Day: November 23, 2008

For the past few weeks, the punditocracy (especially the rightwing ones and their media familiars) have been repeating the very wrong assessment that the US is a center-right nation. Why is it wrong? Because a center-right nation would not elect a center-left President (you know, the one who was supposed to be the most liberal Senator?) AND add to a bunch of mostly center-left Congress. CNN provided this poll shortly after the election:

Bob Borosage (conservative) and Stan Greenberg (liberal) have been doing joint polling all season for NPR and they conducted their own election night poll which points out that the moderate portion of the electorate is orienting itself to a center-left position, but shows how that position might be solidified:

Progressives needn’t be defensive about the majority that is dubious about government spending. Making government work effectively is at the heart, not the capillaries of the progressive agenda. This test doesn’t distract; it focuses us on our task. No progressive majority can ever be consolidated for long if it doesn’t demonstrate that government can be an effective ally for everyone.

And that is all moderates are looking for. They aren’t skeptical about the need for government. By large margins, they think regulation does more good than harm. They want investments made in education and training. They favor a concerted government-led drive for energy independence. They far prefer a health-care plan with a choice between their current insurance and a public plan like Medicare, rather than one that would give them a tax credit to negotiate with insurance companies on their own. Their concern is less that government will do too much and more that government will fail to do what it must and waste their money in the process.