Triangulation (politics)

In Morris' words, triangulation meant "the president needed to take a position that not only blended the best of each party's views but also transcended them to constitute a third force in the debate.

[4] Commentators sometimes speculated that Clinton's emphasis on entrepreneurship and the post-industrial sector was the co-option of conservative ideas first presented by Reagan Republicans in the 1980s.

[5] Brent Cebul argues that triangulation represented a traditional liberal effort to structure the economy with the goals of creating new jobs and at the same time producing fresh tax revenues that can support progressive policy innovations.

[6] Politicians who are said to have used triangulation include U.S. President Barack Obama,[7] former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair with "New Labour" in the United Kingdom,[8] Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin with the Liberal Party of Canada, Fredrik Reinfeldt with "The New Moderates" in Sweden, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, and Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party, Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party, and Emmanuel Macron, who became elected as President of France on a centrist platform aiming to be "neither left nor right".

[8] During the 2010 State of the Union Address, President Obama insisted that he would remain with his center-left agenda in the face of criticism rather than resort to triangulation.