When Bill Maher Understands How to Politically Negotiate Better Than the President, We Have a Problem

MARK KARLIN, BUZZFLASH EDITOR FOR TRUTHOUT

One reassuring thing about football - you always know where the center is: the 50-yard line.

But as much as the DC elites of both parties accept a mythical "right center" in politics, it does not really exist.

What happens is that through well-funded public relations, political messaging and the corporate media, the wealthy right wing has created a perception of where the "American center" is, even if it is not a reality when people are polled on individual political issues. Most US voters, for instance, oppose extending the "bonus" tax cuts for the wealthy, according to a CBS poll.

But the Democratic Party leadership, for the last few decades, has negotiated with the Republican-generated perception of the "center," not with the reality of public opinion. Furthermore, the Democrats, in contrast to the Republicans, have been extraordinarily deficient in leading the public toward specific goals.

In a recent interview on CNN, Bill Maher trenchantly gets down to the failings of the White House to negotiate out of strength. "The Republicans seem to continually stake out a position further, further to the right," said Maher, "and then demand that the Democrats meet them in the middle, but that's not the middle anymore."

It's as if the Democrats have tacitly agreed to play their entire game on their opponent's half of the field.

You can't win many victories with that sort of strategy.

****

If you'd like to receive these commentaries daily from Truthout/BuzzFlash, click here. You'll get our choice headlines and articles too!