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Posted by on Nov 4, 2014 in Blog, Politics | 11 comments

Why Democrats Lost: Political Lesson #1

 

president-obama

 

Explain to me how the party with such a stellar record of results lost control of the U.S. Senate, had its position in the House of Representatives severely weakened, and currently sees its President at his lowest approval ratings?

 

Why did the Democrats lose so badly tonight?

Political Lesson #1.

Facts don’t matter.  Issues don’t matter.  Policies don’t matter.

In short, results do not matter. 

How else to explain a nation which has experienced the following events within the past six years, the time since Democrats took control of the Presidency and the Congress in January 2009 (although the House of Representatives flipped back to the Republicans, in 2011):

 

THE DEMOCRATIC RECORD (2009 to Present)

— Inflation remains virtually non-existent

— Unemployment declined from 10 percent down to 6 percent

— An economic depression was averted thanks to government intervention (which most conservatives opposed)

— The national deficit was cut by two-thirds

— Illegal immigration has brought under control (more deportations under the current administration than any other in history)

— Osama bin Laden is dead

— No foreign attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11

— Wall Street stands at an all-time high

— Record profits for most businesses, especially corporations

— More Americans insured than at any time in history

— Disengagement from two phony unwinnable wars in the Middle East

Please explain to me how the party with that record, which is stellar by any non-partisan metric, somehow lost control of the U.S. Senate, had its position in the House of Representatives severely weakened, and currently sees its President at his lowest approval ratings?

Is this a WHAT THE FUCK moment, or what?

Back to Political Lesson #1.

In politics, perception matters most.  Not results.  Not low unemployment.  Not bringing the troops home.  All most voters really give a shit about is whether or not they like the candidate.  That’s about it.  Nothing else.

Forget the nonsense that “people are fed up with both parties.”  That’s complete bullshit and I can prove it.  Wherever they run, independents lose.  Challengers lose 94 percent of the time.  Two independents ran in this election against vulnerable incumbents.  Both were massacred.  Republicans won both races.  So much for “throw the bums out.”

Goddamn, hypocrite voters.

But the real blame lies not with the ignorant and frightened masses, so eager to gobble up the misleading messages and campaign ads designed to warp fragile minds.  The real blame belongs at the top — shared by the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, and the other phony liberals who have become the dysfunctional dragons of the progressive movement.  People out there are saying, if those people are liberals, we don’t want that!  And who can blame them?

Fact check:  Those people are not real progressives.  Try Bernie Sanders, Al Franken, or Elizabeth Warren if you want a true liberal test drive.

Yet even as repulsive as the Democratic leadership has become in recent years (and perhaps has been for a very long time), this election was mainly a referendum on President Obama and his policies.  So, with a six-year record like his, how in the hell did his party fare so poorly?

Consider this:  The President walked off the job and onto the golf course when he was desperately needed the most out there in the heartland of America.  He spent too much time in Martha’s Vineyard and not enough time in Peoria.  That’s my theory as to why the Democrats lost.  He took off his uniform and left the field in the middle of the fourth quarter when the game on the line.  The score was tied, and the quarterback said “no mas.”

How could anyone defend a President who played golf all summer while the Middle East was in flames?  They can’t.  And that’s precisely why many Democrats told President Obama to “stay away” these past three months of campaigning.  Because his poll numbers plunged from over 50 percent approval down to the low 40s.  That’s a ten percent drop, mostly among independents and swing voters — the very same voters who tilt every election.  The President abandoned them in favor of a 3-wood.

Once the numbers plunged, candidates didn’t want the baggage of an increasingly unpopular albatross coming into their swing states and districts, dragging them down to defeat.  No one wants a photo op with someone looked upon as lazy and indifferent.  Would these Democratic candidates have lost anyway?  Perhaps.  But this time around President Obama not only lacked any coattails.  He didn’t even own a coat.  More like a golf sweater.  There are no coattails on a golf sweater, Mr. President.

Perhaps had President Obama instead of playing golf by day and watching Sports Center at night used some of that special charm and those great communication skills we used to hear so much about, we might still have a majority party in power capable of accomplishing something.  Then again, looking back to 2009-2010 when Democrats controlled both houses and the executive branch, they missed that flight.  So, how can anyone trust them again?

President Obama just blew the last chance he had to be a transformational figure in American history.  It looks more and more like he’ll now go down as a racial footnote.  And that’s a real shame for an Administration with so many things to brag about and a bonafide record of accomplishment.

The President didn’t necessarily fail to deliver.  He failed to deliver the message.

President LBJ Signing the 1968 Civil Rights Bill

Dear President Obama: Here’s what working in the White House looks like.

11 Comments

  1. Just to be clear, it is the deficit that has declined, not the debt. The debt continues to rise both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of GDP.

    • Nolan Replies: Noted and edited. Thanks for the catch.

      • For a man who works making his living off of people who gamble and lose millions or billions a year you sure act like you are some righteous person. As Mike Caro says, “Poker is a zero sum game.” It is for losers for the most part. For ever Phil Ivey there are thousands who lose the rent money.
        As for the saintly Lyndon Johnson, he was the most racist man to walk the face of the earth. Just look it up. Here is one of his quotes.
        In Senate Cloakrooms and staff meetings Johnson was a connoisseur of the word. According to biographer Robert Caoo, Johnson would calibrate his pronunciations by region using “nigra” with some southern legislators and “negra” with others, discussing Civil Rights. Legislation with men like Mississippi Democrat James Eastland, who committed most of his life defending white supremacy, he’d simply call it “The Nigger Bill.”
        Harry Reid tried his best to take the golf playing of our President away by complaining about the name of the Washington Redskins and trying his best to stir up the Native Americans of this country. Sorry Harry but it didn’t work, you soon can go back to Nevada and stir up things there since you will no longer be the Senate Leader and nothing but a lame duck.

