All of what we know about this election so far indicates that it was mostly a media-created, corporate financed coup.
From the moment a few old Republican Party activists started screaming obscenities at politicians during the healthcare struggle to the mammoth injections of hundreds of millions in corporate donations into Republican coffers, the right wing controlled media made American politics a circus in which the right dominated the message.
Simply put, claims that this election signaled a popular mandate for the Republicans or their agenda are ridiculous.
On the other hand, left-wing claims that the President should get militant and offer only the most progressive agenda imaginable – no matter how futile – seem to lack clear, long-term thinking.
Here are just some facts about the election and ways to move forward.
Progressive members of Congress survived the onslaught. While, for example, Reps. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., heroes of the left, were returned for two more years, more than half of the conservative Blue Dog caucus were wiped out. Indeed, one report on Daily Kos revealed that members of the Progressive Caucus in the House number almost two in five of the Democratic caucus.
It might be tempting to conclude that this means voters favor a progressive agenda, but the plain fact is that it really signals that much of electoral politics is fought out in the middle of the political spectrum. The easy conclusion that the return to a majority will come via a lurch to the left is mistaken. For the foreseeable future majorities will depend on center-left alliances, capturing moderate seats, and compromise policies.
