Reply #12: I tend to agree with the point

[zipplewrath]

The manner in which you make the point unfortunately will distract from the larger and more valid issue. The party has been moving right because the GOP has been moving right, opening up space for moderate republicans to become democrats.

There is probably some "realignment" coming, or possibly a major shift in the center of the GOP. Conversely, the democrats could basically "trade places" with the GOP. It's happened before. The democrats weren't always the party that they are. It was the GOP that elected Lincoln and ended slavery. The GOP "handed the south to the democrats for a generation", in a way that would be reversed when LBJ claimed to return the favor.

I often consider politics not to be a truly "right/left" on some sort of line, but a circle where we chase each other around. Run long enough in one direction and you find yourself on the "opposite side" of the circle. Obama didn't start this by any stretch, but he may be a strong catalyst in completing the conversion.