==By E. J. Dionne
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Why can't the left get any respect?
Whenever you use the word "left" in American politics, you feel almost compelled to add quotation marks. Today's left is not talking about nationalizing industry, abolishing capitalism or destroying the rich. What passes for "left" in American politics is quite moderate by historical standards.==
==This approach is about abstractions, not concrete political problems, and it misses the dynamic in American public life, which is the move away from the right and a discrediting of the conservative era. The political "center" of today is not where the "center" was even five years ago.==
==It's like that on a lot of issues. Just a few years ago, the prevailing view held that national action for universal health insurance coverage was politically impossible. Now, pressure for comprehensive health-care reform is broad and deep, arising from major businesses as well as traditional liberal bastions. When two leading Republicans, former governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, decide to embrace comprehensive health insurance coverage for their own states, it's clear the winds are changing.==
==The most important sign that the center has shifted left (or, if you prefer, away from the right) is the behavior of Republican politicians who are thinking about their prospects beyond the Bush years.==
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/the_center_has_drifted_to_the.html