It is interesting to watch Obama commit political suicide. Why is he doing it? Hard to say. It feels good, no doubt, to achieve an apotheosis among the left. Obama, Narcissist in Chief, relishes this role. More to the point, perhaps, is that he doesn't know how to do anything else.
It will cost him the presidency.
Bill Clinton, flawed as he was, was the consummate political strategist. What did he do when his party got thumped in the midterms? He "triangulated" to the middle, and selectively compromised with Republicans on a few issues like welfare reform. It worked, and he was re-elected easily. Two years ago, when Democrats were again thumped, prognosticators all assumed that Obama would follow this playbook, and conventional wisdom was that this would ultimately seal the deal on his re-election.
But he went the other way, hard. Class warfare, gay marriage, vilifying oil companies - you know the drill. All this will help with fundraising and the fawning media, but it's a trap. Simple mathematics doom the strategy.
You see, while most observers obsess about the middle, it's really turnout they should be focusing on, specifically conservative turnout. Practically every election is decided by whether conservatives turn out to vote. Why? Because there are a lot of them. There are more conservatives than there are Republicans or Democrats, and there are, by a 2-1 margin, more conservatives than liberals. 40% of Americans are self-described conservatives. This is a fairly consistent number.
So, while appealing to the "base" can - and does - get Republicans elected, the same is most definitely NOT true for Democrats. At 20% of the electorate, there simply are not enough liberals to get anyone elected, particularly since they tend to undervote as well. For a Democrat to win, he must excite the base while at the same time firing up a huge chunk of independents. This is a tall order, and one Obama pulled off in '08 by pretending to be a "post-partisan" moderate. (It also didn't hurt that he had a weak opponent and a nicely timed financial crisis.)
The amazing thing is that it wouldn't have taken much on Obama's part to sail to re-election in November. He could have picked one thing, say embracing his own Simpson-Bowles commission, or even just a Sister Soulja moment, and re-election would have been his. But, the cat's out of the bag. He is a committed leftist, and, this time, he doesn't mind everyone knowing.
The election will not be close.
Wow. Pathetic.
ReplyDeleteWow. And you wonder why you're called a racist....maybe because you are. And a hypocrite and a Liar..basically everything you stupidly accuse Obama of being.
Proof 1: Anyone who listens to D'Shouza is a racist. D'Shouza is a racist liar, too. just like you. I can see why you like him.
This is a typical conservative ploy: “Now I’m not a something or other (doctor, lawyer, psychologist, or whatever), but you can take it from me, that I certainly believe such and such…”
No, I’ve heard it for years—even before Obama. It’s a political charge rather than a psychological diagnosis.
So now we're criticizing a US president for having a high opinion of himself? Would you prefer one who didn't?
If Obama should not take credit for the killing of bin Laden, who should? If you answer George Bush, what you are saying to an Obama apologist is the things that happened on Obama's watch were caused by George Bush. Sure you want to go there?
If Bush gets credit for OBL, he gets blame for unemployment and the economy. Period. So throw Obama fans a bone and admit Obama gets credit for OBL. Then hammer away at him for everything else.
OMG…the White House website is actively promoting the President?
I say ready the impeachment documents.
You have to be kidding me…aren’t you? Because it really is the silly season if you guys are reduced to making a stink about this.
By the way, No. If he was those were true you would be dead right now. Some of those are terrible people and people are using them as a joke. Just look up N. Korea facts to know what a communist is. Andrew Johnson was actually are worst president statistic wise.
And Obama is not a communist or a marxist. he is not even a good liberal. he is just to the left of Reagan. He just looks like a communist to you wack a doodles out there on the extreme far right ledge.
With the Republicans once again trying to blame all our ills on President Obama I find that once again I have to remind the country that President Bush did this. He as you know was following Reaganism. Reagan was the father of this nightmare. If we are foolish enough to let Romney in he will be influenced to bring us back to the destruction of our version of America and finish us off with Reagan and Bush's version.
"If there's nothing wrong or bad about being gay, why the outrage towards someone speculating that Obama may have had gay relations?"
You know why....BECAUSE YOU PEOPLE ARE FOOLS!
First, President Obama was born in Kenya....NOT A US CITIZEN; then he was a MUSLIM; then he was SOCIALIST: then he was a COMMUNIST; and now, HE'S GAY.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE...THE RIGHT WING IN THIS COUNTRY IS SICK AND ONTHE CRITICAL LIST....I feel sorry for YOU people. OMG, pathetic!
