Democratic Mandate and The Republican decline...maybe
According to the LA Times:
The survey, by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for People and the Press, found a "dramatic shift" in political party identification since 2002, when Republicans and Democrats were at rough parity. Now, half of those surveyed identified with or leaned toward Democrats, while only 35% aligned with Republicans.
What's more, the survey found the public attitudes are drifting toward Democrats' values: Support for government aid to the disadvantaged has grown since the mid-1990s, skepticism about the use of military force has increased and support for traditional family values has edged down.
You can see the full poll here: Full poll HERE (pdf).
Well, that's all fine and good but keep in mind the reliability of polls.
The question at hand here is "Will the Democrats see this as an opportunity to lead or follow?" And it's not exactly as simple as what you might think. In other words, will they see this as having happened despite them or because of them? If they're smart, they'll see this as a HUGE MESSAGE… wink wink nudge nudge, nods as good as a wink to a blind bat eh… telling them to follow the people and move that danged center progressive-ward where that most feared of political beast resides, The Moderate (IE; Zell Miller or John McCain).
The Democrats have a history of ostracizing their constituency by taking things beyond the mandate of the voters. Don't get me wrong, in most political matters I am pretty liberal however I am not an idiot and know that if the Democrats go to far they will most certainly lose the steam they are currently building. Only by reasonably following the will of the people and not that of those on the extreme right or left can the Democrats succeed. It doesn't hurt that the GOP has apparently gone senile and the White House is occupied by a bunch of Keystone Nazis but the Democrats shouldn't get to comfortable, it ain't over till the fat lady sings and I don't see Barbara Bush anywhere near the stage yet.
The survey, by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for People and the Press, found a "dramatic shift" in political party identification since 2002, when Republicans and Democrats were at rough parity. Now, half of those surveyed identified with or leaned toward Democrats, while only 35% aligned with Republicans.
What's more, the survey found the public attitudes are drifting toward Democrats' values: Support for government aid to the disadvantaged has grown since the mid-1990s, skepticism about the use of military force has increased and support for traditional family values has edged down.
You can see the full poll here: Full poll HERE (pdf).
Well, that's all fine and good but keep in mind the reliability of polls.
The question at hand here is "Will the Democrats see this as an opportunity to lead or follow?" And it's not exactly as simple as what you might think. In other words, will they see this as having happened despite them or because of them? If they're smart, they'll see this as a HUGE MESSAGE… wink wink nudge nudge, nods as good as a wink to a blind bat eh… telling them to follow the people and move that danged center progressive-ward where that most feared of political beast resides, The Moderate (IE; Zell Miller or John McCain).
The Democrats have a history of ostracizing their constituency by taking things beyond the mandate of the voters. Don't get me wrong, in most political matters I am pretty liberal however I am not an idiot and know that if the Democrats go to far they will most certainly lose the steam they are currently building. Only by reasonably following the will of the people and not that of those on the extreme right or left can the Democrats succeed. It doesn't hurt that the GOP has apparently gone senile and the White House is occupied by a bunch of Keystone Nazis but the Democrats shouldn't get to comfortable, it ain't over till the fat lady sings and I don't see Barbara Bush anywhere near the stage yet.
Labels: Democrats, Politics, Republicans
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Anonymous |
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 11:16:00 AM PDT