Tulsa World: CBS correspondent: U.S. is at a 'hinge point'

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CBS correspondent: U.S. is at a 'hinge point'
Obama's win represents a change in populism by the voters, he says.

TOUGH ROAD TO HOE
Jeff Greenfield: Citing a 33-point advantage by Obama with young voters in 2008, Greenfield said Republicans will have to broaden their base to regain the upper hand in national politics. "They need the religious right and they need Rush Limbaugh's followers, but they need more than that," he added

By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Published: 3/26/2009 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 3/26/2009 4:04 AM

CLAREMORE — The 2008 presidential election can be seen as a victory for economic populism over cultural populism, CBS Senior Political Correspondent Jeff Greenfield said Wednesday night.

Appearing as the featured speaker during Rogers State University's centennial celebration, Greenfield not surprisingly used the work of Will Rogers, who is buried across the street from the RSU campus, for his remarks.

"There are two strains that run through American history," Greenfield said. "Both go by the name 'populism.'

"One is economic. The other is a cultural populism."

Will Rogers, he said, "embodied both of these."

Quoting some of Rogers' best- and not-so-well-known lines, Greenfield defined economic populism as a suspicion of moneyed interests and cultural populism as a suspicion of real and perceived social and cultural elites.

The 2008 election was the first clear victory of economic over cultural populism since 1964, he said.

Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 may have won the presidency as Democrats, Greenfield said, but they were also relatively conservative Southerners.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, "is a president who says we need the resources of government to get us out of this mess."

"We're at a hinge point in American politics," he said. "The cultural populism that has been dominant in American politics for so long may be — may be — about to be replaced by economic populism."

Greenfield said that although George W. Bush and Al Gore split the young vote in 2000, John Kerry won it by 9 percentage points in 2004 and Barack Obama by 33 percentage points in 2008.

"A lot of the messages that worked with the Republican base didn't appeal to young people," he said.

That suggests that Republicans will have to broaden their base to regain the upper hand in national politics, he continued.

"They need the religious right and they need Rush Limbaugh's followers, but they need more than that," he said.

Randy Krehbiel 581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment Seppo, Adelaide, Australia (3/26/2009 5:07:02 AM) Sure glad I live overseas for the next four years. Have fun with the windbag of a leader in the oval office. All talk with no substance...but he sure sounds good when he delivers it.
	Report Comment Travis, Tahlequah (3/26/2009 7:34:39 AM) We should hope Obama won based on cultural populism. If Obama won based on economic populism we are really in trouble since his economic/budget proposals are disastrous for our country.
	Report Comment Graychin, Eucha (3/26/2009 9:05:52 AM) Yes, Travis. The economic policies of the past eight years worked so well! Why would we want to change? The Old Guard of cultural populism is fading or dead (Falwell, Robertson, Dobson), and Miss Sarah was its last gasp. At least I hope so. None of them practice what they preach.
	Report Comment fredsdad, Tulsa, OK (3/26/2009 10:24:11 AM) "A lot of the messages that worked with the Republican base didn't appeal to young people," We have just raised the wealthiest young people in our history. And boy, have we screwed up. Republican messages will not appeal to this generation. "Daddy's money" has just been replaced with "government money". Our youth have almost no education in government, and zero education in economics. They don't know that there is a bottom to those pockets. And they won't know what to do when they hit it. Absent a dramatic awakening, which I don't see likely, there will come a time in the next 20 years when this generation figures out that they are not living as well as their parents did. We are talking about people who believe they are "entitled" to have at 25 what their parents didn't have until 45. When daddy's money is gone, and government's money is gone, it's going to get really ugly.
	Report Comment MaintenanceMan, Tulsa (3/26/2009 11:22:40 AM) I figure that some hard working democrats will realize that supporting lazy low-lifes along with their families is really expensive. Once taxes get so high there will be tons of Republicans coming out of the woodwork. For the good of our country I hope it happens in 4 years, not 8....
	Report Comment Loophole, (3/26/2009 11:28:04 AM) Well, fredsdad, you said it but unfortunately this generation doesn't believe it, therefore, don't want to hear it, rendering you just an obsolete old man like the rest of us.
	Report Comment Mr. Brown, Fallon, Nevada (3/26/2009 6:40:33 PM) "Why would we want to change", Graychin asks? We haven't. Obama just shuffled Bush's dummies around, and left them to implement Fancy Pelosi's reckless, fiscally inept financial policies. If you didn't like the last eight years, why do you have any faith in the same people?
	Report Comment 52favoriteteacher, teaching young minds with issues (3/27/2009 8:28:07 PM) Keyboard Cowboy That has been said by many. President Obama has chosen to take it to them where they operate now. Why is this real leaders actions--where you can see a real effort to build a better America--not given a shot? This world as we know it can only get worse or get better...

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