The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus [1] - a reliable parrot of conventional wisdom - joins the Punditburo's insistence that the largest progressive mandate in contemporary American history means that obviously - clearly! - America remains more conservative than ever:
"The experience of President Bill Clinton's rocky early months -- remember gays in the military? the BTU tax? -- suggests the steep political price of governing in a way that is, or seems, skewed to the left. This risk is particularly acute for Obama, whose opponents have painted him as a leftist extremist."
The standard lie about Clinton's failures aside (it was NAFTA, stupid), the last sentence is particularly odd. Obama's "opponents have painted him as a leftist extremist." Yet, that supposed "leftist extremist" won the largest presidential mandate in the last generation.
And somehow, having done that, we are supposed to believe that means he should tack to the right.
Say what?
1825 K Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20006
202-955-5665 (tel) | 202-955-5606 (fax) | www.ourfuture.org
Links:
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110404478.html