Did you hear its a center right country? Newsweek just told me.
I don't know if we're a center-right country, but it sure seems that way when we look at the make-up of the panels on two of our most revered Sunday talkshows: Meet the Press and This Week.
On Meet the Press, we spend half the show with Colin Powell, a Republican,
who played an instrumental part in that huge foreign policy disaster called the
Iraq War.
Now alot of what Powell had to say, especially about the need for Republicans to stop the trash talk about Arab and Muslim Americans, was extremely admirable, but why exactly do we care that much about where one well liked, but recently fallible, Republican cabinet member stands on the election?
To answer that question, let's go to the Meet the Press panel. David Brooks - conservative, Joe Scarborough - conservative, and then two journalists, Robert Meecham and Andrew Mitchell. That's not even center-right, that's just right.
Not one liberal or progressive voice. You think that frames the discussion?
Does This Week do any better?
Well, yes. They had not 2 but 3 conservatives/republicans, George Will, David Gergen, and Newt Gingrich. Throw in a centrist and typically non-combative Democrat in Donna Brazille, and a journalist - Thomas Friedman and what do you get? Mostly two hours of concern trolling about how Obama can't be held hostage by those spend-thristy libruls in Congress as he tackles this economic crisis in his increasingly likely ascent to the presidency.
I think we'd be served by a better debate. I think Tom and George have to get over their own conclusion that we're a center right country. We might be. We definitely are in the terms these shows are constantly framed. But are we in terms of public opinion on key issues?
Many others have spilled ink on the issue of what is mainstream America. I
won't here. But its clear we need a better representation of the full range of
American political thought in the punditry we're subjected to on Sunday Morning.
The assertion that we are a center/right country is false. I've seen folks at this site who I have thought are Dems make that assertion or accept that characterization of the electorate. I think I even recall Todd Gitlin repeating that claim awhile back. Gotta ask Jon Meachem and others who say this to tell what data they are basing it on.
October 24, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd say that the people in charge are certainly center-right.
October 24, 2008 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the talking heads. That's about it.
October 24, 2008 10:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
As a denizen of the east coast establishment (aka, "unreal America,") I'd have to say that the USA as a whole is pretty conservative compared to any other developed western democracy. A typical Canadian conservative or UK Tory--or any "conservative" from democratic Europe, Australia, etc. who emigrated to the US would find that their views put them in the "crazy" pro-gay-marriage, socialized medicine fringe of the Democratic party.
If you don't believe that the US of A is overall conservative, a quick tour of US presidential elections since 1968 might make you reconsider:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=21
The above is RCP's map of the 1968 presidential race-- you can flip through all subsequent races from the list above the map.
The "Red State-Blue State" paradigm is an oversimplification but there is some embedded truth there, amplified by our electoral college system. If we elected presidents through direct popular votes, we'd be far more conscious of the urban-rural divide, and would be talking about red vs. blue counties rather than states.
As a people, polling indicates the US is far more religious and more socially conservative than any comparable western democracy. The whole list of social issues that surface in US politics--guns, abortions, "socialized" medicine--are unfathomable in the rest of the developed world.
October 25, 2008 9:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Sunday morning talk shows are stuck in a time warp. Mostly older white guys chewing on old bromides that are increasingly out of step with the fastest growing segment of political activists--the younger more culturally diverse segment.
When I watch these shows, it's as if the internet hasn't been invented yet.
I think we lean too much on the traditional liberal-center-conservative continuum. I even think Democrat and Republican labels no longer accurately describe the electorate.
I think too many are still looking through those glasses to interpret and define a more dimensional and nuanced America.
October 25, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink