Pat Dollard | Young Americans

From The International Herald Tribune:

Related: All Evidence Against Hussein As Uniter

Related: Hussein has always run from uniting, stuck strictly to Leftist Partsanship

WASHINGTON: At the core of Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is a promise that he can transcend the starkly red-and-blue politics of the last 15 years, end the partisan and ideological wars, and build a new governing majority.

But this promise leads, inevitably, to a question: Can such a majority be built and led by Obama, whose voting record was, by one ranking, the most liberal in the Senate last year?

Also, and more immediately, if Obama wins the Democratic nomination, how will his promise of a new and less polarized type of politics fare against the Republican attacks that since the 1980s have portrayed Democrats as far out of step with the country’s values?

Also, and more immediately, if Obama wins the Democratic nomination, how will his promise of a new and less polarized type of politics fare against widespread claims that since the 1980s that Democrats are far out of step with the country’s values?

Obama, in an interview, said that “a lot of these old labels don’t apply anymore.”

Obama’s rise has been built in part on the idea that he represents a break with the established identities that have defined many of the nation’s divisions. To many, he embodies a promise to bridge black and white, old and young, rich and poor - and Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Even so, Obama does not come to the campaign with a reputation as one of the accommodating bridge-builders in the Senate. His voting record, albeit short, is to the left; the National Journal declared it the most liberal of 2007. Congressional Quarterly said he voted with his party 97 percent of the time on party-line votes that year.

Obama has been endorsed by advocacy groups like MoveOn.org that are anathema to Republicans on Capitol Hill. And some of his strongest supporters are activists at the “net-roots” who have clamored for less accommodation across party lines.

Obama and his allies are basing his campaign on another bet: that the right-leaning political landscape Bill Clinton confronted has changed. Several major Democratic strategists, and outside analysts as well, argue that the country has shifted to the left because of the Iraq war, the economy and eight years of President George W. Bush; that it has become open to a new progressive majority and disillusioned with a generation of conservatism.

Obama said: “What I’m certain about is that people are disenchanted with a highly ideological Republican Party that believes tax cuts are the answer to every problem, and lack of regulation and oversight is always going to generate economic growth, and unilateral intervention around the world is the best approach to foreign policy. So there’s no doubt the pendulum is swinging.”

Still, he added, “The Democrats have to seize this opportunity by showing people in very practical terms how a different set of policies can deliver solutions that will actually make a difference in their lives. I think the jury is still out right now.”

Mark Penn, chief strategist for Hillary Clinton, said that Obama’s Senate career did not back up his promise to forge a new governing coalition across party lines.

“It’s a great promise,” Penn said. “But are the actions consistent with the words? I don’t see it.”

“That’s the fundamental issue,” he added. “It’s not, ‘Don’t we want to have everyone unified and moving together on things like health care for all?’ but who has the record of working to do that in Washington?”

But many of Obama’s supporters say he has recognized this new political climate in a way that Clinton has not. They say he is ready for a new, self-assured progressive era in which progressives (few have returned to the word liberal) make no apologies about their goals - universal health care, withdrawing troops from Iraq, ending tax breaks for more affluent Americans - and assume that a broad swath of the public shares them.

Simon Rosenberg, who leads the New Democrat Network and is currently unaligned in the Democratic contest, argues, “My basic belief is the generation-long era of political domination, the ascendancy of conservative politics, is at an end, and Obama has captured more than anyone else the opportunity of this era.” He added: “It’s very hard to put labels on him. He’s building his own sandbox.”

Obama, in fact, had the support of 64 percent of independents in the last New York Times/CBS News Poll. But can that transpartisan appeal be sustained? He has only begun to take some hard political hits - from the Clinton campaign, from conservative commentators and radio hosts, and from Senator John McCain’s campaign. The recent flare-up about his pastor’s racial views was one example. And Republicans are just starting up their attacks.

“Nobody’s yet taken him on as a liberal,” said Andrew Kohut, who leads the Pew Research Center. “But McCain will.”

So far, Republicans give every indication of planning to portray Obama as a big-government liberal out of touch with American values and unprepared to be commander in chief.

“When you’re rated by National Journal as to the left of Ted Kennedy and Bernie Sanders, that’s going to be difficult to explain,” said Danny Diaz , a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

But Democrats supporting Obama argue that the voters have moved beyond those ideological attacks.