Democrat Technicolor Dream Fight

Mr. Obama's election has sparked heady talk of "liberal mandates" and a "progressive America." David Sirota at Salon joins a chorus of pundits urging President Obama to go progressive and go big. It's a good article, but I'm suspicious of any argument based on comic book philosophy:

Maximizing this opportunity relies on Democrats understanding the parable from Spider-Man comics -- the one about great power coming with "great responsibility." In politics, that latter phrase is a euphemism for high expectations.

Just as soaring campaign rhetoric easily slips the surly bonds of reality, boastful and grandiose pronouncement are to by expected from euphoric victors. Let them have their fun while it lasts. Remember the one about how President Bush had ushered in a permanent Republican majority? Campaign hot air and post-election fantasies are inevitably doomed to dissipate into the ether.

A piece written by the Heritage Foundation produces some needles to prick the balloon. It points out Mr. Obama's late breaking conservative spasms (Pro-gun, pro-FISA, middle class tax cuts, fiscal responsibility, larger military). It also reveals the inconvenient truth that while the Obama campaign ran no ads claiming the support of the liberal Center for American Progress, it did run some wrongly claiming conservative Heritage Foundation support for its tax policies.

There is clearly a yawning gap between the what the left expects from an Obama presidency and the rhetoric that Obama actually ran on. As to who the real Obama is — a pragmatic centrist or a progressive ideologue — our guess is as good as anyone’s. After all, Obama has never governed anything, so there is no track record to make predictions.

Finally, America just ain't that liberal. Democrats might outnumber Republicans, but there are still more conservatives (34%) than liberals (22%.) And the Wall Street Journal reports that swing voters who ushered in an Obama Presidency nontheless do not want big government. I know, that doesn't make sense, but little in politics does...

A poll commissioned by the Club for Growth in 12 swing congressional districts over the past weekend shows that the voters who made the difference in this election still prefer less government -- lower taxes, less spending and less regulation -- to Sen. Obama's economic liberalism. Turns out, Americans didn't vote for Mr. Obama and Democratic congressional candidates because they support their redistributionist agenda, but because they are fed up with the Republican politicians in office. This was a classic "throw the bums out" election, rather than an embrace of the policy views of those who will replace them.

The great struggle will not be between a triumphant Democratic Empire and a small band of persecuted Republican hiding out in the catacombs. The real battle will rage within the Democratic Party between ideological centrists and doctrinaire liberals each convinced they have a mandate. Meanwhile, Republicans need only stand aside and look responsible.

The most interesting question is, which side will President Obama come down on? It will take the wisdom of Solomon to thread that needle.