The battle to define the outcome of the 2008 elections began in earnest just seconds after the TV networks projected Barack Obama the winner. Most commentators focused on the historic nature of Obama's win, while conservatives immediately dropped their accusations that Obama advocated socialism and instead insisted that he was a center-right candidate.
Congress, though now controlled by large Democratic majorities, is a right-leaning institution, we have been told.
A report from the Campaign for America's Future (CAF) released last week, however, suggested the opposite. "[The election] was, in fact, a sea-change election that marked a turn from the failed philosophy of the past decades, an end of the Reagan era," the report claimed. "2008 marks the rejection of trickle-down economics and the embrace of policy designed to bring prosperity from the bottom up."
The report revealed that in addition to its historical quality, this election was about key domestic issues. Voters supported candidates who campaigned for substantive change on some basic domestic issues: universal health care, fair trade, progressive income taxes, the right to organize labor unions, and protection of Social Security.
Analyzing the campaigns and positions of newly elected Democratic members of Congress, the CAF report stated that of the 31 new Democrats in both houses the overwhelming majority took what it calls "progressive" positions on key domestic issues. (Note, this survey excludes nine congressional races that have yet to be officially decided.)
Of the 31 winners, 29 promoted universal health coverage. More than half signed a statement supporting the basic principles of the labor-backed Health Care for America Now, which emphasizes health care as a right.
In addition, 28 favored fair-trade instead of NAFTA-style trade agreements. Thirty winning candidates promoted a green economy, which would end reliance on oil and invest in renewable energy alternatives. Thirty favored passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to join labor unions. Of the 31 winning candidates, almost all support a progressive tax policy like the one President-elect Obama emphasized during the campaign as well as protecting Social Security from privatization.
While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters last week that the House Democrats planned to govern from the "center," it is clear, given the mood of voters and their support for candidates with the positions outlined above, that the center has moved in a progressive direction.
CAF Director Robert Borosage emphasized the ideological shift in the election and told reporters that "Democrats won because they campaigned as progressives, not as moderates or conservatives. On core economic issues, voters gave these legislators a mandate for reform."
