Unity 08 - What Happened?

This last fall, Sam Waterson of Law and Order fame (Jack McCoy), paid visits to both Harvard and Yale (he went to Harvard first, mind you), and proposed the idea of a temporary third party that would strive to bring moderates together in an effort to remind the polarizing Republican and Democratic parties that the center is where the nation is, and the political center is where these parties should put their efforts into.

Sounded like a great idea. I found myself to be skeptical, but admitted that if it could somehow work, it would be for the best. Making it work would be the hard part, I told people after the Waterson event at Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

Here we are in May 2008, the general election approaching, and Unity 08 discontinuing its efforts due to their inability to raise funds and more importantly, their inability to garner significant support, be that from government officials, or mass numbers of ordinary folk. So, what went wrong? Simply put, the country right now is polarized, and the political center is finding itself to be in the minority.

Despite the fact that both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama claim to be unifying figures, it seems as though the only people they’ll really be able to unify are those who already are polarized towards one of the two major parties. Obama with the most liberal record in the Senate, and McCain who is supportive of a very unpopular war find themselves fiercely fighting for the moderate vote, those Regan Democrats, with only moderate success. Hillary Clinton’s mass support from this group may be indicative of a huge problem, especially for Obama in his being able to get these crucial votes.

To put it more plainly, both McCain and Obama have what analysts would call “high floors” and “low ceilings” - both of their constituencies are quite clear and open, and most are happy to be labeled as “Republican” or “Democrat”; very few would object to one of the labels. The dynamics of the race and the Bush Presidency have allowed for this race to become one of the most polarized in our history, with people mostly already haven chosen their side, leaving a shrinking center to be fought over, and the swing voters across the country.

If so important, why wasn’t Unity 08 able to rally them together? It’s from the simple fact that these voters represent different aspects of each of the two major parties and can be swayed either way due to a number of issues. One would be hard-pressed to find a single issue in which all centrists agree on. Plus, people like being wooed, and in this general election match-up, there will be plenty of wooing from both the Obama and McCain camps, rendering any real effort to take the center and place it into the heart of the political discuss quite meaningless, as it’s already going to be done.

The polarizing nature of politics today has allowed for the center to take center-stage. Unity 08 was not needed to bring about this shift.