Is America returning to the political centre?

AS WE all know, fashion styles are sometimes taken too far and then they go out of style. Women were wearing white gloves in the 1960s, but unless you are a butler or a Disney toon, there is no excuse for them today.

Political trends also tend to come and go, reflecting changes in the cultural zeitgeist. Reaganism was all the rage in the 1980s while Clintonism was very hot in the 1990s. After Barack Obama, the first African-American president, was elected in 2008, political forecasters predicted that we were entering the age of post-racial America where multiculturalism would rule the day.

In 2002, political analysts John Judis and Ruy Teixeira published a study, “The Emerging Democratic Majority”, in which they argued that the political future belonged to liberal Democrats. A coalition consisting of young educated professionals joined by ethnic minorities (including Blacks, Hispanics, Asians) would together transform the American political culture and determine who would occupy the White House.