2008 Election

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.

It’s been a day and a half since Obama and Biden won and it is still seems amazing that we won what feels like a revolution and just as amazing to see Republicans lose all of their legendary discipline and indulge not just in a circular firing squad, but to see the previously voiceless moderate wing start to speak up and take names. Everyone is doing this exercise, so we might as well:

WINNERS

• Hillary Clinton — she fought hard and was largely a victim of her own campaign, but when it was all said and done she got her supporters on the Obama bus and she campaigned her heart out for Obama.
• John McCain’s Concession Speech — I didn’t get to really see this Election Night, but watching it last night I wondered what happened to this guy?  This is the guy that everyone thought would be a formidable candidate in a bad R year.  But his speech was gracious and seemed sincere, and would be a decent place to start re-earning that honor he lost.
• Community Organizing — which was essentially the entire Obama project, focused on building grassroots support for his campaign and for Democrats everywhere
• Democratic Party and Howard Dean — Howard is the man.
• Young People — who came out in huge numbers and showed the way for the direct-to-voters networking that bypassed both the media filter and local Dem leadership
• US — after 8 long years, we have a President who will work at governing for the majority of us, not just those watching the play by play on Fox News
• Fivethirtyeight.com THE MATH done right.