center or, rather, live-center. The centrists woke up, came out en masse and voted for left and left-center candidates, but that doesn’t make them leftists themselves. It means that they are finally involving themselves in politics because the failures of partisanism has finally reached into their lives deeply enough to stir them out of their complacency. People voted for Change, not from right to left partisanism but for and end of partisanism. Pundits should realize that while the center swings the pendulum it doesn’t ride it.

  The center wants a system that works, a system they can respect, a government that is both effective and legitimate. They hope Obama can do this by taking the best ideas from both sides in an attempt to solve our very real problems that are coming home to roose, instead of merely blaming someone else for the ills that plague us. This may include a few liberal policies, but it may well require some conservative policies as well. We’re not moving towards marxism or socialism, universal healthcare (if we get it, I hope) notwithstanding. People voted for Obama not because they want to move to the left, but because they want the best of both worlds.

  If you ask for proof, I have none. I only have my decent and prescient ability to tap into the zeitgeist.

• 8. Mike Carroll  |  November 6th, 2008 at 8:16 am

  Obama ran as a tax cutter for 95% of the voting public. Hardly a traditional liberal position. The country is still center right and Obama will discover that if he repeats the mistakes of the first 2 years of Clinton’s administration.

• 9. Veritas  |  November 6th, 2008 at 9:33 am

  I completely agree with those who are disgusted and discouraged with partisan politics–on both sides and as often displayed in this blog. It’s rearely productive since the loyalty tends to be to party rather than the people whom they serve. Read George Washington’s farewell address and see his lament over the increasingly party-driven politics and the dangers it presented even then. We’ve taken it to new heights. It is impossible for any party loyalist to support 100% every single platform plank. This forces every voter to compromise regardless of party affiliation, and therefore hold at least one side of their nose when they vote. I only hope the “change” most people voted for is what we all really need, rather than simply a shift from Republican partisanship to Democrat partisanship.

• 10. Craig Knauss  |  November 6th, 2008 at 11:12 pm

  Let’s see. Obama won by a healthy margin of the popular vote, as well as a very lopsided Electoral College vote. The Democrats increased their holdings in the Senate and House at the expense of the Republicans. And Democrats increased their numbers of governors, as well. And this wasn’t just a vote against McCain or Bush. It was also a repudiation of the far right, including the religious right. So is America right of center? Not hardly. It’s pretty much dead center again. Right where it belongs.

• 11. Milton Waddams  |  November 7th, 2008 at 9:57 am

  The \"Religious Right\" is neither.

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