  2. Wow are you really that uninformed and ignorant?

    THE DEMOCRATIC RECORD (2009 to Present)

    – Inflation remains virtually non-existent (Because of harmful Federal Reserve ZIRP which is crushing the nation’s savers)

    – Unemployment declined from 10 percent down to 6 percent (With crappy low paying jobs, the economy is not improving except for he 1% Read Mike Whitney, educate yourself)

    – An economic depression was averted thanks to government intervention (which most conservatives opposed) – No, it was kicked down the road and now it will be even worse, plus the bailouts were done under Bush. The banks should have been nationalized)

    – The national debt was cut by two-thirds – This is good.

    – Illegal immigration has brought under control (more deportations under the current administration than any other in history) (this is a negative for Obama, ripping apart families with deportations, I thought you were a liberal?)

    – Osama bin Laden is dead (Who cares)

    – No foreign attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11 (Really, there were no attacks the previous 70 years, really not an accomplishment)

    – Wall Street stands at an all-time high (This is a big negative, what happens when wages are raised= wall street slumps. WS at all time high, while wages remains stagnant is vile and disgusting, are you sure you are a progressive? 250 million people could give a fuck about the profits of the Wall Street criminals, it only benefits the top 10%.)

    – Record profits for most businesses, especially corporations (Again, on the backs of underpaid workers. This isnot a positive, unless you are a right wing Republican)

    – More Americans insured than at any time in history (Because Obama implemented a right wing healthcare plan)

    – Disengagement from two phony unwinnable wars in the Middle East (Obama has us back in Iraq fighting made up enemies that pose no threat to the US. He has said we will be in Afghanistan for at least a decade more, Oh yeah he has also bombed 7 Muslim countries that pose no threat to the US, supports the terrorist nation of Israel, spends more on war than GW Bush and murdered a 16 year old US born citizen)

    • Nolan Replies: Perhaps the point wasn’t made clearly enough. I’m not necessarily in favor of all these things or saying they are good, but they ARE THINGS A MAINSTREAM CANDIDATE CAN RUN ON. These are points that can be hammered home in campaign ads and should work to tilt votes. But they were hardly ever used in the election. That was my point.

      Also, I like your philosophy about nationalizing the banks.

      As to your question about me being “really that ignorant,” I guess so. I’m truly ignorant. Then again, all enlightenment is relative. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

      — Nolan

  3. You lost me at Al Franken. This man has done nothing since Saturday Night Live. I must have missed the big fundamental change and revolutionary viewpoints from this former comedian.
    If he had one ounce of courage, he’d stop the Fed from further ruining the middle class, and enriching the 1%….but he is nowhere to be found….silent…like the snow in the Minnesota winter.
    Heck he was fined $25K for not carrying insurance on his employees..and yet he gives us the insurance act instead of real health care reform.
    Certainly you can find a better example of true leadership, instead of the poster boy for term limits.

    • Nolan Replies: I almost didn’t mention Sen. Franken….but lots of indications out there that he’s matured the most as a Senator since being elected. You might disagree, I’m just regurgitating some thought from progressive sources…..unfortunately, we are scrapping the bottom of barrel here, as every other known Dem political leader runs from real progressive messages, except for Sens. Warren and Sanders.

      — Nolan

      • Please read Elizabeth Warren’s foreign policy page before calling her a progressive. It is despicable, you will no longer support her after reading that crap.

        P.S. You are the best blogger out there and I love reading your stuff (even when I disagree), so thank you.

      • Fair enough. Warren is quite feisty, but has major shortcomings. She’ll never live down her blatent, comical, sterotypical(high cheek bones)lie about having Native American heritage. She has as much Cherokee in her as Santa Claus.
        I would have loved to see her take down the Too Big To Fail banking system, but too much money flows into both parties from this industry.
        Audit the Fed and quit giving the newly printed money to the large banks for bonuses.
        Use her pulpit to pursue charges against the biggest crook in the past 10 years- Jon Corzine, who stole/misappropriated $1.6 billion from his clients, but is a great fundraiser for Obama.
        And finally, can someone please explain how giving amnesty to 14 million illegal aliens is going to benefit the African American community? I cannot grasp the logic behind the Dems push to make sure wages are kept low for the overloads of industry. The party bosses are colluding against the American people on this issue.
        2016 will be interesting times. If the Dems don’t find an issue to get blacks to vote, they can kiss their rear ends goodbye. And they won’t be able to run on Obama’s track record of helping this community.

  4. 99% of goods and services are higher in price including records for beef, pig, dairy, tuition, healthcare amongst numerous others. While the nation becomes impoverished for the sake of the wealthy.

    2007 wages, 2014 prices-other than raising taxes too-there is no more effective way to fuck the peasants more than what has already taken place.

    are the stock markets reflecting record prosperity or inflation? A hint-when asset prices rise while wages remain stagnant it makes assets less affordable for the masses.

  5. Interesting analysis. I’ve just posted a parallel perspective.
    http://arthurreber.com/home/thoughts-on-the-midterm-elections.html
    It covers much of the same ground but with a different slant. I think much of what happened was due to a hideous strategy cooked up in the back room of the DNC. I also think there’s a weird disconnect in the country between what people actually believe and favor and how they are voting. Too much to write here. Go check that blog.

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