Tag Archives: Democrats

December 15, 2011 · 2:51 pm

Anti-Incumbent Fever Could Hurt Republicans

This is good news.

I just hope the trend holds until next year AND that the Dems actually nominate credible, progressive candidates as alternatives….

I’m so sick of the Dem’s nominating Candidates who are like GOP Lites, instead of true Progressives.  I hope they realize how much things have changed…

From the Huffington Post:

Results from a new national survey from the Pew Research Center should strike fear into the hearts of incumbents in Congress, especially those who are members of the Republican Party. A record number of respondents want to vote sitting lawmakers out of office, and Republicans take more of the blame than Democrats for perceptions of a do-nothing Congress.

According to the Pew Research report, two-thirds (67 percent) of registered voters nationwide say “most members of Congress” should be voted out of office in 2012, while only 20 percent want most members reelected. This desire to fire all incumbents marks a record level of discontent since the Pew Center started asking the question 18 years ago, far exceeding previous highs of 57 percent in 2010 and 56 percent in 1994.

via Pew Research Poll: Anti-Incumbent Fever Could Hurt Republicans.

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November 30, 2011 · 7:04 pm

The Future of the Obama Coalition

Future demographic trends strongly support a Democratic majority- if the Dems start acting like Dems.

There is also the great Education Divide.

There is also a big disconnect among White people based on education.  I see it more and more with people I know.  Educated people tend to break for the Democrats.  This makes sense.  If you can apply critical thinking skills, you just can’t buy the GOP agenda.  Lesser educated Whites continue to vote GOP- for reasons I can’t fathom.  These folks are seriously voting against their own interests, but you just can’t reason with them.

The GOP has built their focus on the Southern Strategy since Nixon.  This is to appeal to uneducated, prejudiced White people.  It worked for years, but there are fewer and fewer folks in this demographic profile.  And it’s going to continue to die out….

I just hope the trends have moved far enough for this to work in 2012….

From the NY Times:

For decades, Democrats have suffered continuous and increasingly severe losses among white voters. But preparations by Democratic operatives for the 2012 election make it clear for the first time that the party will explicitly abandon the white working class.

All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned in favor of cementing a center-left coalition made up, on the one hand, of voters who have gotten ahead on the basis of educational attainment — professors, artists, designers, editors, human resources managers, lawyers, librarians, social workers, teachers and therapists — and a second, substantial constituency of lower-income voters who are disproportionately African-American and Hispanic.

It is instructive to trace the evolution of a political strategy based on securing this coalition in the writings and comments, over time, of such Democratic analysts as Stanley Greenberg and Ruy Teixeira. Both men were initially determined to win back the white working-class majority, but both currently advocate a revised Democratic alliance in which whites without college degrees are effectively replaced by well-educated socially liberal whites in alliance with the growing ranks of less affluent minority voters, especially Hispanics.

via The Future of the Obama Coalition – NYTimes.com.

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October 11, 2011 · 5:44 pm

It’s Official: Obama Has Embraced Occupy Wall Street

Great.  It’s about time…..

I hate that it takes pressure to make President Obama support the Progressive policies he was elected to implement.  I know the arguments about practical politics, etc, but he tends to play it way too safe and compromise way too much.

This support for the Occupy Wall Street movement is a calculated risk.  The Wall Street gang whose campaign cash he is counting on aren’t going to like this….

But he kind of had to start supporting this or completely lose his already down-spirited base….

In any event, I’m glad to see the President and the White House publicly  lining up on the right side of the issues….

From Business Insider:

 

White House Senior Adviser David Plouffe embraced the Occupy Wall Street protests on behalf of President Barack Obama in an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday.

“The protests you’re seeing are the same conversations people are having in living rooms and kitchens all across America,”  Plouffe told George Stephanopoulos. “People are very frustrated by an economy that does not reward hard work and responsibility, where Wall Street and Main Street don’t seem to play by the same set of rules. The question is, on Wall Street reform, which the president passed, for instance most of the Republicans in Congress, and I believe all the Republicans on the stage tonight in New Hampshire, they want to unwind Wall Street reform.”

“If you’re concerned about Wall Street and our financial system, the president is standing on the side of consumers and the middle class and a lot of these Republicans are basically saying, you know what, let’s go back to the same policies that led us to the great recession in the first place,” he added.

via It’s Official: Obama Has Embraced Occupy Wall Street.

