Rise of the Obamicans

These efforts began in earnest during the campaign, when there were 44 high-profile Republicans who crossed party lines to endorse then-Senator Barack Obama for President, compared to just 4 Democrats who endorsed Senator McCain. The ranks of Obama Republicans – or Obamicans – included former Republican governors, senators, and congressmen, senior Reagan and Bush Administration leaders, conservative columnists and radio-hosts, neo-con authors and academics, a former publisher of National Review and the founder’s son. Fueled by a centrist rejection of the Bush administration, the movement was both broad and deep and contributed to Obama’s winning moderates and independents as well as 20% of self-described conservatives on Election Day…

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Obama’s post-partisanship is not a pose – it is pragmatic and principled. It reflects an understanding of the American electorates’ increasing impatience with the polarized partisan politics that brought us the red vs. blue analysis of the Bush years. The more ideologically isolated Republican standard-bearers become, the more room Obama will have to seize the center. In the process, he can redraw the American political map by proving that presidents’ don’t have to be held hostage by hyper-partisanship.

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