Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Lost amid our concern that Obama's Bin Laden raid will boost his re-election chances is the sweeping ideological shift of American center-left politics in our direction on the matter of national security -- that is, in the direction of hawkish, America-first conservatism.
Obama won the election with a foreign policy doctrine of, essentially, "peace through national self-deprecation," yet now, two short years later, he's fashioning himself as a kick-butt, Navy-SEAL-loving Captain America who eschews international law when it conflicts with our interests. That's a big deal. A really good big deal. More, mainstream lefties (of all people) are lauding this do-what-you-gotta-do, America-first doctrine. Welcome aboard, folks.
In the same way that Bill Clinton's signing "the end of welfare as we know it" -- and the Dems' subsequent pride in the accomplishment -- was actually a better development for the country than if a Republican president had done so, so too does the patriotic chest-thumping of our Nobel Peace Prize winner and his followers represent a conservative shift in the zeitgeist and a win for us. (Can SEAL Team Six, the movie. be far behind? -- which, btw, is exactly what Andrew Klavan's long-hoped-for change in the culture would look like.)
If our goal is strictly winning elections, we have reason for concern. But if our goal is moving the center and winning the long ideological struggle -- even without getting credit -- then we're making great progress.
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Feb '11
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
I suspect you are reading a little too much into this. Obama is grudgingly bowing to geopolitical reality and inevitability. The left is fickle and has no tolerance for prolonged commitment. Add an increase in troop commitment or an uptick in the casualty lists and the right/left fault lines will be back pretty much where they were before.
May '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Perhaps, but bowing to reality is good enough for me...because when even the wrong people are forced to do the right thing, it's a sign of a changing national mindset -- as was the case with Clinton and welfare reform.
Oct '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
War is an in-power vs out-power struggle, not a left-right thing. There are conservatives in some European countries that were just as virulently (and opportunistically) as anti-war as the left has been in this country.
Although, the antiwar right in America has never had the sheer voice and power the antiwar left had during the Bush years. For once, I'm not going to claim equivalence of the two sides.
May '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Scott Reusser
...because when even the wrong people are forced to do the right thing...
That is exactly what Milton Friedmon said was the way to change America for the better.
While I am glad BHO did the right thing when it came to OBL I am still a bit reluctant to heap praise on him. It seems to me that he had no choice and I suspect that behind closed doors he had to be dragged there. But in his defense he did pull the trigger on it in the end.
Jul '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Meanwhile, many of us on the Right are sick and tired of American military adventurism.
Oct '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Democrats are quintessential political opportunists. They prove that at virtually every turn, and this is no different. There's two reason why"... more, mainstream lefties (of all people) are lauding this do-what-you-gotta-do, America-first doctrine."
The first is because it's their guy doing it, pure and simple. The second is because they have no core principles, so for them to laud their guy for doing the same thing they vilified Bush for doing poses no contradiction, and they know the media will give them a pass on it.
They are not evidence of any shift in the national security paradigm. They are merely evidence of their own hypocritical, spineless anti-America, pro-Democrat Party existence.
Mar '11
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Scott Reusser
Perhaps, but bowing to reality is good enough for me...because when even the wrong people are forced to do the right thing, it's a sign of a changing national mindset -- as was the case with Clinton and welfare reform.
Mr Obama is out-smarting you, Scott - he is doing his familiar trick of appearing to move to the Center while moving America to the left.
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
I hope you're right. I'd like to think this is happening. I guess I'll be convinced when a budget roughly like the Ryan plan gets traction. My fear, though, is that we think we've "won" -- or are "winning" -- and then we're shocked when the country backslides. They elected Obama with 53% of the vote, which either means they didn't know he was going to enlarge the federal government, agitate to raise taxes, undermine welfare reform, and socialize medicine, or they did and they're behind him.
Right now, our side has won some (and lost some) political battles. I'd like to see us win some ideological battles, too. Maybe we're seeing that, with the fight over the debt ceiling? Maybe?
Aug '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
I don't think they did. Pres. Obama ran as a moderate, and the electorate bought it. At least those that wouldn't normally vote for someone with his views bought it. As I recall he ran on cutting federal spending, not taxing the middle class, and there was no mention of nationalizing health insurance. He had his slips of wanting to "spread the wealth" around, and his anti-nuclear weapons ads. For the most part he portrayed himself as a moderate candidate.
It's whether those people we always hear about that like him personally, but not his policies, will vote against him when the ballot is cast in Nov 2012.
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Killing Osama bin Laden is hardly adventurism.
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Rob Long: I hope you're right. I'd like to think this is happening. I guess I'll be convinced when a budget roughly like the Ryan plan gets traction. My fear, though, is that we think we've "won" -- or are "winning" -- and then we're shocked when the country backslides. They elected Obama with 53% of the vote, which either means they didn't know he was going to enlarge the federal government, agitate to raise taxes, undermine welfare reform, and socialize medicine, or they did and they're behind him.
Right now, our side has won some (and lost some) political battles. I'd like to see us win some ideological battles, too. Maybe we're seeing that, with the fight over the debt ceiling? Maybe? · May 15 at 10:05pm
Rob, in 2008, the public voted against John McCain, not for Barack Obama -- and you can hardly blame them. When the economic crash came, McCain in effect admitted that he did not have a clue. We will win in 2012 on the issues . . . if we can find a candidate willing to run on the issues.
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Scott, Obama's decision this past weekend to open up drilling may be even more telling.
Sep '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
What dittoheadact said.
