The disparate coalitions of the left

Jonah Goldberg:

Behold the cultural contradictions of progressivism.

Barack Obama's victory was a huge win for self-described progressives. Arguably the most liberal presidential nominee in American history, Obama has given some very old ideas an aura of new coolness. Congrats on all that. Hope it works out for you.

But something interesting happened on Election Day that didn't get much attention. Bans on gay marriage were on ballots in several states, and they all won. In fact, gay marriage bans have ultimately passed in all 30 of the states in which they were on the ballot.

The ban in California was particularly intriguing. Proposition 8 would have failed in the Golden State if it were up to white voters, who opposed it by a 51-49 ratio. What carried it over the top was enormous support from black voters, with about 70 percent of them backing it. Hispanics also supported the ban by significant, though smaller, margins. In Florida, where a similar ban required a 60 percent margin, Amendment 2 just barely passed, getting 60 percent of the white vote. The cushion came from blacks, who voted 71 percent in favor, and Latinos, who voted 64 percent in favor.

In other words, Obama had some major un-progressive coattails. The tidal wave of black and Hispanic voters who came out to support Obama voted in enormous numbers against what most white liberals consider to be the foremost civil rights issue of the day.

Put aside the substance of the gay marriage debate; what's fascinating is how these returns expose the underlying weakness, or at least vulnerability, of progressivism.

As a matter of practical politics, contemporary liberalism amounts to a coalitional ideology, while conservatism remains an ideological coalition. The Democratic Party is the party of various groups promising to scratch each other's backs. Gay rights activists and longshoreman coexist in the same party because they promise support on each other's issues.

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Another example of a tactic masquerading as a principle is contemporary liberalism's fixation with the idea that the working and middle class should "vote their interests," by which they mean vote for the most government goodies. This was the point of Obama's "bitter" and "clinging" comments last summer. Those poor deluded souls in western Pennsylvania don't understand that their real interests lie with Obama's economic agenda.

For all the liberal protests claiming that Obama's "bitter" comments were misunderstood, his remarks were, in fact, mainstream on the left....

This has always struck me as hypocritical, pernicious lunacy. Legitimate election issues are those issues voters decide are legitimate. Americans who cling to religion and guns don't do so out of bitterness, but because they consider such things central to their understanding of the good life and resent what they perceive as hostility to their lifestyle from their own government. And no liberal opposes voting on values issues -- including gay rights -- when they think they're right or if they believe it helps get liberals elected....

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The excitement and joy of Obama supporters was as much ideological as it was about race and maybe more so. Do you really think Jesse Jackson would have been shedding tears if a black conservative had been elected? I don't. In fact when blacks achieved high office in the Bush administration they were treated with open hostility by the black liberal establishment. If Condi Rice had been named McCain's running mate she would have been treated to the same hostility or worse as Sarah Palin received.

The failure of gay rights groups to prevent the marriage amendments in California and elsewhere reflects a flawed strategy by militant gays. The make the mistake of wanting judges to order people to consider their life style "normal." While they can get some judges to order that, it is a futile order when there is no political support for acceptance of gay marriage. Essentially, they made the same mistake the abortion lobby made with Roe v. Wade only they have not been able to get the Supreme Court to find gay rights to marriage in the penumbra of the Constitution. The more they try to push their agenda through the courts the more political hostility they are likely to run into.