The Playing Field

This is from Charles Krauthammer's latest article, in which he notes that Obama is having some troubles lately; in particular he seems to be dropping the polls. He basically argues that this is Obama's fault.

Unbidden, unforced and unpushed by the congressional leadership, Obama gave his most deeply felt vision of America, delivering the boldest social democratic manifesto ever issued by a U.S. president. In American politics, you can't get more left than that speech and still be on the playing field.

In a center-right country, that was problem enough.

What I find fascinating is that according to Krauthammer, Obama is as leftist as you can get and still be viable. That's pretty frustrating; because Obama is not all that far to the left. He may not even be as far left as Bill Clinton. And if he is the most liberal person we are allowed to have, we will always be enacting center right proposals at best.

While we are at it, by Center-Right, Krauthammer means that the range of reasonable Americans runs from extreme right wingers like Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to Moderate Right Wingers. Liberals may as well not even show up. Fortunately I think this particular fantasy of the right is just that, a fantasy.