Americans Still Reject Liberalism by Wide Margins

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Congratulations are due to Barack Obama, whose election is a landmark achievement in our nation's long struggle with healing 400-year old wounds. The party of Lincoln can join all Americans in being proud of this historic moment. But it is important the we all recognize Obama's impressive win last Tuesday for what it is, and for what it isn't.

For starters, no one can deny that the American people signaled a strong desire for a clean break from the Bush years and to make a fresh start. A large part of Obama's appeal was that he is so different in so many ways than what the American people have seen before: his personality and background, together with his smooth charisma and eloquence, made it nearly inconceivable that any candidate could have wrestled away the banner of "change" under which Obama rode to victory. Here in Virginia, as in many other places around the country, many otherwise loyal Republican voters also saw the potential for the election of Obama as a means to redress past wrongs and fulfill the noble aims of the post-WWII civil rights movement.

What Obama's election was NOT is a leftward realignment of the American electorate. Democrats in Congress, led most visibly by the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, and Chuck Schumer, would have us all believe that Obama's election is a mandate for a fundamental reworking of the nation's politics. But that ignores what actually happened on Tuesday. The voters DID NOT choose a candidate who overtly promoted leftist economic and social changes. They DID NOT choose a candidate who sounded like the U.S. Senate's most liberal member. Instead, they chose a candidate whose signature campaign promise of "tax cuts" for 95% of earners was made in recognition of the continuing appeal of Reaganism, and whose lofty speeches consistently sought to downplay the radical overtones of his own past.

The exit polling from election day bears out this point. While a certain percentage of voters clearly rejected President Bush and sought to punish or marginalize his party, nearly 80% of the electorate nevertheless described themselves as conservative or moderate, compared to just over 20% who identify as liberals. These figures are basically unchanged from President Bush's solid victory four years ago.

One thing that did change, though, is that this time around 1 in 5 conservatives voted for Obama. Perhaps because of lingering distrust for McCain, or built-up disgust at some of the rather un-conservative policies and practices of Bush and other Washington Republicans, or simply because of misguided reliance on Obama's campaign promises, these self-described conservatives--accounting for almost 7% of the vote--left the Republican Party this year. Perhaps not coincidentally, that number is roughly equal to Obama's entire margin of victory in the popular vote.

Any big defeat naturally spawns a great deal of soul-searching among the vanquished, and there is no reason Virginia Republicans this time around should shy from vigorous self-criticism. It has only been a few days, but already there are a lot of ideas floating around about the whys and hows of this election. Democrats and their allies in the newsmedia (along with, sadly, some Virginia Republicans), are attempting to shape the history of this election by characterizing it as a rejection of conservative principles, but principled conservatives know better. Republican politicians have been defeated, but Republican ideals remain intact.

This is a topic I'll write more about in the future, but for now I'll say that while I wish we had won more votes on Tuesday, I am nevertheless grateful for the opportunity that we now have as a party to get back to focusing on the things we stand for, and providing the type leadership the country will soon realize it sorely misses. Our slate of 2009 candidates in Virginia gives me great hope that we're already well on our way to doing just that.

posted by Steve Albertson | 04:52 PM