It's too bad Senator Barack Obama fell short of his attempt to win the White House. I've had to hear the media go on about how Obama's loss proves this is a center-right country.....oh wait a minute....Obama won?
The media world is all atwitter with talk about what the Republican party should do now. I hope they go even further right in their crazy delusion that somehow Bush was not right-wing enough.
For nearly 30 years we have been ruled in this country by an ideology that puts "the movement" before the country and its "base" before rational governance. On our side we have the opposite problem, politicians all to eager to deny that they are liberal or progressives, happy to acknowledge that they will govern in the center. But also happy to take our money, our energy our votes. It's so fucking twisted it makes me sick!
Of course, the one thing I am confident about saying is that I NEVER heard Barack Obama disavow that he was a liberal/progressive or that he would govern in the center. NEVER! He only has said he will govern with an eye to bipartisanship and consensus. You see I don't mind if he pulls a Bush, and eschews his campaign rhetoric and moves left. Because unlike Bush who adopted right-wing ideas that were losers, I know that if Obama governs like a liberal he will be successful. The country both needs it and is READY for it!
THE EMERGING CENTER-LEFT MAJORITY
But election 2008 was not simply a testament to the remarkable candidacy of Barack Obama, nor a product of Bush's catastrophic presidency. Rather, the results suggest that this may not simply be a change election but a sea-change election. An extended election-night survey undertaken by Democracy Corps and the Campaign for America's Future suggests that we may be witness to the emergence of a new progressive majority, that contrary to conservatives' claims, America is now a center-left nation.
Borage and Greenberg have a must read wonderful piece up in the American Prospect. It goes to the heart of the right-wing delusion on what this country is now.
At the heart of this new majority are demographics and values:
This election looks like a potential realignment election because it consolidates new and expanded elements of a center-left majority that has an increasingly shared worldview. Young voters 18 to 29 voted over two to one for Obama, and at 18 percent, made up a greater share of the electorate than those over 65. Obama consolidated Democrats' grip on diversity, with blacks (up to 13 percent of the electorate) voting 95 percent for Obama, Hispanics (up to 9 percent and growing) voting over two to one, and Asians and other minorities also increasing their support. Hispanics made up 14 percent of the electorate in Florida and voted 57 percent for Obama. In contrast, whites made up less than three-quarters of the voting population, the lowest percentage ever and one that will continue to drop. Women were 53 percent of the population and voted 56 to 43 for Obama. More significantly, unmarried women -- 21 percent of the electorate -- voted 70 to 29 for Obama. Voters in union households -- one in five of voters in all -- went 59 to 39 Obama; white union households voted 60 to 40 the same. McCain's vote tended to rise as income levels went up, but Obama consolidated Democrats' edge among those with graduate degrees.
These groups share basic concerns. They are comfortable with diversity and tolerant. They are more secular than Sarah Palin's real America.
http://www.prospect.org/...
Just a look at the numbers and attitudes concerning homosexuality demonstrate what a shrinking and stale universe wingnuts operate in:
when asked if homosexuality should be accepted or discouraged by society, moderates and liberals agree that it is a way of life that should be accepted by society by 65- and 33-point margins respectively, compared to conservatives who believe it should be discouraged by 32 points.
The future belongs to us!!!! Let's hope some of our leaders read this article and take heart in being progressives and liberals and want to work to make our country more progressive more liberal. Hell, it's not even politically dangerous to do so anymore!