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October 4, 2011 · 6:52 pm

White House on Occupy Wall Street: `We understand’ – The Washington Post

The fact that the mainstream media is finally paying attention and that the White House is having to address this is a really, really big change….

This movement is getting too big to ignore- which is a very good thing!

I knew there was an Anit-Tea Party alternative out there and it looks like the sleeping giant has awakened….

From Greg Sargent in the Washington Post:

The story here is not what the White House said but that it was asked to weigh in on the protests at all — another sign of the remarkable speed with which it has grown from a crowd chanting at police two weeks ago. As for the substance of the White House response, it would have been a mistake for it to go any further than it did here — registering an understanding of economic frustration. Because if there’s one thing that’s growing clearer by the hour, it’s that this is an entirely organic effort, one that’s about nobody but the protesors themselves. In this sense, we’re seeing a replay of the Wisconsin protests. Those ended up falling just short of what activists had hoped to achieve, but their months-long showing was still important — it demonstrated that left wing populism is still alive and well and sent an important message about the mood of the country. The key was that it grew organically with little to no involvement from Beltway Dems and the White House.

If anything, Occupy Wall Street’s lack of outside encouragement from bigfoot Dems has been a strength, rather than a weakness. As major progressive groups debate how they can contribute to strengthening the movement — and how to give it specific direction and a specific agenda — the need to preserve its grassroots nature will remain paramount. Who knows where this will end up, but for now, this is another reminder that the Tea Party isn’t the only voice of popular discontentment over the economy. We don’t necessarily live in Tea Party Nation, after all.

More: White House on Occupy Wall Street: `We understand’ – The Plum Line – The Washington Post.

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October 2, 2011 · 2:44 pm

Obama: Commander in Chief Must Support Gay Troops

Good for him.  It’s about time he took a stronger stance both against the Republicans and for Gay Rights.

Admittedly, he had to be pushed- and pushed hard- by the Gay community to actually take some action, but he took it.

Now, I’m interested to see how fast his views on Gay Marriage continue to “evolve”……

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sharply rebuked his Republican rivals, saying anyone who wants to be commander in chief must support the entire U.S. military, including gay service members.

A combative Obama on Saturday criticized Republican presidential candidates for staying silent when the crowd at a recent debate booed a gay soldier who asked a question of the contenders via videotape.

“You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient,” Obama said during remarks at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization.

Referencing the boos at the Sept. 22 Republican debate, he said: “We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens.”

Obama touted his administration’s efforts to repeal the military’s ban on openly gay service members, as well as his orders to the Justice Department to stop enforcing a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

But, as expected, Obama stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, saying only that “every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law.”

Obama has said his views on gay marriage are “evolving”, but for now he only supports civil union.

Obama’s position on gay marriage has become a sore point for some gay activists who say they’re otherwise pleased with the president’s handling of issues important to them. Some of the president’s backers say he could be wasting a chance to energize key segments of his base, including young people, if he doesn’t publicly advocate for gay marriage.

“If he doesn’t, he could be missing an opportunity to mobilize voters who need to be inspired to vote for him,” said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic consultant.

The president’s position on gay marriage puts him at odds with some of his supporters. Numerous recent polls suggest a slight majority of Americans favor giving same-sex couples the right to marry, and support is highest among Democrats and young people.

Obama has acknowledged that public support for gay marriage is building. During a meeting with liberal bloggers last October, he said “it’s pretty clear where the trend lines are going.”

More:   The Associated Press: Obama: Commander in chief must support gay troops.

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October 1, 2011 · 11:55 pm

Progressives Launching ‘October Offensive’ To Rival Tea Party?

This is starting to get interesting…..

Former White House adviser Van Jones says that progressives are going to launch an “October offensive” to rival the Tea Party, in the spirit of the Arab Spring protests across the Middle East.

“Everybody should hold onto their seats. October is going to be the turning point when it comes to the progressive fight back. You can see it coming,” Jones said this week on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell.

“When Warren Buffett comes out and says, look, we’ve got to do something to raise taxes and to do better by America, and you’ve got these young kids who are going out there on Wall Street,” Jones said, referring to the members of Occupy Wall Street, who have been camped out in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan’s financial district for the past several weeks, “There’s a generation of Americans who are looking around and saying ‘What is the American Dream going to look like for me?’ They’re going to be standing up.”

