Should Obama Govern From the Center? (reject, abstinence, minority, America)

[Sunstone]

Predictably, some folks on the American Right seem in denial that much of anything has changed or is going to change with Tuesday’s election. You see that happen sometimes when people suffer a stunning setback. Instead of being able to wrap their minds around the setback, they simply deny anything happened.



For instance, theocon Tony Perkins appeared a bit traumatized when he stated yesterday, “There [is] clearly no mandate to shift the country to the left on social issues.” On the same day, ultra-right-winger Brent Bozell claimed: “…Barack Obama does not have the mandate to enact the left-wing agenda he wants to enact.” And other examples of the Right’s stunned denial of reality can be found here.



Along with their absurd rejection of President-elect Obama’s mandate, the Right is advising him to “govern from the center”. Obama strikes me as an intelligent man, and so I suppose he lacks the foolishness to take their advice. As explained here, the electorate knew precisely what policies they were voting for on Tuesday, and they voted overwhelmingly for policies that in American politics are considered “leftist”. So, Obama’s mandate is to implement those policies even though they are considered by many to be left-wing policies.



Yet, there is a far larger and more important reason for Obama to implement the policies he campaigned on rather than seek out the imagined advantages of the political center. Obama has now gained an opportunity to politically realign the the voting preferences of the American electorate. In my opinion, that is the real story of Tuesday’s election — and not whether Obama gained a mandate.



If Obama succeeds in favorably realigning the electorate, then the Democratic Party will become the majority party in America. He has already moved far towards realizing that goal. It’s anyone’s guess, however, whether the millions who voted for him in presidential election will now become loyal Democrats. So the question is, what might incline them to become loyal Democrats?



I don’t think Obama will convert many people to the Democratic Party by discussing ideology with them. There are relatively few Americans who really give a damn about ideology. Most of us have as much use for it as we have for a college course in the philosophy of politics. And that seems to be true despite the fact our right-wing Authoritarian minority is hugely movtivated by ideology. But those folks just aren’t typical of most Americans.



Overall, Americans are a pragmatic people. They don’t want to know whether something is right, left or center — they want to know how and whether it works. For instance, abstinence only sex education is the ideological policy, and it doesn’t work. Comprehensive sex education is the pragmatic policy, and it does work. Guess which policy the polls indicate a majority of Americans favor? Most Americans do not — and will not — care whether Obama’s policies are ideologically pure. Instead, they will want policies that work. And work to solve the problems that concern them.



Consequently, if Obama succeeds in realigning the electorate, it will not be because he chooses the “correct” ideology to govern by, but because he chooses to govern pragmatically. The silly advice to “govern from the center” will only result in disaster if it means in practice adopting policies that don’t work well enough to impress the voters. So in sum, Obama’s best chance to realign the electorate is to successfully implement policies that work, regardless of their ideological label, to solve the problems facing us. If he manages that, the American people will thumb their noses at ideological purity and back him all the way.


Your thoughts?

[doppelgänger]

It depends on what you consider the "center." Most Americans support the progressive positions he took during his campaign and I consider them center positions for that reason. The wedge issues over the last few decades have gotten a lot of Americans to vote against many of our core values, but I see a return to those values with Obama. From the "us v. them" mentality that looks like it's left of center. In the reality based community, it's a re-emphasis of values like national unity, respect for civil rights, belief in freedom from intrusion into our personal and private lives, and a just and fair opportunity for every citizen - things that most Americans support.

[Sunstone]

That's true, Dopp. It's hard to argue it's not the center when the majority of people are for it.

[Autodidact]

I would like to see a diverse cabinet including respected, competent Republicans with integrity. Of course, the pool is small. This would help unite the country, and increase the number of Americans willing to support difficult decisions Obama will have to make.

I think it's pretty clear that the majority of Americans would like to see a more progressive (in the economic sense) tax structure.

Thinking it over, I think the policies of the last 8 years haven't been particularly Conservative, they've just been stupid. So Obama can freely dump them all without having to adopt some kind of purist liberal ideology.

Actually I think Obama's biggest problem may be that the Republicans have already spent all the money, so how's he going to pay for anything he needs to do? Bush "starved the beast," and now we don't have a remaining functioning government to implement the changes we need.

[Autodidact]

One thing that heartens me is that Obama and his team are just so darned smart. An example would be his decision to enlarge and open up the office of faith-based initiatives to make it something other than a vote-buying machine for the Republican party. Brilliant. I'm hoping he can find other smart ways to stymie the divisive, anti-democratic moves of his predecessor.

[No*s]

I think he should. He may have an electoral landslide, but he won the popular vote by a knife's edge. Which is more important?

Personally, the fear of having one party in control caused me to vote against Obama. I don't trust a politician at all, and I trust the parties even less. If he were to push more centrist policies, I'd probably ease up a lot. As it stands I do not look forward to the next four, probably eight, years any more than I would if it were McCain with a Republican control of congress. He could win the support of cynics like me just by doing that consistently. As it stands, I expect them to expand the illegal powers Bush has already accumulated and make our situation more precarious.

[Elessar]

A knife's edge? Obama won 53%-46%, a seven point victory. Back in 2004, Cheney and Republicans in general claimed a mandate to lead with 51%-48%, a mere three points. And they claimed a mandate for change in 2000 when actually LOSING the popular vote 49%-48%.

[No*s]

Originally Posted by Elessar

A knife's edge? Obama won 53%-46%, a seven point victory. Back in 2004, Cheney and Republicans in general claimed a mandate to lead with 51%-48%, a mere three points. And they claimed a mandate for change in 2000 when actually LOSING the popular vote 49%-48%.

IIRC the popular vote had him about a percent higher (I haven't checked in a while, so my memory may have mixed up different numbers; there have been a lot lately). I'll go have a look and double-check.

EDIT Yeah, I had mixed numbers up. Now I'm wondering where the number in my head came from. I know it came from somewhere (I had 51.5 vs. 49.3).

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by No*s

Personally, the fear of having one party in control caused me to vote against Obama. I don't trust a politician at all, and I trust the parties even less. If he were to push more centrist policies, I'd probably ease up a lot. As it stands I do not look forward to the next four, probably eight, years any more than I would if it were McCain with a Republican control of congress. He could win the support of cynics like me just by doing that consistently. As it stands, I expect them to expand the illegal powers Bush has already accumulated and make our situation more precarious.

I share some of your concerns. I want Congress to reassert it's rights and take back its legislative powers from the executive. The separation of legislative and executive powers is key to liberty.

[No*s]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

I share some of your concerns. I want Congress to reassert it's rights and take back its legislative powers from the executive. The separation of legislative and executive powers is key to liberty.

I voted for McCain on that premise. I cannot trust either party to give up power or to not use a monopoly of power in a corrupt fashion. If we had a majority Democrat Congress and a Republican president, the two would have fought incessantly, and Congress would have done exactly that.

I just hope that it isn't too late in the next election for a situation like that to come up. The people may start to think of the new status quo as normal. If he governs from the center, or rather in an abrasive manner for his party, he could actually force Congress to do that himself. I doubt that will happen, though