Originally Posted by leighredf

Obamania - it cannot be the fault of President Obama's policies. The two governor's races that the Dems lost, I guess those were also bad campaigns.

In every district where there were a lot of independents, the ones who voted for President Obama en masse, Coakley lost. You are falling for the spin.

If the Dems really believe that Coakley lost a strong, traditional Democratic Senate seat, where sentiment alone should have carried her to victory, and Obama's policies were not the issue, good. They'll get drummed in the next election.

Since 1900, there have been five occasions where the President has had a supermajority in the Senate and a majority in the house. On every occasion except one, that position was lost after a year or two, usually because the President tried to do too much with that power (e.g. Roosevelt Supreme Court stacking).

This reeks of liberal elitism. "We are so much smarter than everyone else there has to be a problem other than with us when we don't win." Dumb voters, Republican chicanery, bad campaign, etc.

Elite, limousine liberalism is not what most people in this country want.

Originally Posted by nuttyjoe

I agree most heately, WT. Let us all hope that our elected officials learn these lessons as well as our citizens. No political party can claim perfection- we all know this. That's not important. What is important is that we address our problems instead of wasting so much time in placing blame for them.
To the Dems currently in Control in the White House and Congress: You've got a full plate of changes that caused a financial downturn for America a little over a year ago. Get to work! Enough of telling us that it was Bush and the Repubs fault. We want answers; and results!
To the Repubs that lost control: Learn the lessons! Americans want answers and results; and we'll vote for whoever can offer to deliver them better. In this; political parties don't mean a darn thing. We'll punish failure no matter who or what party is in charge-period.

Originally Posted by waitingtables

The problem is that Coakley was ahead in the polls until the last month before the election. She thought she had it won. She went on vacation rather than campaigning, all while Brown campaigned busily. She was the inferior candidate at a time when people want to see that their vote is not taken for granted.

While there are arrogant liberals, it is a mistake to make a claim that all liberals tend to be arrogant. That's showing a definite bias and generalization based on the liberals that you've seen and met. But some people find it arrogant when others tell the truth. Seems to me the problem is that republicans don't like it when the facts are considered. And by republicans, I mean the actual elected officials. They haven't even glanced towards the middle. Obama is very middle in his presidency. The freaking "health reform bill" is very far from anything resembling liberal. No concessions by the dems are enough, and yet they are still being targeted by the republicans for not considering their positions in the legislation. That is absolutely not the truth. Many concessions have been made. The problem for this president is that it is very hard to pass your agenda when both sides are more beholden to the special interest monied lobby, than to the will of the people. Many more Americans approve of Obama than either party in the entire Congress. And this is about seeing government going hand in hand with huge corporations, corporations that aren't suffering like many of the American people are. No more status quo.

The power elite on the right are still very involved in pursuing their own agenda and they are succeeding at it, as usual. Obama has a lot of very influential, powerful people that are against him. And those people don't want higher taxes or care about the peons struggling to catch the crumbs falling from their laps. They want to continue to exploit any and all resources necessary to keep them on top, while the rest of us suffer the consequences of their arrogant sense of entitlement.

I know that I voted for Obama, not against McCain. I would have stayed home if the democratic candidate had been someone that I thought to be unworthy. People want health reform and Obama to lead us in the fight for it, but he has in my opinion gone too far in trying to please everyone. It could be far simpler. Democrats in Congress are just as vulnerable to losing thier seats as the republicans are, if they both are seen to be keeping up the imbalance between middle America and corporate America Wall St.).

Originally Posted by waitingtables

No the problem is that the country is in the shitter and people are angry and scared. They want leadership and someone to tell them that it's going to be okay and give them directions on what to do.

Massachusetts isn't a liberal state, it is highly independent and tends to vote democratically. Until a woman says stupid shit about baseball and assumes that she is going to win without working hard for it.

As for the New Jersey governor's race, it was clear that NJ was pissed at whoever was in that seat, and going to vote in the other guy. That's what we do here. All the time.

Originally Posted by waitingtables

No the problem is that the country is in the shitter and people are angry and scared. They want leadership and someone to tell them that it's going to be okay and give them directions on what to do.

Massachusetts isn't a liberal state, it is highly independent and tends to vote democratically. Until a woman says stupid shit about baseball and assumes that she is going to win without working hard for it.

As for the New Jersey governor's race, it was clear that NJ was pissed at whoever was in that seat, and going to vote in the other guy. That's what we do here. All the time.

Originally Posted by leighredf

We want a leader who will tell us what to do? I don't. I want a leader who will leave me alone as much as possible, get our fiscal house in order, quit spending money we do not have, scale government back, and quit overextending our military.

Originally Posted by leighredf

We want a leader who will tell us what to do? I don't. I want a leader who will leave me alone as much as possible, get our fiscal house in order, quit spending money we do not have, scale government back, and quit overextending our military.

Our country is in the shitter? I will have to concede, reluctantly, that Gary has a point about our fear in some situations. Our economy (I posted the stats on another thread) was more comparable to the early 80's recession than to the depression. Our stats aren't even close to the Great Depression. Yet, we act all panicky and scared. We don't yet have the high rate inflation and gas shortages of the Carter years. The combination of high inflation and high unemployment was terrible. We have had it much much harder.

The economy is going to ebb and flow. Those under age 40 don't remember the last big economic downturn. I barely do.

If we (the people and the government) learn to live within our means, all these ebbs and flows (people getting really rich, followed by people losing a lot) will even out more.