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Patchwork Nation Forum » Campaign 2008: Patchwork Nation: Forum

Election to be decided by political center

(4 posts)
  • Started 4 months ago by politicalcenter
  • Latest reply from techfun

  1. politicalcenter
    Member

    For now, it is readily apparent that the political center will decide this election. The Democratic Party has little chance of being considered the political center, but is courting that part of the electorate by claiming to be part of that group.

    Obama, with his wealth of money and Democratic Party regulars backing his campaign, has the most work at establishing himself at the political center. His votes are extremely liberal, and his efforts to claim he is actually proud of being an American and his view that we need more racial training strains the illusion he is trying to portray. Indeed, although his efforts to bring another suit in Ohio, on the heels of his lawsuit to keep the polls in certain counties favoring him open during that primary, challenging Republicans voting for Hillary Clinton is the most two-faced approach yet to his claim of the political center, his weird group of alleged supporters continues to confuse. In fact, his has been the claim that he is bringing new Republican votes over to Democrats. This view is predicated on the delusional view that he will be able to win Republican states.

    The opposite is plainly true. Indeed, Missouri is clearly going back to the Republicans.

    The political center is not Obamaland. It is the land of Clinton and McCain. And Obama's effort to claim that territory will result in the biggest defeat of the Democratic Party since 1980.

    So as we move toward the final states, Obama will play on the "facts" that everyone knows his is a new coalition. That everyone knows his is a new group of varied people who want more racial training, more negative talk about America, and less patriotism. His fake replies, his falsified video of his "speech" upon which his whole campaign is based, and his campaign of baseless racist claims has reached its zenith and we are left with either a left wing candidate or two in the center.

    If the Democratic Party cedes the center, McCain wins in a landslide. Is it too late for Clinton to get the nomination for the political center? If so, then do not bet on Obama's fake claims to be part of such a constituency. And bet on at least 30% of Clinton voters moving to McCain in November.

    Posted 4 months ago #
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  2. jhaddix
    Member

    Oh, the threats, the threats. At least 30 percent of clinton voters moving to McCain... sure. Ms Clinton cannot weasel her way to the nomination so her supporters will have to go to the dark side. As someone said, take your threats and put them where the minimum wage don't shine.

    Obama has a 'wealth' of money because democratic voters provide him with more support than they do Clinton. Do you think all that money came from some terrible place? It came from Democrats. 'Party regulars'? The name Clinton 'defines' party regulars... Obama is very much the outsider in comparison. The legal actions to keep polls open and Repubs from meddling in Democratic primaries are considerably more nuanced and complex than your casual distain implies.

    I deny your dire predictions, and want to suggest something that you are avoiding. Just about half the country has a negavive view of Hillary, and has held that view for over 15 years. I don't think it's particularly justified by any fair appraisal, but it IS real and it's not going away... and due in part to the clumsy negativity of her campaign, polls say it's getting worse. A lot of people just do not like her, have never liked her, and that is not going to evaporate when they step into the voting booth. This will be a HUGE problem in a general election. She would have to convince ALL of the remaining electorate to vote for her just to get a bare majority.

    Nominating Hillary is like taking aim at our foot once more... and if by chance she wrests the nomination away from the people's choice, we WILL see four years of McCain.

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  3. Dchinni
    Member

    I do think that the 2008 election will be about fighting for the center and I expect all the candidates to be staking out ground there. And because of that I think a landslide for either side seems like it will be tough to achieve.

    As for which Democratic candidate is the better general election candidate? It's impossible to say -- especially in April -- but we will look for clues in our numbers next Tuesday.

    Posted 4 months ago #
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  4. techfun
    Member

    I'm not sure I even believe in a political center anymore. The US population is basically conservative - in the APOLITICAL sense of the world. Unless something seems severely broken, we generally don't want to touch it. Thats why Bush's second term attempt at reforming Social Security went nowhere. Thats also why Clinton's attempt at healthcare reform went nowhere in the 90's. Neither situation was bad enough to justify major changes to the system in the minds of the general public.

    For most of my adult life politicians with the help of the 24 hours news media has dumbed down the political news to the point where everything is cobbled together with bricks made up of wedge issues. If you are pro-choice, a big part of the Republican party leadership is ready to write you off. If you are in favor of a long term US troop presence in Iraq there are Democrats that will do the same.

    However, I DO think that we are reaching a tipping point where people feel that the Federal government as a whole is broken and that makes them ready for major change. People are approaching that tipping point from many different directions. For some it's all about the politicization of judicial appointments. For others its the war in Iraq's bad planning. For still others it's corruption scandals, or too much influence by lobbyists in Congress, or the dawning realization that deregulation and the lack of regulation of commercial banks helped bring about the current economic conditions.

    When this many people are ready for change I think we will see real political action on the part of voters this fall. It may be a one time thing and the huge numbers of newly registered voters may fade back into the woodwork after November, but I don't think we are going to see a close race like we did in 2004.

    If there is a center now, its made up of positions on issues that wind their way around the immaterial wedge issues that are NEVER going to be "fixed" by a President. No single President is going to fix the "abortion issue", or trade policy, or immigration. However, if a candidate of either party can skirt those types of issues and keep people focused on those big tipping point issues, he or she will bring out voters from across the political landscape.

    Posted 4 months ago #
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