Think Progress

From Center-Right…To Center-Left

By Ryan Powers on Nov 5th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

From Center-Right…To Center-Left

On October 18, Newsweek ran a cover story entitled, “America the Conservative” by Jon Meacham. Meacham argued:

Should Obama win, he will have to govern a nation that is more instinctively conservative than it is liberal–a perennial reality that past Democratic presidents have ignored at their peril.

Meacham admitted that his argument was “probably going to look dumb, or at least out of step, for many months to come.” Yes, it does.

As ThinkProgress has noted again and again, the American people are moving left. The last three presidential elections show that movement very clearly:

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34 Responses to “From Center-Right…To Center-Left”

  1. Perry logan says:

    America is, and has always been, a liberal country:
    http://mediamatters.org/progmaj/report


  2. Wayne A. Schneider says:

    And let’s not gloss over and ignore the heavy amount of cheating done by the Republicans in the previous two elections. Their results were not legitimate. The country is not as conservative as the right-wing would have us believe.


  3. JohnR says:

    We are moving (thankfully in my view) closer to a Western European model.


  4. Uncle Ho says:

    Alas, those red-staters will not be happy until we are righter than right. These are the kind of people who like to goose-step in jackboots.


  5. DRxJ says:

    Love them ever expanding blue colors!


  6. Above the Clouds says:

    North Carolina makes 10 “red” states won by Obama? America is a center-left country– a pundit sitting on a talk show panel with 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats does not mean America is “center-right.”


  7. Bob says:

    Conservatives have hijacked control by conniving and cheating. This country would not exist if it weren’t for liberals. This election is proof positive that this is indeed a liberal-leaning nation. Notice who it is that says, contrary to facts, that the US is ‘center-right’. Notice that they aren’t centrists or liberals. Facts and reality has a liberal bias.


  8. McWars says:

    See, trolls, we can govern from the left, not center-right. GOOPERS think liberals are elected to office to make them look good.

    It will take, at minimum, left-of-center solutions to break the stranglehold of far-right damage.


  9. McWars says:

    Dr. Hussein Matt Says:
    Sean Hannity is on the radio right now still whining about former ministers. Sad, sad, sad….

    Sean Hannity is one dumb, white jock.


  10. Chuck Feney says:

    Check out the map available thru c-span.org (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/election_night_2008/election_map_premium/index.html?SITE=CSPANELN&SECTION=POLITICS) You can double-click on individual states to see the breakdown by county. All the ‘red’ states have blue counties except for Oklahoma; which, has NO blue counties.


  11. McWars says:

    Above the Clouds Says:
    North Carolina makes 10 “red” states won by Obama?

    Yeah, what the hell is going on in NC? Are they in denial?


  12. misshusseinmolly says:

    Any bets on how much whining will be in Ann Coulter’s column this week?


  13. tokin librul says:

    Slightly O/T: FYEIEIO, I found an interview with Bill Ayers which I’ve put on Walled-IN Pond, which is both interesting and informative.



  14. misshusseinmolly says:

    McWars Says
    November 5th, 2008 at 4:56 pm

    Yeah, what the hell is going on in NC? Are they in denial?
    __________________________________________________________

    I live in NC, and believe me, I want to see this state called for Obama as much as anyone.

    However, the vote is too close — within only about 12,000 votes (favoring Obama), which means that no victor can be declared until provisional and absentee ballots are counted.

    And because we have both Fort Bragg and Camp LeJeune in this state, many of those absentee ballots are coming from our military personnel serving overseas.

    So we just have to wait. It will be interesting to see if the military polls showing more support for Obama than McCain turn out to be true. I hope they do.


  15. tokin librul says:

    McWars Says:

    Above the Clouds Says:
    North Carolina makes 10 “red” states won by Obama?

    Yeah, what the hell is going on in NC? Are they in denial?
    November 5th, 2008 at 4:56 pm

    I heard a fella on some analysis show last night say that there’s still pockets of the Dukes of Hazard in NC in the boondocks, much of the character of the state was changing due to the influx of more cosmopolitan folks into the research triangle and surrounding areas…


  16. Buckie Boy says:

    The Wrong-Headed Rights are all pissing in their pants right now with things like…

    Where’s his birth certificate?

    The country is doomed, the Muslims are going to take over.

    He’s a terrorist and he is going to attack us.

    He’s going to give the N****rs all our money. (I did hear some righty say that)

    He’s going to tax us and give it to the welfare queens.

    There’s going to be a civil war over this.

    Is there someway that we can build a wall around the red areas and just forget them…they are delusional and just sick in the head.


  17. Badger says:

    The trend to Blue is Demographic and Generational.

    The 18-24 yr. olds were the only age group that went for John Kerry in 2004.

    This time, they went Overwhelmingly for Obama.

    Young people are less Racist, more Internationalist, and Less Homophobic than older Americans.

    And one other thing…they are going to replace older people as time goes by.


  18. Zooey says:

    Hopefully, by 2012 I’ll live in a blue state. I know I’ll have to move. :-D


  19. tokin librul says:

    Bam_Bam Says:
    Homosexuals marriage tossed in 3 states; the people speak
    What’s this all about????
    November 5th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    out-right, explicit violations of the 1st and 14th Amendments, none of which should withstand the scrtiny of even a remotely objective judiciary…

    If there were only someone with a bully pulpit, and a popular mandate to be more progressive, a high official who might file some kind of ‘amicus’ brief…


  20. misshusseinmolly says:

    Buckie Boy Says
    November 5th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    Is there someway that we can build a wall around the red areas and just forget them…they are delusional and just sick in the head.
    __________________________________________________________

    You mean like leper colonies (just in case it’s contagious)? Or more like sanitariums?

