Idiotic Centrism

As I was just saying about Americas Elect, the problem with this whole third party fantasy is that most of what the Americas Elect people say they want is already in the Democratic platform. Take this column from Matt Miller, in which he says he supports higher taxes, slowing the growth of Medicare, reducing tuition at public colleges, ensuring access to health insurance, toughening rules for bank capital to prevent another financial meltdown, providing high quality preschool for all Americans and recruiting better teachers by paying them up to $150,000 a year. Sound familiar? About the only things Miller supports that Obama doesn't are slowing the growth of Social Security benefits and ending the filibuster in the Senate -- and I suspect Obama actually does support ending the filibuster, but doesn't talk about it because it is bad form for the President to talk about the rules another branch of government sets up for itself.

To be disgusted by party politics is not, in itself, any sort of plan for improving the country.