Wednesday, 02.27.08
The New Liberalism
Photo by J.D Pooley/Getty Images
Live-blogging Cleveland
26 February 2008
Andrew Sullivan gives a blow-by-blow and calls it for Obama.
Vantage point
26 February 2008
Marc Ambinder comments on Clinton's pugilism and Obama's hedges.
For those of us who've watched about seventeen million Democratic primary debates since the campaign kicked off, last night's debate was profoundly unedifying. Wrangling over the question of an individual mandate to purchase health insurance does not, for example, become more interesting on repeat viewing. Worse, a large number of left-of-center experts believe that this disagreement isn't actually important, and has only come to appear significant because it's been talked about so much. To admirers of Bill Clinton's record on trade policy, it was somewhat painful to watch Barack Obama assail it followed by Hillary trying to insist that she'd never said anything positive about NAFTA rather than defending her husband's eminently defensible record (and her own history of public statements) on the merits.
Perhaps the debate's most noteworthy moment was when Tim Russert managed to remind us all once again why he's one of the most pernicious forces working in journalism today, seeking to link Obama to Louis Farrakhan's record of anti-Semitic statetements. Obama, of course, reiterated the fact that he harbored no such sentiments and had condemned Farrakhan on many occasions. Clinton responded with a bizarre salvo that sums up much of what's gone wrong with her campaign -- haranguing Obama for "denouncing" Farrakhan rather than "rejecting" his support.
As a result, the Democrats appear set to nominate a candidate with both a record and a platform that are a good deal more liberal than what the party's offered in recent years without him ever having faced sustained criticism from the right. For a liberal, freedom from the timidity that's reigned in the Democratic Party ever since 1994 is an exciting prospect, but a moment's thought of how untested the new, more self-confident liberalism actually is is also a bit frightening.
Sanctimony vs. humorNoam Scheiber thinks Obama effectively parried Clinton's humorless hectoring. |
Clinton deliversConservative Jim Geraghty, by no means a Clinton fan, says she won the debate thanks to her passion and drive. |
Head of the classAfter stumbling, amateurish performances in the first Democratic debates, John Dickerson notes how dramatically Obama has improved. |
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The problem is elitist upper-middle-class liberals who admire Clinton's trade policy are not the voters you need to get a Democratic majority. These largely come from a demographic where the Dems have gained while the Republican base grew (non-Southern, well-educated, prosperous and secular whites). It is precisely because this class of people is out of touch with blue collar Americans' needs that you cannot build a majority in national elections.
If the Dems offer someone progressive on economics and moderate on social issues who can pull off being anti-war and pro-military at the same time, (s)he is a shoo-in.
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I think the average person needs to appreciate that McCain is not necessarily right about Iraq just because he was a Naval Officer and a prisoner of war, any more than he is right about the economy just because he belongs to the Republican Party. But to communicate this message credibly, Obama has to become more conversant on military matters, particulary fundamentals like the principles of war.
I hope he is sitting down with his military policy people (preferably ex-soldiers) and carefully polishing his historical understandings and public language on the issue, because fundamentally, his instincts and reasoning on Iraq and the "War on Terror" have been and are basically right.
Posted by T.K. | February 28, 2008 1:59 AM