It’s not that the old political field is again Obama’s America. It’s rather that the political left gained ground in recent years on taxes and terrorism. That gained ground is now steadily eroding. And the literal stereotypes themselves are increasingly sticking to the public debate.
In March 2009, 32 percent said Obama was an “old style tax-and-spend Democrat” in the ABC News/Washington Post poll. By July, 43 percent believed the same. The question has not been asked since. But it’s a reasonable guess, amid lost ground on related issues, that more adults would likely apply the term to Obama today. Then there is the return of “socialist” as a rhetorical dodge ball, evoking mid-twentieth century framing wars.
Obama appears to realize it now. His proposals over the past month – from tax cuts focused on the middle class to a discretionary budget freeze for all but security spending – betray a White House increasingly forced to refute the liberal stereotypes of old.
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