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Was Bill Clinton A 51-49 President?

By Big Tent Democrat

By Big Tent Democrat

That is the assertion of Harold Meyerson:

For 40 years now, since 1968, the Democrats have wandered in a political desert. From Nixon to Reagan to the current Bush, it's been a conservative era, and the genius of Bill Clinton, the most successful Democratic politician of that time, was primarily defensive -. . . The times themselves mandated incrementalism and triangulation, wars without movement fought behind battlements and moats, and no one learned the lessons of that era more brilliantly than Hillary Clinton. In a 51 to 49 nation, she is probably the best the Democrats have to offer.

I think it is interesting that Bill Clinton actually won his elections by 5 and 9 points and yet someone like Meyerson talks as if Clinton was a 51-49 President. I also think it is interesting that Meyerson does not for a moment consider the SIMILARITIES between the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign of 1992 especially. There is a willful blindness to this from some circles. More . . . Meyerson writes:

Now that conservatism is in tatters, can they build a progressive majority that delivers us from an ideology that has led us to invest less and less in the American people? That will take a leader whose genius is not for the defensive wars of the past but for movement, for crafting a new majority, addressing the new, cross-party anxiety over America's future with a call to a common purpose, convincing us that we are divided against ourselves at our own peril. That leader may be Barack Obama, who already has shown himself more able than any American in a very long time to help us transcend some of our most crippling differences. Or it may not be Obama, not yet, not ever; his power to persuade may fail to convince his compatriots that the country must change.

(Emphasis supplied.) I want to focus on the highlighted statements. I am curious what evidence Meyerson has that Obama has convinced "America" to "transcend some of our most crippling differences." There is not much in the way of polling to suggest this. But more importantly, there is not much in the way of ISSUES that Obama is focusing on that evidences this. The second Meyerson highlighted quote is most telling:

[Obama's] power to persuade may fail to convince his compatriots that the country must change . .

Before the power to persuade can even fail it must first TRY. The empty word "change" means nothing. Obama likes to compare himself to Ronald Reagan as a transformative figure but again everyone ignores the stark differences in their campaigns and politics. Reagan ran on issues and ideas. Bad ones as most Dems agree. But he sought a mandate for REAL change on the way the government is run. Obama seeks nothing in the way of issues. He argues for no agenda. The country will not be brung together on issues UNLESS someone forcefully advocates for them Obama has not run a campaign in any way reminscent of FDR or Ronald Reagan. But Harold Meyerson says he has the potential to be a transformative figure. I agree. Obama may very well have that potential. But if he does not change his campaign style, we will never put his potential to the test.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 31, 2008 (boomark / email).