I'm confused....
Republicans are conservative and Democrats are liberal...So how can there be no such thing?
I was paraphasing Malcom X, circa 1964.
Are you an economist or political science?
Economic theoretical frameworks in modern Amerikan system are basically driven by conservative or liberal politico-economic policy agendas. Moderates are somewhere in-between and can be politically independent.
Reaganomics flourished because of the so-called Reagan Democrats.
Both parties have both conservative and liberal wings. Southern democrats (i.e Dixiecrats) tend to be conservative, while California republicans tend to be more liberal than southern Democrats.
This is why folks like Schwarzenner and Liberman are able to ride the fence between both parties.
Personally, i know a lot of Black folks who are liberal in social policy but fiscally conservative.
If you take close examination of primary election maps from 2008 election, Clinton won states closely representative of same states that Bush beat Gore. Obama won very few states below Mason-Dixon line. However, Obama also won areas of states such as Texas, where he took counties Denton and Collin which are traditional bastions of white conservatism. I lived in Texas at the time and helped mobilize his campaign in north Texas and was surprised by the large turnout who actually view Obama as a centrist.
As far as someone stating Obama is a socialist...not true. The irony of his current political opposition on health care is the fact that the lobby group headed by Dick Armey was one of the health care lobbyists that contributed heavily to Obama's "money web".
Political parties are basically fronts for camouflaging liberal and conservative policy agendas and most top level financial are lobbyists, most often working for the same interests playing both sides of the fence.