Topic: Decline of the West
This piece by Jay Cost at RealClearPolitics dovetails with my earlier post on the political risks that ObamaCare poses for the Democratic Party. His analysis and mine agree to a point, but Cost argues that the Democratic Party itself will suffer severe damage if ObamaCare passes:
The Democratic Party is broader than its progressive intellectuals and media cheerleaders. It has the majority not just because of San Francisco, California—but also Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Zanesville, Ohio. Those places voted Democratic in the 2008 House elections. Some progressives, especially in the blogosphere, see that as a problem—the "ConservaDems" they elect hold up true progress. But it's historically the greatest strength of the Democratic Party, whose appeal has long been much broader than the GOP's.
House Democrats should bear this in mind as they consider the current reforms. This bill would signal not just a major change in health care, but also in the Democratic Party itself. The end result will be a smaller, more narrowly liberal party that is less trusted by the mass public to respect its collective judgment. The party will keep San Francisco and The New Republic, but sooner or later they'll lose Murfreesboro and Zanesville.
He has a point. Perhaps a distinction that should be made between the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party. What’s good for the former may turn out to be very, very bad for the latter.
