Here and There

*Today’s entry is a response to Tom Friedman’s column “Forgotten Center,” which ran in The New York Times. Because I’m not savvy enough to know how to link to articles in The Times, I will pull excerpts for your reference.

Dear Mr. Friedman,

I just read your column “Forgotten Center” in The Times. I agree with you that one thing our country lacks is a truly rooted discourse; that in a certain sense, the extremes have hijacked the two political parties. You write:

Clearly, the way voting districts have been gerrymandered in America, thanks to the Voting Rights Act and Tom DeLay-like political manipulations, is a big part of the problem. As a result of this gerrymandering, only a small fraction of the seats in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures are really contested anymore. Therefore, few candidates have to build cross-party coalitions around the middle. (bold is mine)

I take issue, however, with such a quick and easy comparison. Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, and Howard Dean (arguably the four most prominent Democrats on the national stage) are all close to the mold of Clinton centrists. While each may hold an opinion or two more liberal than Bill, they all fall closer to him than to FDR (our last truly liberal president).

In another paragraph, you write:

This is a real dilemma because a vast majority of Americans are just center-left or center-right. Many surely feel disenfranchised by today’s far-left, far-right Congress. (bold is mine)

I would argue that in today’s Congress, there are few far-left legislators.

The same is not true, though, for Republicans. Extremely conservative politicians have taken over that party, creating a situation in which Republican centrists like McCain or Giuliani start to look attractive to traditionally Democratic-leaning voters.

To me, another vital issue (in addition to gerrymandering, which has certainly wreaked its havoc on American politics) is the tacking to the right of the entire political structure. In order to defeat Bush 41, Democrats propped up their most centrist (and likable) candidate. That moment (and Dole’s failed candidacy four years later) nudged the spectrum just enough so that conservatives were able to grab the spotlight from the failed curmudgeons of the party’s past. Since the moment Bush 43 announced his candidacy, conservatives and evangelicals rejoiced, and we’ve been stuck with the situation we have today.

I don’t only blame Republicans. Democrats facilitated the slide by becoming DINOs (Democrats in Name Only). I only regret the fact that more Republican politicians couldn’t meet them in the middle.

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