{"id":358,"date":"2009-03-05T19:51:12","date_gmt":"2009-03-06T00:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/03\/05\/the-conventional-wisdom-of-last-novembers-election-was-that-obamas-victory-historic-though-it-may-have-been-in-several\/"},"modified":"2009-03-05T19:51:12","modified_gmt":"2009-03-06T00:51:12","slug":"the-conventional-wisdom-of-last-novembers-election-was-that-obamas-victory-historic-though-it-may-have-been-in-several","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/03\/05\/the-conventional-wisdom-of-last-novembers-election-was-that-obamas-victory-historic-though-it-may-have-been-in-several\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We a Center-Right Nation?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The conventional wisdom of last November\u2019s election was that Obama\u2019s victory, historic though it may have been in several ways, was not transformative. Wewere mostly disillusioned with the current brand of Repugnantism, but we were still a \u201ccenter-right\u201d nation. Clearly, Obama himself does not share that interpretation, and there may be some proof to his analysis in today\u2019s&#0160;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.commonwealthcommonsense.com\/files\/fox-news-poll-3-5-09.pdf\"><span class=\"at-xid-6a00d83420265153ef011168c480a3970c\">Fox News poll 3-5-09<\/span><\/a> . <\/p>\n<p>A couple of progressive blogs have pointed out the news from the poll that people today prefer the policies of Obama over those of Ronald Reagan. Not surprising as most young people know little of Reagan\u2019s policies in the first place. But a look at some of the answers challenges the notion that we are &quot;center-right.&quot; <\/p>\n<p>On most questions, the Democrats praise Obama and the Repugs denigrate him. That\u2019s to be expected. But let\u2019s focus on the independents. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On the question about who would deserve credit if the economy recovers, a slight plurality of independents would credit government spending rather than the private sector.\n<li>Seventy-one (71) percent of independents support the idea of raising taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year, with 60 percent thinking it \u201clevels the economic and social playing field.\u201d (Even 41% of Repugs support higher taxes on the rich but only 29% think it levels the field.) So much for the class warfare argument. Independents, the often called \u201cmoderates,\u201d sound almost \u201csocialist\u201d!\n<li>A plurality of independents think rich people are \u201cgreedy [and] only look out for themselves.&quot;\n<li>Majorities of independents think the stimulus bill will create new jobs, stabilize the housing market and reverse the stock market decline, showing a remarkable confidence in Keynesian economics. <\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Even taken together, this portrait of independents doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019ll soon replace the stars and stripes with the hammer and sickle. But neither does it paint a portrait of a \u201ccenter-right\u201d country. <\/p>\n<p>An added note: I wonder how long it will take before we hear some GOPer point out that \u201cmore people feel Obama is \u201cfalling below expectations\u201d than \u201cexceeding expectations,\u201d conveniently omitting that a majority \u2013 more than the combination of the other two categories \u2013 feel he is \u201cmeeting expectations.\u201d Of course, that\u2019s a double edged sword. If you figured he\u2019d fail, he\u2019s meeting your expectations. But I\u2019m sure some wag will use the argument to prove he\u2019s failing. Believe me, GOPers have twisted evidence to greater degrees. <\/p>\n<p>Another note: Between one-fifth and a quarter of all Dems, Repugs and independents agree that \u201cgovernment has its own money\u201d while about two-thirds think the \u201cgovernment is funded by taxpayers.\u201d Even a fifth is frightening. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The conventional wisdom of last November\u2019s election was that Obama\u2019s victory, historic though it may have been in several ways, was not transformative. Wewere mostly disillusioned with the current brand of Repugnantism, but we were still a \u201ccenter-right\u201d nation. Clearly, Obama himself does not share that interpretation, and there may be some proof to his&hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/03\/05\/the-conventional-wisdom-of-last-novembers-election-was-that-obamas-victory-historic-though-it-may-have-been-in-several\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}