What really surprises me about this story is just how demonstrably (as in extremely easily demonstrated) wrong it is. Go down the list of major issues: health care, abortion, gun control, taxes, Iraq, you name it. America is overwhelmingly a "center-left" nation and, as Steve says, thanks to Bush and co. becoming more so all the time.

Jon Meachum is an idiot.

For the sake of my country, I hope the Democrats stand up for their ideals and Republicans scrap their old ones. Democrats need a vigilant opposition to keep them honest, but I want the opposition to be reasoned. I'd be happy to sometimes vote Republican if they used the Tory platform. Pro-environment and no more culture wars.

It appears that the lesson the GOP will take is that they must steer further Right. They're continued defeats will provide a historical lesson. But I don't think one party rule is good for the USA or the Democratic Party. The Repbulicans need to give up on Gingrichism now and find a new way.

Well it depends on which America he's talking about, doesn't it? Real America may be center right. Those of us in the anti-America part of America (which I presume includes anyone reading this blog) are, at this point in time, leaning as far left as we can without falling out of the car.

I've been hearing that the GOP will have to take stock and rebuild after the elections, but I'm not counting on that either. They will continue their caterwauling and move even further right, if such is possible. They'll push the "terrorists have infiltrated our government" meme and start planning for Palin 2012 campaign.

And, of course, the MSM will ominously warn Obama and the Democrats that all glory is fleeting, and they'd better move rightward posthaste if the expect their moment in the sun to last more than a couple of years.

The Rethugs/conservatives believe the universe is eternally right-wing, and proper and meant to be ruled by them. When the electorate disagrees they believe this to be an abberation of the natural order, and in any case only temporary. Hence liberals should govern as conservatives so as not to disturb the cosmos any further.

Their sense of entitlement is boundless. And disgusting.

I think it's more complicated than that. Americans may like some of the progressive proposals, like universal health insurance, but when you explain that's liberalism, or, (gasp), even socialism, they recoil, and renounce their support. That's McCain's last hope, to denounce Obama's policies as socialistic.

And the Democrats are completely apologetic about suggesting that government should play even a minor role in any program, always careful to explain that the private sector is still doing all the heavy lifting - that government is only directing some tax breaks their way to influence their behavior.

We're still firmly planted in the Reagan mindset that government is evil, and serves us best when we can't see it, when it isn't there.

And this election, which should be transformational, which should be the day that we finally repudiate right wing ideology as a completely failed system, is not so at all - if Obama wins, it's not because he has better ideas, that liberalism has found its footing again, but only because he's seen as a vastly superior candidate to a washed up has-been, and even with that, he won't win by much.

So I would tend to agree that we're center right, even after we've already shifted rightward over the last thirty years, notwithstanding the fact that if Americans could be purged of their irrational fear of all things progressive, that they would actually prefer progressive policies.

We're a badly confused and schizophrenic nation.

Looking back, I think the turning point was when Bush, after 2004, decided to 'use' his political capital and go after Social Security. It's not mentioned much, but it was a complete political disaster, and the Republicans have never recovered from it.

It's Broder's Law: Lecturing Democrats on the virtues of bipartisanship indicates the lecturer is a Serious Person.

I see this as more laying the groundwork for obstruction after the election, just like McCain's fiction about ACORN.

Meacham is trying to convince a minority that they are an embattled and victimized majority so they'll be squeaky wheels when the Democrats are leading the nation.

Fortunately, the intellectuals on the right are jumping ship. I don't think the Republican party will ever be the same again after losing this election.

Gene Ha wrote: "Democrats need a vigilant opposition to keep them honest"

I thoroughly agree.

That's why I am a registered Green Party voter and will be voting for the Green candidate for Congress in my district, and Green candidates for state and county offices.

The Democratic Party is a center-right party. They need vigilant opposition from the left to "keep them honest", not vigilant opposition from the right to keep them more subservient to America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc. than they already are.

Hark's right.

"Campaign right, govern left" is how presidents get themselves into the White House Hall of Fame.

I think it's time for the spectrum to re-calibrate itself.

Shouldn't wherever the country "is" BE the "center?"

If we have a landslide election in favor of the Dems, I thnk that should drag things quite a bit to the left, and reset the "center" right there.

It's the Tom Frank talking point; Conservatives have been in position of power for thirty years plus and have systematically destroyed Government, now the Republicans and the "Liberal Media" all point out to the mess they made of Government and they say "see look Government can't work..."

