Can Obama End the Culture Wars?
Jan 28th, 2009 by Mark Stricherz
Peter Beinart suspects that Barack Obama has a real shot at ending the culture wars:
(A)midst a religious culture war, being black is less of a handicap since blacks are the least secular element of the Democratic coalition. Barack Obama was more successful than John Kerry in reaching out to moderate white evangelicals in part because he struck them as more authentically Christian.
That’s the foundation on which Obama now seeks to build. He seems to think there are large numbers of conservative white Protestants and Catholics who will look beyond culture when they enter the voting booth as long as he and other Democrats don’t ram cultural liberalism down their throats. In this effort, Obama has two big advantages. The first is the economic crisis, a trauma of such historic magnitude that it makes issues like guns and gays seem trivial. The second is a generational shift taking place among evangelical Christians, in which younger leaders like Warren are broadening their agendas to include issues like poverty and the environment, thus signaling at least a partial willingness to look beyond the culture war.
Peter’s thesis is plausible. If the deep recession we’re in continues and worsens, then American politics will be similar to that of 1932 to 1948 and Democratic presidential nominees will win, though it should be noted that FDR won his last two elections on the strength of foreign policy rather than economic issues. But if like me, you think that our recession is analogous not to the Great Depression but to the recessions of 1973-74 and ’81-82, then plenty of voters will vote on the Cultural Issue (a subset of the Social Issue), and that has not turned out well for the Democrats. (Of course, the GOP is in sorry shape and as of now its candidates for 2012 can’t match Obama). While Peter’s first reason is plausible, his second argument is less so. Young evangelicals are more pro-life than their older counterparts, not less so.
Like Ross, I think that Obama, and national Democrats generally, want to win the culture war not merely to end it. So assuming the economy doesn’t cater, could Obama win the culture war or at least end it for generations? The answer is yes. He could nominate and get confirmed four culturally liberal justices to the Supreme Court; or he could nominate and get confirmed a pro-life justice and the court overturns Roe. He could repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, though this would surely inflame social conservatives. He could, in short, enact laws that are actually socially moderate, not conservative or liberal.
But as I mentioned in a blogginheads conversation with Amy Sullivan, Obama will need to enact policies and get justices confirmed; after all, laws were what ended the cultural wars of the 1920s, whether it was immigration or Prohibition or Evolution. Obama can’t just rely on rhetoric or hope for economic catastrophe and generational change.
Beinart, “Mission Accomplished.”
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