Media fools few about State of the Union "centrism"

It's getting to be that time of year again - when I have to set the media straight about how far from reality they've moved the center of debate.

The media boasts that President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday will be one of "centrism." I'd hate to bring this up again, but I have no other choice: The truth is that the Democrats (not unlike that other party) would have to take a sharp left turn to achieve centrism.

It's been that way for years now. The policies implemented in America over the past 15 years are so extreme by any raw measure that one shouldn't be considered a radical leftist just because they want to reverse them. Nobody should even be called liberal if they want to expand them. But they're called that.

The center of debate is truly that far to the right these days. The garbage we read about on a daily basis these days never even came our way 30 years ago, thank heavens.

I've made this point zillions of times, because it's central to understanding just how very right-wing the major parties have become.

So I don't care to see some denizen of cyberspace accuse me of somehow being responsible if Obama's speech doesn't live up to the progressive ideals of this blog. I've spent the past 15 years warning you about the Democrats' increasingly weak grasp of civil liberties and economic fairness, so I don't deserve a bit of blame.

In fact, I'm a registered Green, and I didn't even endorse Obama.

If you don't grasp this then I'm sorry, I can't help you. I'm sure most folks aren't fooled by what the media considers to be moderate, but there's always a few who I have to correct.

If Obama was as progressive as I am, Robert Gates would have been shown the door on day one. And we wouldn't even be debating whether or not the Cat Food Commission's orders will be ignored.

In short, the State of the Union is the media's handiwork, not mine. If it's not up to snuff, let the media wallow in it.