This are the stupid shits like Joe the Plumber and Newt Gingrich and George Bush. They take a shit all over the Government and help to bring about it's ruin but are first in line when asking for a handout from taxpayers.

I'm sticking to the "Freedom is not Free" line I heard for two plus years from the brainwashed masses.

Freedom is not free so it's time to pay up and get government on our side and working again not bending us over.

It's just GOP theatrics to try and make themselves look relevant.

Obama has already said many times how he is ready to reach across the aisle to work with Republicans on a number of issues. Remember after the first debate how Giuiliani ridiculed Obama for agreeing with McCain so many times on the issues? McCain even ran a campaign ad about it.

Modern democrats are pragmatic & not beholden to ideology, unlike Republicans. Republicans are leaving the government to Democrats in a shambles. They simply need to get used to cooperating & not being in control for a while.

If Obama wins I can't wait to watch Grover Norquist's head explode. I'll buy tickets.

Heard someone on NPR yesterday saying that America is conservative, and that Obama wants to take it in a leftward direction (as if). I thought, then why do the majority of Americans want universal health care, gay rights, abortion rights, etc.? This alleged conservatism -- the "silent majority?" -- is a myth.

Have you noticed how much the word socialism is used by the so-called conservatives?
If we have learned anything from Joe the Plumber, when the Right-Wingers say socialism,what they mean is "we don't want to pay our share."

We know that Ronald Reagan is the patron saint of these selfish people, but Leona Helmsley's spirit is acually their driving force. They cannot bear to pay taxes because "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes ..."

It is really pretty simple. Most people like society and therefore support a government role that fosters society when asked about specific proposals. At the same time we as a people have this mythology of a rugged individualist never mind that most people could not survive a week without society. The right has always had a lot of political power because of the moneyed class and has used that power to run really good political campaigns. Is there any real explanation for Dumbya having less than a 30% approval for months before the economic meltdown and when American casulties were down in Iraq? Was he any less inept before the 2004 election? The right propped him up and Americans fall for this nonsense hook, line and sinker.

BuzzMon, I agree a bit but I also think in this case that "socialism" is just the word they can say because they can't say "n*gg*r" Just like it would be if Hilary were the nominee because they couldn't say "d*ke c*nt".

We're not dealing with the best and the brightest here.

By international standards I would say Obama is already a little right of centre... America's presence on the left is barely detectable.

That said, Jon Meacham is perhaps already foolishly forgetting that it is Obama people are voting for, not Jon Meacham...

A graduated income tax isn't socialism. It arose during the industrial revolution as a price society charged the wealthy for the privilege of spending and investing their profits as they wanted.

The rich are society's high-risk investments -- we tolerate their vast accumulation of wealth, but in return we ask them to pay a higher tax rate than the rest because the consequences of their decisions and screw-ups are so far-reaching and consequential.

When owners shutter a factory, the rest of society pays a heavy the price -- the tax holidays, the roads, schools, infrastructure etc. that states and localties invested up front needs to be re-directed or it will go to waste. When banks foreclose or companies lay off, people go homeless. That puts a burden on the rest of us until we recover again.

Taxes aren't socialism -- it's simply balancing the privileges of capital with its responsibilities. In most free market democracies taxes are viewed as valuable investments. Of course that's assuming the elected leaders have the necessary vision into how to spend the revenues wisely. Our current system of private profits and socialized losses is not only grossly unfair, it's unsustainable.

If Obama were running in nearly any country in Europe he would be considered center-right. Our choice this election, is between center-right, and hard-right. The Chicago school labels anything which has even a tidbit of social control, as socialism or communism. But that isn't economics, it's a combination of religion, and propaganda.

Newsweek: Your Source for Concern Trolling!

I thoroughly agree.

That's why I am a registered Green Party voter and will be voting for the Green candidate for Congress in my district, and Green candidates for state and county offices.

The Democratic Party is a center-right party. They need vigilant opposition from the left to "keep them honest", not vigilant opposition from the right to keep them more subservient to America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc. than they already are.
Posted by: SecularAnimist on October 21, 2008 at 5:17 PM

Hear, hear! Let's hope the Republican Party goes the way of the Whig Party after this election.

If we have a landslide election in favor of the Dems, I thnk that should drag things quite a bit to the left, and reset the "center" right there.
Posted by: Mr Furious

Theoretically, yes. However, since there are only about 12 liberals in Congress, a Dem boost is merely going to push the country back to the center circa 1999.

