Republicans had a good week at the polls last week, perhaps most notably in Virgnia and New Jersey. But the Republican Party still has far to go in reestablishing itself and earning back the trust of the American people. It should start by acting upon a principle that Democrats seem to have known all along: At heart, America is a center-right country, not a center-left country.

Naysayers will dispute this observation, pointing to the Democratic victories of 2008. Didn’t the Democratic agenda get an overwhelming mandate during last November’s elections? Indeed, even in the face of Republican special election victories last Tuesday, triumphant Democrats in Congress are cramming through the most liberal agenda that we have seen in decades.

But the urgency with which liberal Democrats are pushing their agenda stems directly from their knowledge that Americans don’t ultimately agree with their leftist views. Democrats know that their legislation will not be enacted if they wait too long for the facts to sink in among voters. A spendthrift, big-government agenda does not win votes in most precincts in this country. It would have won far fewer votes last November if more Americans had anticipated the Democratic about-face that would occur soon after the election. It is the reason many voters revolted against Democrats last week.

Make no mistake. Many liberal Democrats know that they are most successful at winning elections when they hide their leftist views. (Well, unless one is lucky enough to run for Congress in Nancy Pelosi’s liberal San Francisco district.) Thus, these Democrats often campaign one way, and govern another.

The most glaring example is the obvious: Barack Obama ran his presidential campaign on many center-right economic principles last November. Unfortunately, these ideas have been completely forgotten since his victory last year. During his campaign, Obama called for tax cuts, reduced spending and fiscal responsibility. He criticized the "biggest increases in deficit spending and national debt in our history" during the George Bush administration. He protested when John McCain attempted to paint him as a tax-and-spend liberal, arguing instead that he would "provide a middle class tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans" and he would review budgets "line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."

The Obama of last year’s campaign claimed that he had been unjustly accused of liberalism, and he was indignant. "If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year," he claimed, "you will not see a single dime of your taxes go up. If you make $200,000 a year or less, your taxes will go down." Indeed, the "vast majority of small businesses would get a tax cut under my plan."

Tax cuts. Better oversight for spending. A change from the debt and deficits of the Bush years. That was the Obama of last year’s campaign. Most Americans would have welcomed such change with a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, President Obama is a different animal than Candidate Obama.

President Obama delegates power to unaccountable czars. He takes over some private industries and pushes to take over more. He dictates "acceptable" salaries for executives at private companies. He makes it difficult for these private entities to return federal funds when those companies decide they want out from under his thumb. The increase in federal spending during his short 9-month term has been astronomical. His agenda is so leftist—so socialist—that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez justifiably joked about "Comrade Obama" last June. "Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right," Chavez concluded on a live television broadcast.

Such liberalism is not in line with the individualism and self-reliance that characterize the average American—nor is it in line with the promises made during Obama’s campaign last fall. Democrats know this, which is why they are trying to cram their government takeover of health care through Congress in 2009. They can’t do it during 2010. Tuesday’s losses prove that they will need to revert to a slightly more center-right posture during the congressional election year. Indeed, liberal Democrats would have much preferred to complete the legislation before last week’s special elections. Republican landslides in New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races surely made it harder for Pelosi to coerce—um, convince—moderate Democrats into voting for her liberal health care bill on Saturday. Indeed, the bill was passed by the House with only 3 votes to spare.

Democrats claim an imminent health care crisis necessitates that legislation be passed now. But if the crisis is so severe, then why would so many of the legislative provisions fail to kick in until 2013? Because Democrats are smart enough to know that this center-right country won’t like the effects of Obamacare. They are delaying the consequences of their legislation until after Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.

Republicans have been inexplicably blind to the center-right, fiscally responsible principles that are important to the average voter. They keep acting as if elections are won by leaning center-left.

A wonderful case in point recently played itself out in New York’s 23rd congressional district. The Republican establishment in the district anointed a left-leaning candidate, Dede Scozzafava, as the party nominee. Republican "leaders" meekly lined up, like sheep, behind the nominee who had been crowned. But an insurgent conservative candidate, Doug Hoffman, was backed by a handful of brave Republican leaders and commonsense voters. Scozzafava ultimately withdrew from the race before the election. Republican division ultimately handed the election to the Democratic candidate. But unity between the Republican establishment and Republican grassroots could have helped them to win the seat—if not for Hoffman, then for a compromise candidate more center-right than the liberal Scozzafava.

America is a center-right country. Democrats know this and many use the information dishonestly. Republicans need to figure it out—and fast. Americans are searching for leaders who will take them where they want to go.