Of course Democrats are delighted at Specter’s defection to join them and gain a possible filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for the first time since Jimmy Carter’s presidency. But does that mean Pennsylvania Democrats have to vote in 2010 for a man who opposes universal health care, the Employee Free Choice Act and other progressive legislation? Open Left today is asking its readers to pony up $25 or more to oppose Specter in the Democratic primaries. Interesting to see if any kind of movement to oust him gets going. If not, his defection just strengthens the conservative Democrats in Congress.

Meanwhile there’s a useful analysis in the American Prospect on voting trends that claims a new progressive majority is being built. Specter’s state is an example: “in Pennsylvania the white working-class population declined by 25 points between 1988 and 2008, while white college graduates rose by 16 points and people of color rose by 8 points… This shift strengthens the progressive agenda and will continue to strengthen it in the future as the decline of the white working class and the rise in more progressive populations continues.”

The complications of American politics! White working class decline means fewer socially conservative Reagan Democrats voting for Specter… who opposes pro-union legislation that would benefit the white working class. This is the conundrum that has driven the Left crazy, and which has been analyzed by no one better than Tikkun‘s Michael Lerner, who ascribes this voting by the working class against their material interests to their voting for their spiritual interests, as they understand them. If the Left had offered a progressive spiritual response to divorce, drugs, teen pregnancy, loneliness, consumerism and all the ills of modern society, the Right would not have cornered the market in presenting solutions to the spiritual crisis of our times.

So will a progressive candidate emerge in Pennsylvania who can challenge Specter from the spiritually savvy Left? Don’t count on it. The Republicans have painted themselves into a corner by rejecting their own moderates, but the Democrats are still painting themselves into another corner by not addressing the spiritual crisis. If you don’t like “spiritual” call it “existential”: but it’s about how modern society is not engendering community, respect, meaning, and mutuality. Saving Wall Street is just no way to address that crisis.

So Specter helps the Democrats save Wall Street, but does not help them save community, health, or the environment: neither our souls nor in the end our bodies (see This is Terrifying below).