Michael Barone, senior writer at U.S. News & World Report, has written a brilliant piece in today’s Wall St. Journal entitled “Primary Colors” in which he explains how the Connecticut Democrat Primary yesterday revealed a major change inside the Democrat party:
The Connecticut primary reveals that the center of gravity in the Democratic Party has moved, from the lunch-bucket working class that was the dominant constituency up through the 1960s to the secular transnational professional class that was the dominant constituency in the 2004 presidential cycle. You can see the results on the map. Joe Lieberman carried by and large the same cities and towns that John F. Kennedy carried in the 1960 presidential general election.
Indeed the modern day Democrat Party of Sorros-Dean-Moveon-Lamont have replaced the Democrat party who-once upon a time-believed in American exceptionalism ( “Scoop” Jackson, Sam Nunn, Zell Miller, and Joe Lieberman).
In the mid-20th century the core constituencies of both the Democratic and the Republican Parties stood foursquare for America’s prosecution of World War II and the Cold War. Today, as the Connecticut results suggest, it’s different. The core constituency of the Republican Party stands foursquare for America’s prosecution of the global struggle against Islamofascist terrorism — and solidly on the side of Israel in its struggle against the same forces. The core constituency of the Democratic Party wants to stand aside from the global struggle — and, as the presence of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton at Mr. Lamont’s side on election night suggests, is not necessarily on the side of Israel. It’s not your father’s Democratic Party.