Newsflash: More Than 60% See President-Elect Obama As "Liberal"

Here's a little news that probably won't dominate the post-election punditry. More than 60% of voters considered Sen. Barack Obama a "liberal." And he won.

Politico interviewed Sen. John McCain's long-time close aide Mark Salter, who revealed the result from the McCain campaign's own polling.

Our polling showed that more than 60 percent of voters identified Obama as a liberal. Typically, a candidate is not going to win the presidency with those figures. But I think the country just disregarded it. People didn't care. They just wanted the biggest change they could get.

Some conservatives are trying to rationalize their defeat by claiming Obama duped the nation into thinking he wasn't liberal. For example, the conservative blog Power Line said: "Despite his thoroughgoing liberalism, Obama did not run as a liberal. LIberals can run successfully for president under camouflage donned for the occasion."

And as David Sirota has been chronicling, many in the punditocracy are clinging to the fiction that the election somehow proves America is a "center-right" nation.

Sorry folks, but McCain's own polling completely refutes that claim. America read the label, saw all the plans for active government, and knew what they were buying.

We at Campaign for America's Future have always held that the American majority was already a progressive majority when it came to the big issues: role of government, public investment, taxation, clean energy, environment, health care, wages and worker rights.

But there was no getting around that conservatives have been able to deploy "liberal" as an all-purpose damning slur for a long while. Self-described moderates may be supporting progressive positions, but could be made wary people tarred with liberal stereotypes: soft, weak and irresponsible.

Not today. The liberal boogeyman card could not be played, no matter how hard they tried. Perceived fear of liberals is far outweighed by the disgust of the actual damage conservatives have wrought.

Despite this hugely positive change in American politics, it does not mean we should assume the American public will embrace every liberal progressive policy proposal that comes down the pike without question.

Conservatives may no longer be able to quickly dismiss ideas with the "liberal" slur. But a poorly conceived plan can still be beat on the merits, and a poorly argued plan can still have its details distorted to appear poorly conceived. A big policy failure (such as 1994 Clinton health care plan) can rapidly resurrect debilitating stereotypes.

But conservatives will not be able to stop us just by screaming "liberal" over and over again. And the longer conservatives delude themselves about the choice America has made for the direction of our country, the easier it is going to be for us to turn the progressive mandate into progressive policy.

Originally posted at OurFuture.org

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election

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Comments

[Michale32086]

odyssey58

}}}}
It's about the fact that Americans overwhelmingly voted in favor of Democrats.
{{{{

This is exactly what I mean...

Ya'all color the reality to fit your view of the world. Just like religious fanatics do...

There was no "overwhelming" vote for Democrats.­. Races were rather close. In fact, {GASP} in some races, Republicans actually WON!!! {GASP}

Let me ask you something. Anyone else feel free to chime in..

Are you an American first and foremost or a Democrat??

Michale...­..

[odyssey58]

I am a human being on the planet Earth. That is the most important identity to me. While I am glad to have been born an American, I am not very nationalistic. As of Tuesday, I finally have a sense of pride in the people of my country that I haven't had before. They did the right thing.

Liberals ask, "What can we do to make the world a better place for all?"

CONservatives ask, "How can we exploit the rest of the world for our own financial gain?"

I believe that Americans are finally starting to ask the first question more than the second question. If the world goes down, we all go down with it. I truly want to help make a better world for future generations. Does that make me an American first or a Democrat first? It doesn't matter.

[Michale32086]

Actually, it DOES matter..

It matters very much..

Let me ask the question in a different way.

You have a choice of actions to take. You MUST take one...

On the one hand, your action taken will be VERY beneficial to your country, but it will hurt the Democratic Party immensely.­.

On the second choice, your action will be VERY beneficial to the Democratic Party, but it will hurt the country..

Failure to decide is a decision in itself... And it's usually the wrong decision.

So, what do you do?? Benefit your Party at the expense of your country??

Or benefit your country at the expense of your party..

In the Marines, it's UNIT, CORP, GOD, COUNTRY, as espoused by Cpl Dawson in A FEW GOOD MEN...

With me, it's FAMILY, COUNTRY...­..

What are your priorities???

Michale...­..

[nitish]

without further context, that '60% see obama as liberal' doesn't mean much...

20-30% could have said: yay he's liberal i'll vote FOR him
20-40% could have seid: ew, he's liberal i'll vote AGAINST him

numbers can be sliced many ways

[LanguagePolice]

FDR WAS A LIBERAL. JFK WAS A LIBERAL. LBJ WAS A LIBERAL. GOD BLESS THEM EVERY ONE. THE TORCH IS PASSED.

[Michale32086]

FDR ordered American citizens to be incarcerated whose only "crime" was their ancestry..­.

JFK ordered the invasion of a sovereign nation...

LBJ... Vietnam... 'nuff said...

Are you sure that you want to use them as liberal examples??

Michale...­..

[Michale32086]

The reason that Obama won is simple.

He is an AMERICAN president, not a Democrat President.­.

Michale...­..

[KillTheMessenger]

Now, if we can change the half of the nation which likes to deny Democrats the title American, we would actually have made progress. What do you think, Michale?

[Michale32086]

I couldn't agree more..

However, those that desire the title of "American" must also live up to the responsibilities of being an American..

First and foremost, that means being an AMERICAN first and a DEMOCRAT second...

What you think??

Michale...­...

[sonoffestus]

I believe the best word that will describe our new President will be PRAGMATIC. We will see.......­....

[odyssey58]

Reagan made "liberal" a derogatory term. I can still hear the tone of is voice when he said it. We Liberals have to proudly stand up and talk about our values. It turns out that most people really do have Liberal values but the CONservatives have made them believe that Liberal ideas are inherently evil
I like to remind people that this country was not founded by CONservatives. If they had had their way we would be British. It is because of Liberal and PROgressives that women and minorities can vote, that we have safer working conditions and safer food, and that Obama was able to run for president.
Let's reclaim our Liberal and PROgressive heritage and restore to this nation the greatness that was robbed from her by the CONservatives. Americans have been conned for too long. But an age of enlightenment is finally beginning.
YES WE CAN!

[Michale32086]

No, Liberal is not a bad word.

However, the manner in which the term has been perverted today by those who CLAIM to be liberals, but are just a pale imitation of Republicans, is definitely not a good thing..

One of the hallmarks of being a liberal is being tolerant of other people's ideas, opinions and beliefs..

Forgive me, but you don't sound very tolerant..

Michale...­..

[odyssey58]

Being tolerant is NOT a hallmark of being a Liberal. If anything, we've been too tolerant. One can be intolerant without being nasty. And it's clear that the majority of Americans will no longer tolerate nasty campaigning based on lies. Tolerance is not always a virtue.

And "a pale imitation of republicans"????? Huh?

[Michale32086]

Democrats have two years to prove that they can govern better than Republican­s..

Time will tell...

Michale...­..

[KillTheMessenger]

Time already has told. Time for Republican ideologues was up.

[Michale32086]

No, time will tell when the people have another chance to speak...

If Democrats mess things up worse than the GOP, ya'all might find that the time of the Republican ideologues has returned..

Michale...­..