The L-Word

Liberals have been failing to live up to their ideals for centuries, but we mustn't give up on liberalism.

By Peter Clarke
Posted Saturday, May 14, 2011, at 7:54 AM ET

Liberal has been a dirty word in US politics for some time. President Barack Obama can supply convincing answers to the two preposterous charges about his identity that he has faced recently. One, that he is not really an American, was dismissed by producing his birth certificate. The other, that he is a socialist, is more difficult. It could be exploded by declaring that he is self-evidently liberal in his political convictions. But we can be fairly confident that he will not be using the L-word, even though it claims a political pedigree stretching back to the founding fathers.