Fareed Zakaria: Obama keeps being advised (warned) by conservatives to govern from the center.

[kpete]

The most powerful repudiation of Bush's ideas has come from Bush himself.
Over the past three years, he has negotiated with North Korea and Libya and
even taken a tentative step with Iran; launched a high-profile peace
process between the Palestinians and Israelis; and made encouraging
proposals about global warming. These are all steps Bush actively opposed
during his first term. He has moved in this direction out of necessity.
Failure concentrates the mind.

The world we are living in now is very different from even a decade ago.
Next year, for the first time in history, the world's emerging economies
will provide 100 percent of global economic growth. And for several more
years, the world's richest countries will be mired in recession and
burdened by debt. Many large emerging-market countries, on the other hand,
will grow at 4, 5, and 6 percent a year. Some will have hundreds of
billions of dollars of surpluses. China just announced a stimulus package
equivalent to about $586 billion, which is almost 15 percent of its gross
domestic product and roughly 10 times as large (in proportionate terms) as
the proposed U.S. package.

In such a world, Americans seem to understand that bloviating about "USA
as Number One" is cheap rhetoric, divorced from the real world. They sense
that the real challenge for Washington is not to boast about America's
might but to use its capacities -- military, political, intellectual -- to
work with others to create a more stable, peaceful and prosperous world in
which American interests and ideals will be secure.

Barack Obama keeps being advised (warned) by conservatives to govern from
the center. But he should look at this new world, not failed Republican
ideology, to find that center.

more at:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/fareed_zakaria/2008/11/mccains_downfall_republican_fo.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Funny, those Republicans. They get a Republican president, they tell the dems to go to hell,

they'll do what they want. Even with a 0.2% vote difference, which they call a mandate.

A democrat gets in the white house, and every goddamn time the Republicans scream "Rule from the center! Rule from the center!" Even with a 6% vote difference, which they have very sternly told us in the last week is NOT a mandate, not even close to one.

[gratuitous]

3. The GOP tells the Dems to go to hell when they lose, too

Remember 2000? Gore got more votes that year. Whether the GOP guy squeaks by or even loses the popular vote, they govern as if they got 100% of the vote. It's a by-product of winner-takes-all voting, at least when the power grabbers get installed.

[xchrom]

2. fareed loves his globalism -- a kind of international republican. nt

[riderinthestorm]

4. Didn't Zakaria recently have another article where he said that the next Prez should NOT

throw out Rethug ideology?! Now that Obama has won - NOW Zakaria is all about "failed" Rethug policy?!

I agree that there has been some shifting in Commander Awol's policies but that's because Commander Awol is shifting toward Dem ideas not because Republicanism is somehow evolving. These were Dem ideas all along and if Awol is co-opting them fine but give credit where credit is due.