“You are going to see an American Fall, an American Autumn, just like we saw the Arab Spring,” Jones continued. “You can see it right now with these young people on Wall Street. Hold onto your hats, we’re going to have an October offensive to take back the American dream and to rescue America’s middle class.”

MORE:   Van Jones Praises Occupy Wall Street, Says Progressives Launching ‘October Offensive’ To Rival Tea Party.

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September 26, 2011 · 7:45 pm

Obama’s Preaching Doesn’t Reach

Interesting article from Anthea Butler at Religion Dispatches.

For the record, she is an Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Pennsylvania and an African-American woman.

While I continue to support President Obama, I have my concerns as well.

He’s been much friendlier to Wall Street than Main Street…

He doesn’t seem to “dance with the ones who brought him” too well.  Sometimes, it’s almost like he’s ashamed to be seen with us.  He had to be pushed and pushed to take action on Gay issues, but he did take action.

Now he’s pushing some buttons with another core constituency.

I hope he’s had a true realization- on the Road to Damascus, so to speak- and this isn’t just fear driven based on recent polls.

If he had pushed the agenda he was elected to pursue, instead of tilting at the windmills of compromise with the GOP, we wouldn’t be having this dialogue…

Here is an excerpt from Dr Butler’s column and a link to the full version:

Obama’s performance of black preaching may play well to church folks who love him no matter what, but to those critical of his policies that have placed African Americans at the highest unemployment rates, the president’s fake whooping rings hollow. Why is it that every time the president speaks to a predominately black audience, he goes into a preacher’s cadence, and starts to speak as though he were at a pulpit? Why is it that he never gets “righteously angry” with the white folks as often as he does at the black folks?

If you think I am harsh, consider a segment of the president’s 2010 CBC speech: “I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods to go back to your workplaces, to go to churches and go to the barbershops and go to the beauty shops, and tell them we’ve got more work to do.”

Damn. I think most black people I know do more than just work, go to church, and get their hair done.

Let me say it more bluntly. The president said at the end of his CBC speech: “[I] expect all of you to march with me and press on. Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on.”

That was the moment that the president turned into a jackleg preacher. A jackleg preacher is an untrained preacher who relies on tried and true tropes to get his audience to respond to preaching. If a jackleg is really good, he or she can get the money or whatever else they want by hitting the sweet spot, that emotional place where the congregation always responds well, because they recognize the feelings and emotions the jackleg preacher wants to evoke. Referring to taking off the slippers and putting on marching shoes is a tired racist trope, and besides, isn’t Snooki the person who wears her slippers in public? I don’t think she’s African American.

There is a history with Obama’s speeches to predominantly black audiences that either try to use respectability or shame to change steroetypical behavior. Obama’s 2008 speech excoriating absent black fathers at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, and his comments on the campaign trail in 2008 in Beaumont, Texas urging black parents “not to feed their kids cold Popeye’s chicken for breakfast,” are just two examples of how Obama deploys this racially-coded rhetorical strategy. The president’s behavior since taking office towards the African American community has been either to tell black folks to get in line and get to work, or gee, I love ya’ll, but I need your vote. If only he would speak to Republicans and Tea Partiers in the same harsh manner.

MORE:   Obama’s Preaching Doesn’t Reach | Religion Dispatches.

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August 30, 2011 · 8:13 pm

Never-fail prediction system shows 2012 win for Obama

Very interesting article from RawStory.com

Nothing is a sure thing, but I’ll take anything that eases my fear of a GOP win!  I can’t imagine what they would do to the country if they were to be back in control of the Presidency at this point.  They are even crazier now than during the Bush years.

No matter what issues we may have with President Obama or his leadership style, he is by far the best option- for Democrats and the Country.

 

American University professor Allan Lichtman is on a winning streak spanning nearly three decades — one that President Barack Obama might have an interest in seeing Lichtman extend.

Lichtman created a formula that has correctly predicted the winner of each election since 1984, beginning with the reelection of President Ronald Reagan, U.S. News and World Report reported. The formula that predicted Obama’s 2008 win is again showing that the incumbent president will win the election, despite the term-low approval rating Obama has been maintaining for past weeks.

“Even if I am being conservative, I don’t see how Obama can lose,” Lichtman said.

