Clinton, Latham and popular culture
So-so piece in the NY Times on the Democrats' congressional prospects pushing a centrist line (much as the media does for Labor party here). Thus:
The party's more conservative members speak of the need for an "additive politics" that appeals explicitly to middle-class voters. Will Marshall, the head of the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist research group, says that rather than constantly conjuring the image of families hanging on by their fingernails — the party's urban, industrial base — the Democrats need "a message that speaks to the aspirations of middle-class Americans." Nor can they simply "empathize" with the challenge of raising a moral child in an ambiguous world; they need to take on the record labels and entertainment companies whom the party depends on for financing. And they need to overcome voters' deep skepticism on the whole range of post-9/11 issues. Right now, says
Like or loath
For the last 30 years, the right’s been having fun — Lee Atwater playing the blues, Rush Limbaugh giving that strangulated laugh, The Weekly Standard running those mocking covers — while the left has been good for you, like eating a big, dry bowl of muesli. This isn’t simply because leftists can be humorless (a quality shared with righteous evangelicals), but because, over the years, they’ve gone from being associated with free love and rock & roll to seeming like yuppified puritans; hence the Gore-Lieberman ticket talked about censoring video games and brainy leftist Thomas Frank tirelessly debunks the pleasure of those who buy anything Cool or find Madonna meaningful. (
Of course the argument about young voters flocking to Howard is false but that is no reason to give it any life.
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