President Obama Moved the Overton Window to the Left

[sheshe2]

****************************BOG POST*********************************


Here's how Wikipedia defines the Overton Window:

In political theory, the Overton window is the range of ideas the public will accept. According to the theory, an idea's political viability depends mainly on whether it falls within that window, rather than on politicians' individual preferences.

snip

Essentially she is saying that the reason Hillary Clinton can run on these issues is because the Overton Window has moved to the left. How did that happen? The truth is that the answer to that question is very complex and the movement can be accredited to a lot of different people and factors. But I'll give you two ways that President Obama contributed.

First, the President demonstrated in both 2008 and 2012 that what we now call the Obama coalition is capable of electing someone to the highest office in the land. Instead of chasing after the so-called Reagan Democrats (as conventional wisdom would have dictated at the time), he bet his cards on his own ability to expand the electorate with people of color and young voters. It worked! Now it's possible for someone like Hillary Clinton to run for president on the issues that matter to this expanded electorate - which is significantly father to the left that it was when her husband ran in '92 and '96.

Secondly, I'd point to something Ron Brownstein wrote a few months ago:

One senior Obama adviser says the administration “To Do list” after 2012 included thinking “about how you lock in the Obama coalition for Democrats going forward. Because it’s not a 100 percent certainty that they come out for the next Democrat.” Part of the answer, the adviser said, was to pursue aggressive unilateral action on “a set of issues where we have an advantage … and believe are substantively the right thing to do” and dare Republicans to oppose him.

Read More http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/05/president-obama-moved-overton-window-to.html