November 4, 2013
To examine the Esquire/NBC News “New American
Center” is to enter a Beltway consultants’ dreamscape, a perceptual
interspace where real Americans’ opinions dissolve and are replaced by a
chimerical creature whose secret language is only understood by certain
insider politicians, corporations and consultants.
That creature’s name is “The Center.”
The survey commissioned by these two news organizations
tells us very little about American public opinion. But it tells us a
great deal about the insular worlds in which certain journalists and
consultants reside.
Although there were some interesting nuggets of data in the
study, overall it was an ill-conceived venture whose main purpose
seemed to be reinforcing a prevailing article of faith inside the
Beltway: that there is an undiscovered “center” to American politics,
and that finding it will spell success for savvy corporations,
candidates and consultants.
