Yesterday, Joe wrote an excellent response to David Ignatius’s column in the Post on the “rise of the center”. I recommend it highly.
I’m not always sure where I position myself politically — these days I seem to be on the center-left, likely pushed there by Republican dominance. If you’re interested, I have a somewhat different take whether or not there is currently a “rise of the center” over at The Reaction.
I won’t repost the entire piece, but here’s an excerpt:
There is still intense polarization in American politics. President Bush, who has spent his presidency pandering to his base, is wildly unpopular at the moment and two gubernatorial races went (as predicted) to the Democrats on Tuesday. (And the moderate Republican Michael Bloomberg won again in New York City — against a ridiculously inept Democratic opponent.) These may be signs of a shift to the center, but I’m not yet convinced.
It’s true that two leading contenders for ’08, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have played to the center, but can either one win without also pandering to their respective parties’ bases? The bases are key to the primaries, after all, but 2000 and 2004 also proved just how important it is to turn out the base for the election itself.