“Hell, ya, this is a liberal moment...."

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Leftward, Ho?
By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: February 18, 2007


Robyn Beck/Agence France-Press—Getty Images

Liberals have made progress on carbon emissions and health care.


Richard T. Nowitz/Corbis

THESE are balmy days on the American left — genuine, uncharacteristic sunniness unpolluted by some fluky political climate change. There is even talk of a — stutter, clear-throat, perish-thought — liberal resurgence.

Or, treading gingerly, a “liberal moment.”

“Hell, ya, this is a liberal moment,” exults Thomas Frank, author of “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” — and yes, he even calls himself a “liberal” writer, eschewing the sleeker “progressive” stage name that many lefties are preferring these days. He declares this “liberal moment” loud and proud. Until the inevitable qualifier comes.

“A potentially liberal moment,” Mr. Frank says, “assuming that liberal politicians can seize the moment and get beyond their usual plague of incompetence.”...

But it is optimism nonetheless, and well-founded, too, say Mr. Frank and a broad spectrum of political thinkers and leaders. And, they say, the evidence goes beyond the obvious indicators — the ascendance of Democrats in the House and Senate, President Bush’s second-term belly-flop and poll numbers showing the Democratic Party trending left and the nation’s political center trending Democratic.

The chicken-egg riddle is how much this alleged “liberal moment” bespeaks genuine momentum for the left and how much stems from anti-Bush, antiwar, anti-Republican fervor....

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....it’s clear that issues once largely walled off to the liberal hinterlands have suddenly gained mainstream acceptance and urgency....Presidential candidates, for instance, can now safely utter “universal health care” without being tarred as supporters of “socialized medicine.” Polls show increasing support for raising the minimum wage, stem-cell research, gay and lesbian civil unions, alternative-energy initiatives and increased financial aid to offset the escalating cost of college.

Republicans can no longer blockade the cause of global warming to the wild-haired left. Once derided as “Ozone Man” by the former President Bush, Al Gore is now up for a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar....

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....voters aged 18 to 25 are far more Democratic than previous generations, according to a 2006 survey by Pew Research. And the ratio of Democratic voters who describe themselves as “liberal Democrats” (32 percent) has risen steadily while the share of “conservative Democrats” has dropped (23 percent). Four years earlier, 27 percent of Democrats identified as conservatives, 26 percent as liberals....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/weekinreview/18liebovich.html

[DeepModem Mom]

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