sozobe wrote:Obama's Christian but his church is really liberal. One of the first to allow gay clergy, one of the first to have women... pastors? (not sure about terminology), very diverse congregation, etc., etc.
McCain badmouthed them (Christian conservatives) and they're mad at him.
Brownback isn't viable (I'd hope anyway, he's a nutcase).
They're in trouble.
The problem with the RR voting block is precisely that their views don't blend well with most Americans. They don't deserve the power they have. Where the Left shoots itself in the foot; isn't by not catering to them so much, but rather it is in antagonizing them.
Pro CP= Barbarism.
Pro Life= Idiocy
Pro Marriage Protection= Bigotry
Pro Christmas= Discrimination
To the thinking majority of citizens; these aren't necessarily make or break issues
until they are too ardently attacked.
Conversely, both Obama and Giuliani support their own ideals, and when questioned articulate their reasons for same, rather than
Lashing out at the religious or Liberals in general. In a country where 80% of the citizens believe in some form of God; this is a recipe for disaster. The Right will always have the upper hand in these squabbles, because the Left lacks the identity of the Right. It's comical to watch members of the Right deny being members of the Right with the same fervency as the Left denies being members of the Left. The Left, almost by definition is made up of people with more independent sets of values in that they lack the organization of the Religious Right. Hence; even though the Right hits every bit as hard; less people are alienated as a result of the blow.
Strategically, the Right need only forward an awareness campaign to their base involving one of the Left's pet issues, and then sit back an watch the Left bury themselves in overreaction. Obama seems almost unique in his ability to push a clearly Left-wing agenda without going overboard and that is demonstrative of some serious political savvy. Hyper-polarization over relatively minor issues, to the point of demonizing the opposition and alienating even greater numbers with overreaction is where Liberal minded folks tend to get in trouble, and thus far Obama is navigating around the minefields brilliantly.
Having been elected Mayor of NY of all places, Giuliani has proven that contrary views can be acceptable if they are reasonable and the preponderance of your politics are acceptable. Once you factor out the hyper-partisan on both sides; you are addressing the Moderates of both parties as well as the Independent's. These are the people who decide who wins, and over-pandering to either side will alienate a sufficient majority of the middle to insure defeat. IMO, the Right has outmaneuvered the left in recent decades, simply by keeping the polarization levels high. It takes two to Tango, and the Left generally doesn't just react, but overreacts
ultimately to their own detriment. Put simply; in a country where 80% of the citizens believe in some form of God; you'll not do yourself any favors by accusing them of idiocy, bigotry or barbarism.
Next up, and most importantly, you have the "War on Terrorism". While not a religious issue itself, it serves the purpose of polarization and polarization ultimately favors the Right. One would think that with the Iraq War's immense unpopularity, it would be simple to ride that to the oval office
and it could well be if the Democrats could collectively keep their mouths shut about relatively less important subjects. But they won't. The Right will forward a few key attacks on unpopular positions held by the Left, and the Left will overreact quick enough to make Pavlov proud.
Obama, in my opinion, may have the charisma to simultaneously duck the Right's polarization strategy, while maintaining his good standing with the middle and the Left. Hillary would not. She'd mix it up, believing she's winning the good fight, all the while playing right into the Right's hands.