His model, described in his book The Keys to the White House, relies on 13 “keys” that gauge the performance of the sitting president’s party. If six or more of these aspects are in the party’s favor, the candidate they present will win.

Nine of the keys fall in Obama’s favor, Lichtman said — more than enough for reelection.

Created in 1981 and first tested against the 1984 election, Lichtman’s model hasn’t failed yet.

Even in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush was riding a wave of popularity and widely expected to win, Lichtman thought otherwise.

“I got a call from this woman with a thick southern drawl,” Lichtman said. “It was Clinton’s special assistant. She wanted to know if it was true that a Democrat could win. I assured her it was and I sent Clinton a copy of my book and a memo and the rest is history.”

via Never-fail prediction system shows 2012 win for Obama | The Raw Story.

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August 10, 2011 · 7:24 pm

Dylan Ratigan Rant: Debt Negotiations ‘Reckless, Irresponsible And Stupid’

All I can say is “Amen”….

From The Huffington Post:

 

“Tens of trillions of dollars are being extracted from the United States of America. Democrats aren’t doing it, Republicans are not doing it, an entire integrated system, financial system, trading system, taxing system, that was created by both parties over a period of two decades is at work on our entire country right now,” said Ratigan. “We’re sitting here arguing about whether we should do the $4 trillion plan that kicks the can down the road for the president for 2017, or burn the place to the ground, both of which are reckless, irresponsible and stupid.”

After the show, lobbyist Jimmy Williams, who sat on Tuesday’s MSNBC panel, wrote to Ratigan to express support for his angry tirade. “I’m proud of you,” wrote Williams in an email obtained by The Huffington Post. “Someone just texted me and said, ‘You didn’t get to say anything!’ My response: ‘I didn’t need to.'”

“Money in politics is pure, unadulterated corruption,” Williams continued. “Get rid of campaign contributions and the political parties will cease to exist because policy will prevail or politics. We have amended the US Constitution twice with regard to liquor but not once with regard to the buying and selling of our politicians. What’s wrong with this picture?”

via Dylan Ratigan Rant: Debt Negotiations ‘Reckless, Irresponsible And Stupid’.

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August 10, 2011 · 5:09 pm

CNN Poll: Time to clean house in Congress?

This is really good news for the country- and for Democrats.

Seems people have just about had it with the GOP Congress and are ready to throw the bums out…

For the first time in my memory, most people don’t think their own Congressman deserves to be re-elected.  If this holds for the 2012 election cycle, it could be historic- and unpredictable.

From CNN:

Washington (CNN) – Need more evidence that Americans are extremely angry at Congress?

Well, here you go: According to a new national survey, for the first time ever most Americans don’t believe their own member of Congress deserves re-election.

And the CNN/ORC International Poll released Tuesday also indicates that while Republicans may have had the upper hand in the recent battle over raising the debt ceiling, they appear to have lost a lot of ground with the public and the party’s unfavorable rating is now at an all time high.

Only 41 percent of people questioned say the lawmaker in their district in the U.S. House of Representatives deserves to be re-elected – the first time ever in CNN polling that that figure has dropped below 50 percent. Forty-nine percent say their representative doesn’t deserve to be re-elected in 2012. And with ten percent unsure, it’s the first time that a majority has indicated that they would boot their representative out of office if they had the chance today.

“That 41 percent, in the polling world, is an amazing figure. Throughout the past two decades, in good times and bad, Americans have always liked their own member of Congress despite abysmal ratings for Congress in general,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Now anti-incumbent sentiment is so strong that most Americans are no longer willing to give their own representative the benefit of the doubt.  If that holds up, it could be an early warning of an electorate that is angrier than any time in living memory.”

As for all members of Congress, the poll indicates only a quarter of the public says most members of Congress deserve to be re-elected.

A lot of that anger seems directed toward the GOP.  According to the survey, favorable views of the Republican party dropped eight points over the past month, to 33 percent. Fifty-nine percent say they have an unfavorable view of the Republican party, an all-time high dating back to 1992 when the question was first asked.

The poll indicates that views of the Democratic party, by contrast, have remained fairly steady, with 47 percent saying they have a favorable view of the Democrats and an equal amount saying they hold an unfavorable view.

“The Democratic party, which had a favorable rating just a couple of points higher than the GOP in July, now has a 14-point advantage over the Republican party,” adds Holland.

via CNN Poll: Time to clean house in Congress? – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs.

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