The great DU debate, in a nutshell

[Bonobo]

Bush wrenched us so far to the right. 2000-2008 saw the US descend into paranoia, madness and an unconstitutional assault on freedoms that had come to be taken for granted.

Many thought that Obama was call to wrench us back, if not to the left of where we had been, than at least to the middle. A starting point before the madness began.

He has unquestionably brought us further to the left since the last POTUS and will continue to do so in many, maybe even most ways.

But is it enough? Many of us recognize that the right is pulling hard, pulling the US hard to the right with their insane rhetoric. And the have been for 30 years. It seems they instinctively know that there will always be some resistance so if they just pull harder in their direction, they will win the tug of war.

So the big debate in a nutshell, it seems to me, is the heavy concern we on the left have that without us noticing, the entire landscape of the debate has been pulled to the right already and we are now so deep in Republican territory that what SEEMS like a left-right tug of war has long since become a match they already won by puling us deep into their territory.

Incremental steps to the left when you are on their 5-yard line is not enough, particularly when they ball changes heads every 4 or 8 years and when it does, they go for a 40-yard pass.