joebageant | Over the last many weeks we have all been subjected to endless news
stories about Senator Obama's campaign "Move to the Center". Leaving
aside the political illiteracy which underlines this phrase, the use of
it reveals important clues about the rhetoric of electoral campaigns,
whom they target and what they are trying to communicate.
Put simply, what "Moving to the Center," means is: moving towards power and money.
"Moving to the Center" is not a move to where the center of
public opinion is, but it is a move to the center of where elite
consensus is. Once the boundaries of that elite consensus are
understood, then we can comprehend the limits of our public choices and
more importantly what will be allowed within the confines of our
electoral system.
It is important to understand that elite consensus itself is not
static and can shift in moderate degrees, but it has definitive
boundaries of which you can not cross and still be a viable player
within the electoral system. These boundaries exist to the left and
right within that consensus, but the institutional bias of the system is
much harsher towards any moves to the left. This is because in its
essence elite opinion is anti-populist and primarily concerned with
protecting the fundamentals of the established economic order.
Every national campaign is in fact a dual conversation, one targeting
voters while the other is directed towards the political, media, and
economic elites. The purpose of the message targeting the first group is
to win votes. The messages to the latter group is designed to form
elite consensus, first for it not to correlate against you and secondly
to have it help you win and eventually govern.
Surviving the contradictions of these dual dialogues is the primary element that makes a successful national campaign.
Let's examine the primary public policy issues and areas of
discussion, and examine what the boundaries of elite opinion are on how
they contradict or mirror public opinion.
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