Is the choice really 'talk centrist and win or talk progressive and lose'?

[jpgray]

Does it really come down to that sort of exclusive choice? This is what I've been wrestling with, it seems, for the past four years. There seems to be a profound turn to centrist rhetoric among supposedly 'liberal' politicians. You can see it with Kerry, you recently saw it with Obama--they give Bush far too much leeway and are too weak in their criticisms. Regardless if you think this is necessary strategy-wise or not, you have to admit that it's the case--the criticisms and rhetoric could be far more powerful and accurate if our candidates wished to make it that way.

So why don't they do so? I *think* they are afraid that as a result they will lose. Why do they think they will lose? Often people tout various polls that show the American public to be in tune with liberal or progressive or Democratic stances on the issues. There seems to be the tacit implication that if Democrats espoused these stances more whole-heartedly, they would start to win over more of the electorate.

I see why they don't buy that, because I don't see recent evidence for it. Those who espouse progressive values strongly and wholeheartedly have a frightening tendency to lose in national elections and in primaries for the same. DARE to advocate cutting the defense budget, or even indicate the obvious fact that we won't always have the strongest military, and the pundits (and therefore the public) will tear you apart, even though such cuts will be necessary to maintain tax levels and balance the budget. DARE to question the tax cut, and you WILL be bulldozed by the media and the public when it comes to voting time. Does directly and strongly touting a liberal or progressive platform lead to losing when the votes come in? Or does it simply lead to all-out attack in the media? Or does it lead to neither directly, and we just haven't had the right candidate?

Are Kerry and others right to go for the centrist strategy? I still believe that a wholly progressive campaign, properly managed, could sweep the country up and win in a landslide--but evidence for that belief doesn't seem to exist, or at least I can't find it. I don't believe, however, that the 50% that don't vote are waiting for anyone who espouses these values--time and time again, candidates meeting that description have been there to vote for, and this 50% does what identifies them in the first place: they don't vote.