In Ronald Brownstein’s piece, “Half of America,” he explores the increasing polarization of American politics, and how the distinct makeup of voter coalitions in both parties will continue to exacerbate the stalemate in Washington. PPI President Will Marshall lends his expertise to the issue:
Clinton pursued agreements across party lines more consistently than either Bush or Obama. But this persistent polarization likely owes less to the three men’s specific choices than to structural forces that are increasingly preventing any leader, no matter how well-intentioned, from functioning as more than “the president of half of America.”
That phrase, coined by Will Marshall, president of the centrist Progressive Policy Institute, aptly describes an environment in which presidents now find it almost impossible to sustain public or legislative support beyond their core coalition.
You can read the rest of the article here, at National Journal.