I don't see foreign policy as a very good barometer for judging the left/right paradigm. There is a difference, but there are as many isolationists on the right as there are peaceniks on the left. They cancel each other out. As Joseph Eagar says, it's an in-power out of power thing, as well.
It is important what kind of country we have at home as it relates to how vigorously we should spend blood and treasure defending it. Perhaps this is the same feeling Europeans have. They don't see their leaders or their systems as principled.
I find myself less patriotic, and less a fan of "Democracy" when we ourselves are becoming a totalitarian quasi-fascist state. From our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and how the rest of the world is acting, I've lost the last remnants of idealism and American optimism.
I really don't care much anymore. The left's embrace of the Bin Laden kill is at least 90% political. They needed this for Obama's 2012 resume. It's quite obvious to me anyway. And make no mistake, whatever they say now has an expiration date
May '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Keep in mind I've made no claim that Obama has shifted on anything other than national security -- and even then, I'm speaking of behavior, not beliefs.
But his beliefs are less important than his actions, since, for instance, my own kids now report that their lefty-hopey-changey teachers are defending Captain-American-ish actions, even without recognizing the hypocrisy or irony. That's a real cultural change for the better. As Victor Hanson said in a column last week, there's now zero chance a Michael Moore will be an honored guest at the Dem Convention next year. Good.
Hope so, and although I'm always wary that he's talk without walk. just the fact that he feels the need to mimic our rhetoric indicates we're winning hearts and minds. And a steady drip of "Drill, now!" words and fewer "Green, now!" words will, over the long haul, result in more drilling and less green. Words matter ... because, over time, they change the culture.
Jun '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
"The center" is fickle and has little in the way of a political philosophy. Polls indicate centrists/moderates are the least informed of any voting demographic, so I wouldn't put any faith in these people. Where they line up probably won't be known until September or October of 2012.
The Federal Reserve is due for another round of quantitative easing this summer. If the move exacerbates inflation in basic areas like food and energy, then perhaps the center might start voting with its wallet. All the rhetoric of the MSM can't disguise the price of ground beef, or change the cost of a fill-up at the pump.
May '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Franco:
I don't see foreign policy as a very good barometer for judging the left/right paradigm. There is a difference, but there are as many isolationists on the right as there are peaceniks on the left. They cancel each other out. As Joseph Eagar says, it's an in-power out of power thing, as well.
I strongly disagree with the in-power out-of-power point. The mainstream Right, much more so than the mainstream Left, considers America to be at war, not strictly the party in power, which is why we would never speak and behave as irresponsibly as Dems did from 2002-2008. We criticize, yes, but we don't undermine our prospects for winning, demonize our soldiers, etc.
Sep '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Scott Reusser
I strongly disagree with the in-power out-of-power point. The mainstream Right, much more so than the mainstream Left, considers America to be at war, not strictly the party in power, which is why we would never speak and behave as irresponsibly as Dems did from 2002-2008. We criticize, yes, but we don't undermine our prospects for winning, demonize our soldiers, etc.
I think we are using the terms to mean two different things. I mean that the left gets more patriotic and more forgiving when their side is in power. "Those are our planes, now" They believe when Democrats are in control, America is a force for good and/or they trust Democrats more.
I think the mainstream Democrats recognize that America is at war, they just don't like it. There remain some principled anti-war leftists who are very pissed at Obama for continuing Bush's policies. It is really just the anti-war left who undermine and demonize, while mainstream Democrats may turn a blind eye to that rhetoric. I agree that even isolationists like Pat Buchannan and Ron Paul don't do what the peacenik left does.
May '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Franco
It is really just the anti-war left who undermine and demonize, while mainstream Democrats may turn a blind eye to that rhetoric.
I see your point, and agree partially, but keep in mind that Sens. Clinton, Kerry, and Biden -- mainstreamers, all -- first supported the Iraq War, then, when it got difficult and the politics flipped, tried every parliamentary maneuver available to undermine and force retreat, complete with mocking rhetoric (" a willing suspension of disbelief," etc).
Nov '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
I'm totally trackin' this vibe, much to my own surprise. There was a time, not long ago, that I thought my Catholic monarchist friends were lovable kooks. Now they leave me thinking, "Hmmm...."
These quotes summarize why:
1.
Steven Potter
Pres. Obama ran as a moderate, and the electorate bought it.
That's...astounding. I'm about as sharp as a marble, and I saw the radical with complete clarity. You'd truly have to be a numbskull not to have seen who Obama really was. Those who didn't know simply didn't *want* to know. Or...
2.
Add to this the growing percentage of the electorate on the dole, and I rest my case against "democracy." Harumph.
Sep '10
Re: Great News: The Center's Moving in our Direction.
Scott,
Yes and they will do that again when it's convenient. I'm convinced today's Democrats are morally bankrupt when it comes to telling themselves or others the truth. They make it up as they go along and invent elaborate reasons why they "changed their minds".
For me, the struggle is now here at home, on the inside. This may sound radical to you but we are approaching a point of no return whereby I don't know what we are defending anymore.
The TSA patdowns (expanding to a train station near you) the cameras, the police who let crime rampage whilst handing out tickets for not wearing seat-belts, the rape of the treasury, the wealth re-distribution the growing collusion between large corporations and government and the lies coming from corporate media in bed with Democrat interests. The American dream is just about over and really- I'm not interested in defending this. I am no longer a patriot in the true sense of the word. America is still a decent country to live in compared to the rest, but it is no longer and ideal. It's not free. There are no individual rights.