Reply #10: "How you win determines how you govern."

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

GREAT article. This part was interesting:

<snip>

The Lost Center
By itself, George W. Bush’s inability to capture significant Democratic backing is not crippling to his presidency. But his failure to win support from independents and moderates imperils his Administration’s future. Until 2004, it was believed that these two groups were crucial to winning elections and establishing a governing coalition. Bush has proved this maxim requires rethinking. According to the 2004 exit poll, John Kerry won 49% backing from independents to Bush’s 48%. Among moderates, the Kerry advantage was even more decisive: 54% to 45%. Knowing that the president could not count on independents and moderates, Bush campaign strategist Karl Rove decided he had to find more Republicans and get them to the polls. The so-called "72-Hour Task Force" Rove designed masterfully accomplished this objective, and sent Democrats off trying to replicate it.

But the limits of Bush’s strategy are apparent. Since winning reelection, Bush has continued to shed independent and moderate support. On nearly every major issue presidential disapproval among independents and moderates is higher than the national average (see Table 2, below). By reducing his base of support to hard-core Republicans, Bush has insured that the politics of polarization will continue. As historian Arthur M. Schlesinger once observed (in The Cycles of American History), ideology is the curse of public affairs "because it converts politics into a branch of theology and sacrifices human beings on the altar of dogma." Independents and moderates believe they are being sacrificed by an ideological president and a Congress that fails to provide the concrete results they crave.