(no subject)
You know, I dumped on Novak a few posts ago, but the more I think about it, the less convinced I am that he's wrong, i.e., I don't really have a strong sense that the country has taken a very hard turn to the left or given much the Democrats much of a mandate, as groundbreaking as this election is in some historical respects.
McCain lost, but he was by no means slaughtered, not in the way that Mondale or Goldwater or Alf Landon were slaughtered. He lost by 6 points and carried a relatively substantial number of electoral college votes as compared to those huge landslides. And let's not forget, as I've reiterated ad nauseum, Obama is a relatively middle of the road, at best and maybe even a conservative candidate. His tax policies, despite the dissembling alarmism about socialism, is really a carryover of "what we need is more tax cuts", his health insurance policies provide no big breakthroughs. And despite his relatively centrist position and the huge fiascos that are the housing crises, financial market meltdowns, massive debts and wars from which the U.S. can't escape, the Democrats were able only to beat McCain by 6-7% percentage points and manage only to get House and Senate numbers somewhere around pre-1994 numbers. So, no, I don't think the country has taken a hard turn to the left, one might argue that it's barely even swerved.
UPDATE (nov. 8): I think I phrased the above badly, I think Obama does have a mandate of sorts. I just acknowledge that it's hard to interpret it as a mandate to take a hard left turn or, as I was reading Novak, a mandate to enact "the long-deferred liberal agenda".
McCain lost, but he was by no means slaughtered, not in the way that Mondale or Goldwater or Alf Landon were slaughtered. He lost by 6 points and carried a relatively substantial number of electoral college votes as compared to those huge landslides. And let's not forget, as I've reiterated ad nauseum, Obama is a relatively middle of the road, at best and maybe even a conservative candidate. His tax policies, despite the dissembling alarmism about socialism, is really a carryover of "what we need is more tax cuts", his health insurance policies provide no big breakthroughs. And despite his relatively centrist position and the huge fiascos that are the housing crises, financial market meltdowns, massive debts and wars from which the U.S. can't escape, the Democrats were able only to beat McCain by 6-7% percentage points and manage only to get House and Senate numbers somewhere around pre-1994 numbers. So, no, I don't think the country has taken a hard turn to the left, one might argue that it's barely even swerved.
UPDATE (nov. 8): I think I phrased the above badly, I think Obama does have a mandate of sorts. I just acknowledge that it's hard to interpret it as a mandate to take a hard left turn or, as I was reading Novak, a mandate to enact "the long-deferred liberal agenda".