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September 24, 2007
West Of Center
Matt Bai penned an interesting piece in yesterday's LA Times (hat tip to Greg for the link) about the modern progressive movement's increasingly western center of gravity, and its gradual pull on the Democratic Party.
Bai, who also has a new book out about the "battle to remake Democratic politics", begins the article by noting that while Democrats in 2008 will likely make history by nominating either a woman or an African American for the first time, for the 39th consecutive time they will not nominate a Westerner. Meanwhile, Bai says, the nexus of progressive thought and activism has moved west.
He points out that both Democratic leaders in Congress hail from the West (California in the House and Nevada in the Senate), but more importantly that the activist core has eschewed the Washington Democratic establishment's "compromising, pragmatic impulse" in favor of not so much an ideological agenda, as a more "confrontational, principled and shrewd" approach.
Bai goes on to define Hillary Clinton's principal rub with the Democratic primary electorate as her embodiment of the old-line "go along get along" candidate, and notes that the other candidates in the field are all trying to show themselves in a much less establishment light.
A very interesting read.
Posted by houtopia at September 24, 2007 09:49 PM