On Asymmetrically Polarized America

Peter Beinart has an article in the Atlantic arguing that the United States is drifting leftward, at least on domestic policy. David Dayen objects. I largely agree with the latter. A few points:

• The assertion that “[t]he next Republican president will be more liberal than George W. Bush” is transparently wrong. The Republican Party has continued to move to the right, and the next Republican president will be even more reactionary than Bush. If that President has a Republican Senate to work with, the results will be terrifying.
• While I agree with Dayen’s point on Clinton and taxes, it remains true that the Democratic Party is clearly to the left of where is was in 1976 or 1992. The drift has not been as pronounced as the Republican shift to the right, but it has happened.
• Like most such arguments, Dayen is excessively focused on the presidency and presidential candidates. It is true that Clinton is not to the left of Barack Obama. But 1)it’s not as if Clinton is the most liberal candidate who could possibly win the Democratic nomination.  She is the prohibitive favorite for reasons that largely transcend ideological positioning; and 2)President Hillary Clinton will be more liberal taking office in 2017 than she would have been in 1993, because the Democratic coalition in Congress has shifted to the left.