Pensacola blowhard and self-appointed political expert Joe Scarborough pronounced America as center-right on Meet the Press. Think of it this way, when was the last time a republican apologist was correct about anything?

Scarborough is an ass-hat.

Pensacola blowhard and self-appointed political expert Joe Scarborough pronounced America as center-right on Meet the Press. Think of it this way, when was the last time a republican apologist was correct about anything?

Scarborough is an ass-hat.

With all of this in mind, Newsweek's Jon Meacham has a 3,300-word cover story this week, insisting that the United States is a "center-right" nation, and if Obama is elected, he'd be foolish to forget it.

This contention is not incorrect; the problem is thinking that this is something that needs to give Democratic politicians pause or that works in favor of Republicans. The US is a center-right nation, to be sure, but the Democratic Party is a center-right party.

The scam is not the idea that the US is a "center-right" nation, but the idea that the Republican Party is, as it has tried to bill itself recently, a "center-right" party.

So true, bigTom. Obama is considerably to the right of the American public - at least in his publicly stated policies and thinking.

I'm a 3rd generation Democratic party dissident-insider from Illinois, and in watching him since he was in political kindergarten, I've gotten to see two B. Obamas: One is the cautious, pragmatic, patient politician that all of America (the part that doesn't have its head buried in the sands of the right-wing media) has come to know and be willing to bet their hopes on; the other is an optimistic, wide-eyed idealist who believes in the inherent goodness of mankind and naive concepts like "justice" and "equality."

In reality, the first of those most likely is actually the third: a concoction of the dreamer/idealist and a hidden pragmatist-in-the-extreme, created for public consumption.

Obviously, Obama's pragmatist is running the election campaign. But I saw enough of his dreamer side when he was in the Illinois legislature to say that I'll be surprised if President Obama doesn't move considerably, albeit cautiously to the left as he discovers that there really is overwhelming popular support for progressive programs and policies -- done correctly.

The rabidly conservative set is right to be very afraid of Mr. Obama.

... Newsweek's Jon Meacham has a 3,300-word cover story this week, insisting that the United States is a "center-right" nation ...

I apologize if someone has already made the point, but whether the nation is center-right or center-left has to be dealt with issue-by-issue. To the extent that the labels are useful at all, on some issues, like health care, the nation is center-left, as is BHO. On others, like security, the nation is center-right, as is BHO.

Once again, Meachum, who considers himself to be an intellectual heavyweight, is really a fucking idiot.

Somehow the republicans succeeded in making liberal a dirty word. It goes back to the early eighties at least when democrats were routinely described as tax and spend liberals over and over again. Never mind that the republican alternative was to not tax and spend more, a lot of people even today associate the term liberal with big government and irresponsible spending. Right wingers proudly state that they're conservatives (most of whom could not explain conservative philosophy if they had to) but the left rarely comes right out and says the dreaded L word. Instead, they describe themselves as middle of the road moderates. I make no bones about my political philosophy--liberal through and through. I tend to agree with Jim Hightower (every now and then Texas produces a good one) who is fond of saying "Ain't nothing in the middle of the road but some dead armadillos and a yellow stripe." We who are on the left need top challenge this right of center nation drivel every time it comes up and it comes up a lot among the media pundits.

More like center right cocktail parties......

Old Yeller teeth

McCain's campaign is crumbling.

The Palin poll was the tipping point.
The fact that everything that comes out of Caribou's mouth is a lie... doesn't hurt the trend going forward.

The Newsweek article reminded me of this NY Times Magazine story from this weekend. Matt Bai misconstrues a quote from Obama to conclude:

Once, he might have thought that if he could only win a bunch of red states and pile up 350 electoral votes, he could obliterate the red-blue paralysis of the last decade and wield his mandate like a machete against the culture warriors in Washington. Now, it seemed, ... If he won, Obama would likely start out as a 50-plus-1 president, no matter what the map had in store.

That's right. Even if Obama wins 350 electoral votes, which would be a landslide and an overwhelming mandate if a Republican won by that margin, he'll only be a "50-plus-1 president."

I guess the honeymoon is already over.

America is increasingly a democratic nation, meaning we have reached the point where the hoi polloi vote for candy store con men who pretend 200 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities "don't matter."

"Conservative" "Liberal"

Bah! Two words so stomped-on and twisted the past 30 years, they're not worth the spit to speak.

Over-marketed.

We are, simply put, not a "center-right" nation.

See here and here and here.