On that I agree with you entirely. Any one of those, or better yet, a combination of them, would have been quite interesting to pound them over the head.
Immigration Reform was teed up for us, but we stood in the background and quietly watched while the GOP killed it. And you can bet Hispanics took note of the lack of ardent Democratic supporters of a path to citizenship in Congress. We played politics with the issue, hoping the GOP would hang themselves, and Hispanics got left in the cold.
The SCOTUS gutting of the VRA was perfectly set up for Dems to issue a bill and start a fight about replacing what was removed by new, expanded legislation. I said then, and still do, that Dems should have had a bill in their pocket to deliver to either/both floors the day after the decision.
Roll those two together and campaign on expanding the American dream. Toss in the minimum wage, which polls very well even in red states, and student loan reform like you mentioned, and you have some economic premises to go along with that theme.
Instead, they went with the defensive crouch position, and, as each republican national meme evaporated, instead of being able to fill the void with their own agenda like the one above, had nothing to offer up, but to prepare for the next republican attack. That left each individual campaign in a situation to fend for themselves locally.
Thereās a pretty obvious reason why the Latino and Asian numbers looked so much better for Republicans this time. There was no high profile vote in California. And there WAS a high profile vote in Texas and Florida. The Latino populations of those three states can heavily determine the national average. And also for Asian Americans.
First progressives cost the election because they donāt turn out enough to vote for your candidate. When that is shown to you to be mathematically unsupportable, the new story is progressives saying bad things about Blue Dogs is what cost the elections, because you poor folks in the middle are so easily swayed.
āGosh I really like Jimmy Bluedog a lot, but those hippies down the street said a bad thing about him. I guess I canāt vote now.ā
A lot of these older rightwing voters will simply āageā out of the electorate. The world and country is changing, they donāt like it and canāt adapt. So they get angry and vote for some angry, fearmongering GOP candidate.
But I am thoroughly ashamed at all the Democrats and liberals who didnāt bother to vote. Absolutely appalling. I think anyone who canāt bother to vote should be required to shut the fuck up until the next election. Your opinion doesnāt matter. You donāt vote. You are part of the problem.
Going into 2016, Iād still rather be us than them.
One good thing: Hillary Clinton will never be āpost-partisanā. Republicans have been fitting her for prison garb since 1992. She knows the enemy. She never would have expected Chuck Grassley to help her pass a health care bill.
Barack Obama is a fine president, but heās a lousy party leader. If heās not going to assist in electing a Democratic successor, Iād like him to keep quiet and pursue gridlock.
Hillary Clinton wouldnāt inspire younger voters the way Obama did, but she would, at least in theory, win over older voters who could be inclined to vote Democratic but didnāt like Obama specifically.
Of course, the above assumes that the electoral dynamics in 2016 more closely reflect the last two Presidential elections, and that Obamaās perceived ājob performanceā doesnāt result in the higher voter turnout in 2016 preferring a Republican White House. Then Hillary Clinton could end up being to 2016 what John McCain was to 2008.
Americans workers have seen their wages stagnate, whatās left of defined pension plans decimated and have had to jump through hoops to have a decent healthcare plan for their families. Prudent savers, many seniors on fixed-incomes, have seen their incomes slashed due to the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) of the Federal Reserve. The 1% and Wall Street have prospered immensely while those on Main Street have floundered. Damn right, Americans are angry and that anger manifested itself at the polls yesterday, taking it out against Obama.
If Obamaās job isnāt at stake, he pretty much just phoneās it in.
Right now heās worried about his post Presidency gig. He wantās the deal that Clinton got: within 4 years being worth $100 million through corporate gigs and speech giving. That means coddling to Wall Street- which heās pretty much been doing since before he got elected.
I like the guy. Heās smart, wise, etcā¦ But his faults are going to be easy to dissect for historians: he did too little or was too timid - and that goes back to his stimulus in the first month and a half of his presidency. None of his presidency had near the energy of his campaigns, which suggest, in the final analysis, it was all about him. As a result, his presidency has courted disaster the entire time. It may have finally caught up to him.
He played nice with the Republicans when they were in the minority and they spit in his face. Now wait to see what they serve him now that theyāve got the majority. Its going to be ugly - but maybe it will bring the best out of Obama after all. Then again, maybe heāll just phone it in.
Yeah, Iām excited to run Hillary (who has been in the public spotlight for 25 years, and has no accomplishments).
Sheāll be a great party leader ā even if sheās never shown leadership. Ever.
For the past two months, all Iāve been reading anywhere is that come November 4, the Democrats were going to get hammered. I read this everywhere, every day.
Given that a huge Democratic loss was apparently inevitable, why would anyone have bothered to vote? After all, Democrats around the country have been told, day in and day out, that a huge loss in November was a foregone conclusion.
