Lately, the media has been making much of Obama's "move to the center". He hasn't moved a thing. If he were genuinely interested in reassuring centrists, he wouldn't have blown off the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, which was meeting in Chicago. Not only didn't he stop by, he didn't even pretend he had something to do--he shot hoops and got a haircut.
Look. To say that Obama is flipflopping or changing his views is to give him more merit than he deserves. Obama has no views. He's empty. To the extent he holds any beliefs, they are of the far academic left--he's been reflecting those people's views so long that some of them soaked in. But only a few.
The man does nothing more than read lines off a teleprompter. His handlers have decided he's got a better chance if he mouths centrists platitudes. So they scroll those words on by, he reads them real nice, and the media obediently reports that he's abandoning the left, completely ignoring the lack of any genuine outreach to centrists.
It's not about reassuring centrists. Obama has no intention of genuinely placating centrists--he's made it clear that anyone who preferred Clinton has to get over it. Obama's campaign is banking on the cult coming out in big numbers and the rest of Democrats taking him because they have nowhere else to go.
So if Obama isn't trying to convince Democrats, why move to the center? Easy: he must try to avoid succeeding where McCain has failed. Obama must not energize the right. While conservatives who follow the election won't be fooled, a large fraction of the right haven't really focused in on the election yet. By the time they start to pay attention, Obama wants his "shift to the center" well documented, in the hopes that they will view him unenthusiastically, but as no more objectionable than, say, John Kerry or John Edwards. Bad, of course, but not unthinkably far left.
The enthusiasm gap between McCain and Obama supporters might shift considerably if Republicans who haven't been paying much attention to the campaign thus far understand just exactly who Obama's cultists are, and what views they hold dear. They might get very excited about voting for McCain not so much for his own ideas, but in order to stop Obama.
So the "move to the center" isn't designed to bring the center over to Obama. It's about keeping the right at home.
Jul 1, 08 06:27 AM