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The Culture War Is Over! (Did Your Side Win?)

Politico brings the news this morning that the Culture War, the decades-long struggle between secular/liberal/homosexual/hip-hop America and religious/conservative/straight/country-western America, has ended . As with that whole fighting-in-Iraq thing , people decided it had gotten too pointless and depressing, and so now it’s time to declare it over.

And as with Iraq, President Barack Obama gets credit for making the call:

It’s a classic case of be careful what you wish for. President Barack Obama wanted to end the baby boomer-era culture wars — and he’s done it.

[…]

At a moment that finds the right energized and seemingly ascendant, the battles over morality-based cultural issues such as gay rights, abortion and illegal drugs that did so much to drive the conservative movement and dominated the political conversation for more than 30 years have abated, giving way not just to broad economic anxiety but to a new set of emotionally charged issues.

Much of the right — including the noisy and influential tea party movement — sees greater and more immediate danger from this administration and Congress on issues related to the role of government and the very meaning of America than from the old “social issues.” For while Obama has avoided single-issue fights on issues such as gays in the military and federal funding of abortions — angering parts of his base, in the process — he has, in the minds of conservatives, pushed a comprehensive agenda, and that is far more threatening.

Sarah Palin may still be putting scare quotes into the phrase ” rap ‘artists’ ” while defending a white person’s right to say “nigger” on the airwaves, but overall, the old battle lines are being effaced, Politico reports. Republican presidential aspirant Rick Santorum, known mainly—if not solely—as a foe of abortion and gay rights, told Politico that he now prefers to campaign about the restructuring of parts of the medical-insurance system:

“When I talk about cultural issues today, I don’t generally talk about abortion. The real issue of life right now is Obamacare and the rationing of treatment to those on the margins of society.”

Rick Santorum doesn’t want to talk about abortion! Rather than the old divisive cultural politics, the Republicans have decided to run on the premise that the president’s agenda represents “a slippage toward European-style social democracy.” Mike Huckabee describes Obama as a “globalist” who wants to “deny the heart and soul of this nation.”

Meanwhile, between 31 and 46 percent of Republicans believe that Obama is a Muslim.

But Elton John did sing at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding, despite being a homosexual. Mission accomplished!