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Jewish World Review Oct 3, 2011 / 6 Tishrei, 5772 ‘Centrists’ Are Abandoning Ship By Jonah Goldberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | President Obama's failure to fully achieve the liberal agenda and remain popular in the process is fueling dangerous radicalization in the oddest of places: the media establishment, which considers itself the guardian of the political center. I should say "the so-called center," because one of those most tedious -- yet meticulously maintained -- fictions is the claim that the establishment is, in fact, "centrist." If you've ever met these people and talked to them about how they see the world, heard them give a college commencement address, read their books or endeavored to find out the political views of their spouses, you'd have all the evidence you need to learn that the establishment's centrist facade is so much Potemkin poster board. For example, remember the media obsession with the cockeyed fantasy that Obama was the next FDR? Go back and watch some of those late-2008 and early-2009 episodes of "Meet the Press." The guests were so giddy about the prospect they looked like 6-year-olds at a birthday party ordered to sit still while the clown got ready to make balloon animals. But Obama is no FDR, nor a Lincoln, nor a liberal Reagan. At this point he's simply hoping to not be a Carter. And that's fomented establishment despair. The establishment can't bring itself to blame liberalism (or themselves). So instead they blame the system. Obama's own re-election theme of running against "Washington" -- a town he had near total control over for two years and in which he is still the most powerful figure -- is a variant of the same argument. Obama can't blame the party he leads, so he blames the "system." That idea -- that the system itself is to blame -- has now gone viral.
Friedman's gut is a terrifying thing. During the fight over "Obamacare," he didn't just think the political system "sucks" (to borrow Democratic wise man Just last week, Similarly, former Obama aide Friedman likes "depoliticized commissions" too, like the Chinese politburo. That's why he's written how he wishes we could be just like " At least But what's interesting about Miller's argument is how un-centrist it is. Writing for the The new centrism: No more half-measures, just full-blown liberalism. As you go through Miller's platform, you can tell he's serious. He wants to spend vastly more money over "a couple years" to "fix the economy." Ever more taxpayer dollars will be poured into infrastructure, make-work service jobs and education. Once unemployment is lower, he wants to tax "dirty energy" and impose trade tariffs. That's pretty much Friedman's ideal agenda too. Come to think of it, it's also This is a fascinating departure from the usual pabulum from centrists who insist that they are neither right nor left. This is nothing less than a desperate abandonment of Obama and the There are few things more pathetic than rats deserting a sinking ship while claiming they're a superior breed of rat.
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Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||||