Please seek professional help...you and others like you really need it.
It's obvious you people are sick in the head with hatred and racism. What else other reason is there of this type of disusting behavior?
Obama is NOT a fraud! He’s exactly what he claims to be. A lawyer, former State and US Senator, who was born in Hawaii grew up in Indonesia.
Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961 – as his birth certificate states, but that’s too much for you racists to understand.
The facts are in. The right-wing of America are racists. I was right as usual. They hate having black people running in the White House and they prove it everyday with their racist name-calling and attacks!
The biggest threat and disgrace to our country is ignorant bigoted fools. You should be stripped of your right to vote until you learn to accept reality for what it is and stop throwing around conspiracy theories. They still don’t understand that HALF of this country DON’t hate having a black man as President, half of this country aren’t as racist or a bigoted as they are.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteOne wonders if the above, anonymous, poster even read what I wrote. More likely, he trolls conservative blogs copying and pasting the same incoherent screed, over and over.
ReplyDeleteIt's tempting to delete something that accuses me of being a racist, but really, sometimes a cause is best served by sitting back and letting the other side speak.
Well responded. Anonymous proved himself to be the insecure name-caller. I applaud you for not stooping to that level.
Delete"They still don’t understand that HALF of this country DON’t"...Maybe when he/she completes 7th grade grammar (and HS Poli-Sci courses), he/she will actually respond to the individual points in your text with a lucid, calm rebuttal. "The biggest threat and disgrace to our country is ignorant bigoted fools. You should be stripped of your right to vote"...is she/he promoting eugenics now? Sounds eerily familiar to Hitler's plan for a master race, who can only agree with his POV.
Please note that I deleted a comment. While I will tolerate a great deal in the comment section, including being called a racist, I won't tolerate ill-informed personal attacks about private issues about which the poster, in this case, knows nothing.
ReplyDeleteClassic left-wing tactic; if you can't refute someone's argument, attack them personally. Sorry, it's not going to work.
You lose your credibility when you say personal attacks are classic left-wing. The Republican primary was embarrassing. While I am not sure the Republicans represent the right wing any more, until the right wing does something to fix that problem they do.
DeleteLots of time until November. Your own model had hium winning two months ago. I'd put money on Obama.
And what is with the captcha crap for a blog comment section??? Retarded technology.
DeleteI will say one more thing to the anonymous poster I was forced to delete: you say that "honesty" is an issue, but I find that an odd assertion. This is a blog, and by its nature simply my opinion. You are free to disagree, and you are free to contest any facts I use as well. But here's a tip: personal attacks aren't a really good way to win arguments.
ReplyDeleteI admire your optimism. But you seem to be in a trance. The Rs have their own problems to deal with and they've been doing a heck of a job of destroying themselves.
ReplyDeleteAlert the zombies. Obama is probably going to win unless the stock market cracks.
I think that Obama is being very cagey about this gay marriage situation. Perhaps even Clintonesque. For example, he has NOT said that he supports gay divorce. I think he may view this as a compromise (gay marriages but no gay divorces). If he really wants equality on this issue he should say that he supports gay divorce which of course presupposes gay marriage. :-)
ReplyDeleteAs we all know, the definition of a racist is, "A conservative who is winning a debate with a liberal."
ReplyDeleteI would definitely leave the post by Anonymous up. Although this type of illogical, stream-of-consciousness ranting won't be taken seriously by anyone on the left or the right, it does illustrate the two primary talking points that have been drilled into the base by the Obama campaign: 1) all failures of this administration are Bush and the Republicans' fault; and, 2) those who disagree with Obama on policy issues are not entitled to their opinion because they are racist.
Also, I agree with you that Obama's lunge to the left will hurt him in the general election. But I believe he would have lost even if he had stayed closer to the middle. This is because the broad middle and the independents, who gave "Hope and Change" a chance, have no intention of being fooled twice. They now realize that since the passage of ObamaCare, Obama has been a do-nothing President who has allowed the Congressional Democrats to lead his party. They hear the soaring oratory but realize now that there is nothing behind it. And in truly difficult times for the country, they will seek a leader. Whether they are inspired by Romney or not, they will vote for change and hope for a leader.