Josiah Bartlet's centrists (archetype)
Poll-tested progress
The spin-doctor's centre-left.
Heterodox Third-Way LabouriteOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Third-Way Labourite hall →- Role
- The triangulating adviser
- From
- Archetype
- Region
- —
- Social band
- Heterodox
- Placement
- +8 · +24 · +34
§ Where Josiah Bartlet's centrists (archetype) stands
3 axesThe archetype treats economics as a question of credibility, steering the party away from the tax rises and nationalisation that focus groups punish and towards fiscal discipline and targeted programmes. Clinton's 1993 deficit-reduction budget and 1996 welfare reform, and New Labour's 1997 pledge to keep to Conservative spending plans for two years, are the template.
Power is centralised in the leader's office and the campaign machine. Rapid-rebuttal units, strict message discipline and constant polling, pioneered by the 1992 Clinton war room and Labour's Millbank media centre in 1997, keep ministers and candidates on script, and reform proceeds incrementally through existing institutions rather than by mobilising activists.
The adviser's goals are progressive but rationed by the polls. Socially liberal measures go ahead where the public will follow, while the leader is positioned as tough on crime and welfare to reassure swing voters, as with Clinton's 1994 crime bill and New Labour's promise to be tough on crime and its causes.
How close are you to Josiah Bartlet's centrists (archetype)?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
ArchetypeThe triangulating adviser is the strategist at the heart of 1990s centre-left politics: a message-disciplined operative who polls every position, borrows the opponent's most popular ideas and repackages progressive aims for swing voters. Real cases include James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, whose 1992 Clinton campaign war room was filmed in the documentary The War Room; Dick Morris, who urged Bill Clinton to triangulate after the 1994 midterm defeat; and New Labour's Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell and pollster Philip Gould.
The figure recurs because centre-left parties that lost repeatedly in the 1980s concluded that winning required discipline, polling and a move to the centre. Fiction made it familiar: the senior staff of President Josiah Bartlet in Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing argue endlessly over polls, message and compromise, Joe Klein's novel Primary Colors fictionalised the Clinton campaign, and The Thick of It satirised spin through Malcolm Tucker. The archetype dramatises the tension between principle and electability, and the suspicion that the adviser, not the voter, decides what a party believes.
Notable for
- 01The 'war room' archetype
- 02Message discipline
- 03Triangulated progress
Key works & moments
- 1992Clinton's campaign war room, run by James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, sets the template.
- 1993D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus release the documentary The War Room.
- 1995Dick Morris urges Bill Clinton to triangulate between congressional Republicans and his own party.
- 1997New Labour's Millbank media operation helps deliver a landslide general-election victory.
- 1999Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing debuts, centred on President Josiah Bartlet's senior staff.
- 2005The Thick of It satirises the spin machine through its enforcer, Malcolm Tucker.
§ Minds closest to Josiah Bartlet's centrists (archetype)
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§ Also in the Third-Way Labourite hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is the political ideology of Josiah Bartlet's centrists?
Josiah Bartlet's centrists stand for the triangulating adviser of 1990s centre-left politics: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Heterodox Third-Way Labourite. Economically the archetype sits close to the centre with a slight market lean (+8), prizing fiscal credibility and targeted programmes over redistribution. On governance it leans towards centralised control (+24), with disciplined messaging and incremental reform run from the leader's office, and socially it is progressive (+34), though always within limits set by what swing voters will accept.
Are Josiah Bartlet's centrists left-wing or right-wing?
Centre-left. The archetype's goals, such as wider health coverage, social investment and civil rights, come from the left, but its methods and economic caution borrow from the right: balanced budgets, tough talk on crime and welfare reform. Left-wing critics see triangulation as surrender dressed up as strategy, while its defenders point out that Bill Clinton and Tony Blair won power after long periods of conservative dominance in their countries.
What is triangulation in politics?
Triangulation is the strategy of positioning a leader above and between the two main camps, adopting the opponent's most popular ideas while keeping some of one's own. The term is associated with Dick Morris, who advised Bill Clinton after Republicans won Congress in 1994; Clinton went on to embrace a balanced budget and welfare reform, declared in 1996 that the era of big government was over and won re-election. Critics argue it hollows out principle, while supporters see it as a way for the centre-left to win in conservative times.
Which minds are closest to Josiah Bartlet's centrists (archetype)?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Josiah Bartlet's centrists (archetype) are Matteo Renzi (98% alike), Gerhard Schröder (98% alike) and Paul Keating (98% alike). The furthest is Hans-Hermann Hoppe (32% alike).