From the ArcaMax Publishing, Arianna Huffington Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/ariannahuffington/s-341406-472725
It's a paradox: The political center has clearly shifted; what used to
be considered "left wing" positions have now become part of the
mainstream, and the views of the right are now at odds with the
majority of the American public -- and with reality.
Yet, despite this seismic shift -- grossly underreported by the media
-- the right remains as powerful as ever when it comes to setting the
national agenda and dominating the national debate.
Think about it: On Iraq and the exercise of American power, on
economic fairness, on corporate responsibility, on the environment and
climate change, on the universal right to healthcare, the progressive
policies and positions long championed by the left have moved from
union halls and MoveOn e-mails to the sidewalks, backyards and kitchen
tables of Main Street, USA.
Nevertheless, the traditional media -- and most politicians --
continue to insist on looking at every issue through a right vs. left
frame, then assume the answer is found by splitting the difference.
I've spent much of the last year trying to pinpoint the reasons for
this startling disconnect in my new book, "Right is Wrong," which is
being released this week.
And I concluded that there are three main areas to look at, not only
to help us understand how we got in the mess we're in, but also to
help us get out: the media, the role of fear in our politics, and the
failure of political leadership.
These three factors have combined to allow the lunatic fringe that has
taken over the right to hijack our country, our democracy and our
Constitution. So that 28 percent of the population that continues to
support George W. Bush -- no matter how many bodies pile up in Iraq,
how many jobs disappear overseas, how many "For Sale" signs go up on
their block, or how high gas prices get -- continues to dominate our
politics.
Let's take them one by one, starting with the media, which remains
hopelessly addicted to the false belief that in order to be fair and
balanced every story needs to be given the "on the one hand . . . and
on the other" treatment. But not every story has two sides -- and the
truth is often to be found not in the middle but solidly on one side
or the other.
The earth is not flat. Global warming is a fact. Evolution is a fact
-- sorry Mike Huckabee. And not even Republicans still believe in the
unfettered free market. Look how they rushed to Big Government to save
their beloved Bear Sterns.
Nor are there two sides to the proposition that Iraq is our
generation's greatest foreign policy disaster. It is. Period. Full
stop. Yet the same media that enabled the administration to sell us
the multitrillion-dollar war are -- nearly six years later -- still
pushing the right's line that "the surge is working." Green Zone
bombardments be damned.
Indeed, we are in the sixth year of an unnecessary and immoral war
that has cost tens of thousands of lives, globally discredited the
United States and has left us all less safe than the day Shock and Awe
began. But the media are still debating the war's "progress," and
describing the state of Iraq as "a mixed bag" -- which is a little bit
like going to the doctor, having him tell you that you have a brain
tumor but your acne has cleared, and considering the diagnosis "a
mixed bag."
What is behind the media's lapdog devotion to the messages and framing
of the right? It's a combination of self-loathing and abject fear. The
media wear their dread like a cheap aftershave. The broadcast networks
and the cable news channels live in mortal fear of a dip in the
ratings, and newspapers are constantly checking their pulse --
convinced by their deteriorating profits and market share that the end
is near. So they continue to offer the views of the newly marooned
right more than equal time.
Fear -- specifically the right wing's masterful manipulation of it --
has also come to dominate our politics.
In 2004 we had the whole sordid "al-Qaida really wants John Kerry to
win" routine. And it's only April, but John McCain has already told us
that al-Qaida will increase its violent attacks to try and defeat him,
and that Hamas wants Obama to win. This is not only laughable but
downright loathsome -- and there should be zero tolerance for such
distortions in American politics.
Besides, why wouldn't al-Qaida want McCain to win? He's running to
give a third term to George Bush, whose disastrous policies have been
the terrorists' best recruitment tool.
McCain's "more of the same" platform should disqualify him from being
allowed to use sharp scissors, let alone be president of the United
States. But the mainstream media still treat him with kid gloves and
continue to take his foreign policy positions -- however confused --
seriously.
You can be sure the right will play the fear card again in 2008,
because that's all that's left in its deck. And that's why it's
incredibly important that Democrats take back national security as an
issue from the Republicans, and why Hillary Clinton's latest attempts
to out-bellicose McCain are so destructive.
The dynamic between the dithering Democrats and the reality-be-damned
Republican right calls to mind that great line from Yeats: "The best
lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate
intensity."
The third factor in the continuing power of the loony right is the
abject, across-the-board failure of our political leadership to adjust
to the fact that the game of "right vs. left" has been rendered
obsolete by the emergence of a new and vital center. But political
movements and political shifts do not fully succeed without bold
political leadership -- and if we ever needed that kind of leadership,
it is now.
Democratic leaders need to redefine the center of American politics.
Right is no longer the opposite of left. It is the opposite of wrong.
And what used to be the left needs to redefine itself as something
more than just an opposition force -- but rather as an active,
positive, mainstream current that includes independents, Republicans
aghast at what has happened to their party, and many new voters who
are tired of empty partisanship.
Over this past year, it has seemed that America is ready to define a
new center and to turn a new page and close the book on this tragic
chapter of our history. The nomination of John McCain, however, could
obstruct this transition. McCain is the Trojan Horse the right,
desperately needed to put a faux maverick, faux independent, faux
straight-talker imprint on the same ruinous policies that have taken
us down this dark road.
Though the era of the right has exhausted its historic course,
collapsing in moral, political and economic bankruptcy, the
transformation and co-opting of McCain from a maverick into the Second
Coming of George W. Bush shows the durability of the right and the
lingering danger it poses. There is nothing automatic about its
disappearance from the stage. Not unless we, together, give it -- and
McCain -- a mighty push into the wings and right out the stage door.
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Arianna Huffington's e-mail address is arianna@huffingtonpost.com.