The short answer: because Reagan was a trojan horse. He was the Stealth Wingnut. He got people to vote for him that would've been appalled by his ideology if he'd run as an ideologue. The man was, when elected, the most conservative president since, oh, Hoover. He might still be, depending on how conservative you think Dubya is. He created a sea-change in the definition of American Government, in a way that still reverbates today. But he didn't run that way.
So, whither Obama?
On the flip.
Look, I'm not going to go find you a bunch of votes and issues stands to prove Obama's progressive bonafides. Because it's been done. It's all over the site here. However, I've been satisfied about his progressive bonafides for some time.
If you're not satisfied he's a progressive, well, then this argument's not going to resonate with you. But go with me, and think of this. We have a progressive, but he's not running on ideology. He's running on "change" and "hope" and all that mushy-mush non-specific stuff.
I say, good. In fact, I say great.
"Reagan Democrats" was, and is, an oxymoron. In fact, so is "Reagan Moderates". And for all the punditry has tried to explain those phenomena in terms of issues, it doesn't fly. It wasn't ever about issues.
It was about personality.
As much as some of us would love to boil down elections to ideology--specifically, ours--it doesn't work that way. Name me the last presidential election that was decided on ideology. Nixon in 72, maybe? For sure, none of the subsequent ones were. We all know the old saw--30% are hardcore Dems, the same are hardcore Repubs, and the other 40 percent are up for grabs.
The up-for-grabs types don't vote ideology. They vote the man. Obama can win them, and he can win them by not getting specific. I have a vision; a vision of hordes of "Obama Republicans" or "Obama Moderates" nodding at his wonderful speeches and marveling at how inspiring he is and filling in his space at the voting booth: and continue to nod and marvel as he enacts the most progressive administration we've seen in 40 years.
The point: just because he talks to Republicans and blathers about 'post-partisanship' doesn't mean he'd vote that way. Reagan didn't vote the way he talked. And, as I said, I'm satisfied that Obama is a progressive.
If he keeps being 'inspirational' and 'oratorial' and plays the muddy middle and not a few Repubs as suckers? YES YES YES!
I've been waiting my whole life for our Reagan. After year upon year upon year of uninspirational policy wonks, I've been waiting for this. It's here. Embrace it. Because we're gonna win, and we're gonna win big, because of it.