What Went Wrong: Analyzing How the Left Hijacked Liberalism

By Barry Rubin


It is remarkable how little serious research and analysis there has been about the political earthquake that has shaken American politics out of all recognition.

Earthquake? That’s a serious understatement. The situation is more akin to the scariest scenarios of global climate change analysts: large areas of land have disappeared under water, formerly productive farmland has been turned into desert, and so on.

One reason there hasn’t been more examination of this revolution is that a lot of people are saying other things. Many conservatives say, Well this is what liberalism is all about. Nothing has changed. Barack Obama is exactly like Bill Clinton.

Academia and the media, two institutions that should be talking about such things, are too busy glorifying the new order or painting Obama as some kind of centrist. On the latter point, they use evidence of things he did against his will. (He kept the Bush tax cuts; let the Guantanamo Bay prison stay open, and is even talking about budget cuts!)

And a large proportion of the American people (40 percent? 50 percent?) say that nothing has changed at all.

Yet here is a very short analysis of what’s happened. A book-length narrative is required so the text below is going to over-simplify and obscure some points due to its necessary brevity.

Read more:
http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/2011/07/24/what-went-wrong-analyzing-how-the-left-hijacked-liberalism-and-the-democratic-party/