    I agree that the examples you gave are extreme, and products of sick minds. Most people who vote GOP don’t think that way. But there are a number of them who are dangerously twisted, and that number seems to have grown during this campaign.


  21. marlow says:

    Bam_Bam Says:

    Homosexuals marriage tossed in 3 states; the people speak

    What’s this all about????
    November 5th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    The people didn’t speak. A barrage of lies and tens of millions of dollars funnelled into CA from the Church of Latter Day A-holes did the talking. Sad day in that respect.


  22. Uncle Ho says:

    Buckie; if someone were to claim that Obama eats puppies live, the unhinged reich-wing nuts would not doubt it at all.


  23. Above the Clouds says:

    This election will likely (and correctly) push crazy-right “conservatives” like Hannity and Limbaugh further into the fringes where they belong. How, after 8 years of Bush, can these guys keep thinking that what’s wrong with America is Democratic, Progressive, liberal values? America has changed–Hannity, Limbaugh, haven’t changed–thus their frustration and anger.


  24. Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre says:

    Why do we allow this word “conservative” to be applied to right_wing Republicans and their fellow-travelers in the 21st century? They certainly don’t make any effort to conserve anything of value, such as our natural environment. They seem to support destruction of said environment and the rapid gobbling up of the fossil fuel supply. They support wars and imperial occupations in the Middle East. They support racial and sexual hatefulness and discrimination at home.

    The late Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, who served in the 1940s, was a true Republican fiscal conservative. He didn’t support US foreign adventurism. He tried to insure that the people got something of value when the government taxed them and spent the money.

    The Bush gangsters have been using their political power in the last eight years to steal elections and to steal billions of US taxpayers dollars in the Iraq farce. These actions are not “conservative.” They are radical right-wing destructionists.


  25. EnnuiDivine says:

    If you want to see some real venom (and get a good laugh at silly “Christians”), check out today’s WorldNetDaily.


  26. tips-q.com says:

    “This election will likely (and correctly) push crazy-right ‘conservatives’ like Hannity and Limbaugh further into the fringes”

    Are you kidding? They will be working doubly hard to skewer Obama once in office, along with Ann Coulter and the usual suspects. They have an enormous constituency of Joe-Plumbers.


  27. Bob says:

    Now it’s the Gramfans who will be whining, the entire time. All those meathead-bullies will start sounding more like my three-year-old niece. They will continually complain about Obama not having fixed all those things bush fcked up.


  28. tips-q.com says:

    Speaking of Ms. Coulter (which I promise not to do again for awhile), the last post on her blog was an incoherent and racially offensive piece on the Ashley Todd hoax. She has yet to comment on the Obama victory.

    Maybe the deranged witch croaked last night while watching the returns. One can hope – right?


  29. tips-q.com says:

    “Why do we allow this word “conservative” to be applied to right_wing Republicans and their fellow-travelers in the 21st century?”

    Because conservative has been redefined to mean culturally conservative.

    Goldwater was the last candidate not controlled by the religious right. For all his flaws, he was always pro-choice and ultimately supported gays serving openly in the military. He was also very environmentally conscious.


  30. RUCerious says:

    Let me extend a laurel, and hearty handshake to any trolls who want to participate in making this country great again.
    No whining, just support the new administration and mayhaps volunteer for some community betterment project in your neighborhood!


  31. DidHeJustSayThat says:

    snagged of of political animal

    “National exit polling shows 53 percent of of the voters considered the U.S. Supreme Court an ‘important factor’ in their vote Tuesday. Fifty-two percent of these voters supported Barack Obama, while 46 percent supported John McCain.”

    More evidence the country skews right!


  32. EtherealStrife says:

    marlow Says:

    Bam_Bam Says:

    Homosexuals marriage tossed in 3 states; the people speak

    What’s this all about????
    November 5th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    The people didn’t speak. A barrage of lies and tens of millions of dollars funnelled into CA from the Church of Latter Day A-holes did the talking. Sad day in that respect.
    November 5th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    I can confirm what marlow said. The reason why it probably passed is because of the bs ads linking gay marriage to what is taught in schools. These downright lies were plastered all over the place, and those who didn’t bother to factcheck bought it up. A person at my work voted a completely liberal ticket except for prop 8. His reasoning was that he didn’t want it entering the schools. >< When I told him that in california parents have ultimate say-so he was shocked.

    If you have a strong stomach check it out:

    Several million votes left to count, so lets hope the free thinkers all voted absentee or provisional!


  33. CageyCretin says:

    Wayne A. Schneider Says:
    And let’s not gloss over and ignore the heavy amount of cheating done by the Republicans in the previous two elections. Their results were not legitimate.

    And they tried to steal this one, too — the turnout for Obama was greater than the polls show.

    And this country has always been liberal leaning in its views. The voting population (those who ACTUALLY go and vote) has, far too often, been right leaning, which is why the data is skewed, and why the right knows darn well that they can’t win if a lot of voters actually show up. Their fear of new voters is because most all new voters are NOT republican (they may or may not be democrat).



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