Since Obama’s election, several pundits have repeatedly claimed that the US is still a center-right nation. David Sirota rejects that idea, and was on KIRO/Seattle with me this morning to explain why.
He says that the mandate is not to maintain the status quo, but to move forward to something new — an idea that we’ve heard from the American populace time and again. Sirota acknowledges that the nation is more culturally conservative, but on economics the consensus is clear:
You simply can’t argue any more that the majority of the public doesn’t want the government to … seriously regulate the economy, provide a more robust social safety net, and change our trade laws to make sure we’re not exporting jobs.”
We also talked about the economic bailout packages the government is offering to the banking and insurance industries, and the investment of your tax dollars in those companies.
Finally, I asked Sirota if he sees any irony in Obama’s choice of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.
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Here’s the graph Sirota mentioned in the interview, here’s his blog, and his latest book is “The Uprising.”