Whistling Past The Dixie Graveyard

The map shown above (property of the New York Times) illustrates just how dramatically this country has shifted in its voting patterns from the 2004 election to the one we have just completed; it is linked in this Times story by Adam Nossiter today (set in that hamlet of diversity and tolerance – snark – Vernon, Alabama), which tells us in part that…

What may have ended on Election Day…is the centrality of the South to national politics. By voting so emphatically for Senator John McCain over Mr. Obama — supporting him in some areas in even greater numbers than they did President Bush — voters from Texas to South Carolina and Kentucky may have marginalized their region for some time to come, political experts say.

The region’s absence from Mr. Obama’s winning formula means it “is becoming distinctly less important,” said Wayne Parent, a political scientist at Louisiana State University. “The South has moved from being the center of the political universe to being an outside player in presidential politics.”

…

By leaving the mainstream so decisively, the Deep South and Appalachia will no longer be able to dictate that winning Democrats have Southern accents or adhere to conservative policies on issues like welfare and tax policy, experts say.

That could spell the end of the so-called Southern strategy, the doctrine that took shape under President Richard M. Nixon in which national elections were won by co-opting Southern whites on racial issues. And the Southernization of American politics — which reached its apogee in the 1990s when many Congressional leaders and President Bill Clinton were from the South — appears to have ended.

“I think that’s absolutely over,” said Thomas Schaller, a political scientist who argued prophetically that the Democrats could win national elections without the South.

What a difference an election makes, ladies and gentlemen.

Why, it seemed like only yesterday when Ralph Reed spouted the following here, trying to imitate Gen. George Patton from WWII: “The Democrats are the enemy. Wade into them! Spill their blood! Shoot them in the belly!”

Nice (and as long as I’m noting Reed, I should point out this prescient post by Schaller from about four years ago, in which he notes that Reed wanted just about exclusive credit for Dubya’s re-election – can you say “overreach”?).

And not to be outdone by any means, we have the following from Pat Robertson in March 2006 here…

Ladies and gentleman this is a fascinating book. If you want to, you'd better take your blood pressure medicine before you read it, but it's "The Professors: The 101 most dangerous academics in America" and that's just a short list of the 30-40,000 of them, they're like termites that have worked into the woodwork of our academic society and it's appalling. This is available at CBN.com and book stores everywhere, and you really ought to read it and be informed.

And finally, we have the guy who is the granddaddy of intolerant “Christians” out there, with the departure of Jerry Falwell, and that would be James Dobson, who told us here in October 2006…

"Isn't it amazing that there's such a sizable number of people in the media and in the liberal community that despise this country and its freedoms, and they're doing everything they can to undermine it?"

Ha, ha, and ha (and back to the story)…

Many people made it clear that they were deeply apprehensive about Mr. Obama, though some said they were hoping for the best.

“I think any time you have someone elected president of the United States with a Muslim name, whether they are white or black, there are some very unsettling things,” George W. Newman, a director at a local bank and the former owner of a trucking business, said over lunch at Yellow Creek Fish and Steak.

Don Dollar, the administrative assistant at City Hall, said bitterly that anyone not upset with Mr. Obama’s victory should seek religious forgiveness.

“This is a community that’s supposed to be filled with a bunch of Christian folks,” he said. “If they’re not disappointed, they need to be at the altar.”

All together now…

WAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Among other things, this is the vindication of Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy (and I can’t recall where I read this – probably the Daily Kos – but someone put forth the idea of former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe as the new DNC head, which is a choice I wholeheartedly endorse; never in my life have I seen a political campaign such as the one Obama ran, and I certainly mean that as a compliment). Obama won in large part because the Dems forced the Repugs to play defense all over the place on turf they had long since considered to be locked up in their favor.

No more (and it is truly a beautiful thing – and just for the hell of it, let’s give this knucklehead one more boot for good measure).

Update 1: David Corn says here that Plouffe will pass on the DNC chair, but is apparently keeping his options open, which is wise.

Update 2 11/12/08: Hat tip to The Daily Kos for this.