I'm Thankful for The Political Center

This holiday season, beyond health and family, I'm thankful for The Political Center. The hard-core, radical middle that's finally taking control of discourse in this country. I am thankful that Republican, Democrat, Red and Blue are fading obelisks on the cultural landscape. Irrelevant, and replaced by the only ideology that is of any substance: pragmatism. Raging independence. The casting of ballots based on the array of a candidate's stances rather than just his or her party affiliation.

That the political center - rather than the screaming extremists on the right and left ends of the spectrum - were poised to take control of the national agenda has been evident since the presidential squeaker of '00 (really it was in evidence during Clinton's triangulation days which made him, never mind his personal demons and the vitriol he generated in both reactionaries and tree huggers, unstoppable). But no matter the middle's ascension the political balance had remained slightly misaligned, leaning a little too far right as the left meandered in an ideological wasteland looking for direction.

But the left has found a path. They won the midterms by backing the likes of small d Democrats Bob Casey, Jr. and Jim Webb, and the only thing that kept Harold Ford from office was some old school Retro Guard racism which, merely, shows the desperation of the far right.

That Joe Lieberman won as an independent indicates how badly the far left - particularly the hard-liberal bloggers who figure raising a couple of million bucks in a multi-million dollar election translates into People Power - underestimated the Middle's ability to look beyond a single issue and pull votes from all sides.

Hopefully, in victory, the Dems have learned their lesson and in the next two years will keep the bumbling sect of the left - Howard Dean, John Kerry and his botched jokes - as far away from any sound-delivering mechanism as possible.

And the far right? Well, the only question is whether or not it is completely dead or just dying. Looking to '08, potential candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain - much closer to the center than the extreme - grab higher poll numbers for support among registered voters of their own party than far righters like Bill Frist. Guiliani and McCain at 33% and 30% respectively with Frist pulling an almost incalculable 3%. California's Arnold Schwarzenegger won only after throwing himself at the Middle like it was a long, lost lover he'd only just rediscovered.

Center is the new Right. And Left.

So, on this holiday, much gratitude to those who refuse to be narrowly defined, those who refuse to vote as a block or give themselves over to the facile group think of the solidified electorate who's votes no longer matter. For the foreseeable future, swing votes are the only votes that matter.

Cheers to the Center.