A new study by William A. Galston and Elaine C. Kamarck suggests that Democrats should move toward the center if they have any realistic dreams of winning back the presidency. The two researchers argue that there isn’t enough critical mass in the liberal base to pull off a presidential win, and that so-called “swing voters” are the key. They also urge the Democrats to rely less on the intellectual higher ground angle toward policies, instead making an appeal to more “basic” and broad concepts.

While I don’t completely disagree with their assessment of the power of the Democrats’ base (which is a disorganized mish-mosh of people with disparate pet causes who can be prone to talking the talk without actually getting voters to turn out), I disagree with the idea that Democrats need to swing to the center in order to have any critical mass.

It’s not the liberal stances that are out-of-sync with the voting base (including the “swings”), just the way the message is framed. And the Democrats are too reliant on having interest groups (e.g. NOW, Planned Parenthood, United for Peace & Justice) frame the issue in ways that aren’t really fit for mass consumption. In this case, it’s just a matter of presenting concepts in a more concise and easy-to-digest manner, one that appeals to hopes rather than dwelling on minutiae.

This doesn’t mean abandoning liberal stances at all, or watering things down to try and appeal to the center. The center isn’t dumb, and more often than not, core liberal principles do appeal – more than the bait-and-switch fearmongering that’s part-and-parcel of the theocon playbook.

The danger with tacking to the center is a complete loss of Democratic identity, a watering down of the party to the point where, as Gov. Howard Dean put it in 2003, you have Democrats who can be perceived as “Republican-lite.” And in almost every case, when you have a “Republican-lite” candidate versus a real Republican, the real version wins. “Republican-lite” is not the future of the Democrats, especially if they wish to be seen as a viable party that offers true contrast to their opponents.