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Howard Schultz may go away once he realizes that nobody wants him. Or maybe not: with great wealth comes great ego, plus people who will feed it. But let's treat this as a teachable moment about what centrism means in America today 1/ politics.theonion.com/howard-schultz…
On economics, Schultz is way to the right of the public 2/
As I pointed out in my column today, the public wants higher taxes on the rich and more spending on social programs 3/ nytimes.com/2019/01/28/opi…
What fraction of voters wants Social Security cuts, a staple of centrist positioning? 6 percent. No, there isn't a digit missing. 4/ 
More generally, the socially-liberal/economically conservative position -- the lower right quadrant in this figure -- is basically the Empty Quadrant of American politics -- except in green rooms 5/
But boy, is it heavily represented in those green rooms. For Schultz is basically the very model of a major modern centrist. Remember, the Simpson-Bowles report, which induced rapture in the Beltway establishment, called for CUTS in marginal tax rates 6/ nytimes.com/2010/11/12/opi…
And concern about fiscal responsibility was always selective. Awards for Paul Ryan; effective silence when the Trump tax cut blew up the deficit; but constant stern lectures to Democrats about how they must pay for their promises 7/
The point is that while Schultz is especially awful in his timing and egotism, his messed-up priorities are unfortunately all too typical in the green-room set, which doesn't seem to have learned anything from the debacles of recent years 8/
As I was saying: centrist on the right, only attacks Democrats 9/
