Now we come together.

Democrats *IN GENERAL* made a HUGE mistake in 2010 by not voting. I hope that we won't pay the price for abandoning the president and allowing the Teabaggers to overtake our government...and governors and state legislators dominating the states.

I hope this serves as a huge lesson to all of us.

... and that myth has largely been debunked.

Even though it's the absolute truth.

of our government. As The Boss just said in Iowa, "today is another battle that we're fighting in a world that is brutally resistant to change".

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012!!!

on off presidential elections.

We simply didn't turnout because we were angry at Obama and blamed him for what he could not control. That's the honest truth.

I think it was in part the intimidation by the Tea Party in town hall meetings that dispirited many Democrats. But more importantly, Democrats didn't pay enough attention to the message Republicans were using which was that the Affordable Care Act gutted Medicare. Apparently Democrats thought no way that the voters wouldn't see through that except seniors abandon Democrats in droves in 2010, seeing the Republicans as "saving" Medicare. Democrats simply did not fight back and that permitted a wave election. That was one of the biggest screw up's I have ever seen and the cost was catastrophic. Sadly, some of those perceptions still exist.

I may have disagreed with him on a thing or two, but I still showed up and voted for democrats. And I am pretty damn liberal.

Democrats should always, always vote.

But turnout for presidential elections is usually only around 50-60% of all people eligible to vote, while it's about 40% for midterms. And the number of non-voters is larger than the number of people registered for both major parties.

But it is what it is.

....and they learned the hard way that mid-terms matter.

Republicans already KNEW mid-terms matter and they turned up.

This is important. Get a load of this...

The entire media narrative of "disillusioned Obama supporters" is based on the myth that Obama let his base down. This is CONSTANTLY repeated with the "he had two years" crap we've all heard. The ENTIRE effort is to tell the young idealistic voters to give it up. To say, "Obama tricked you". To tell them to forget about getting involved in politics because it will always let you down.

Further. To those who looked a tad deeper the message was, "Republicans are in charge and there is NOTHING you can do about it. We are the adults, you are just a bunch of kids. Go out and play, we have serious work to do and can't be disturbed. Shut the door on your way out."

There are some structural problems in the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign and their lack of cohesion and cooperation that create not an ideological but rather an organizational divide in the Party that paralyzes it in midterm elections. This pretty much started with OFA and DFA. The concept of organizing so much of the party's GOTV efforts with a specific focus on the presidential candidate is flawed. In the 2010 midterms, the GOTV efforts were almost nonexistent.

Was no longer DNC chair, the party leadership once again retreated from the 50-state strategy!

of Virginia DUers claiming that in one of my threads cursing our new congresscritters, and I did read them both the riot act...

my own horn here. I have voted in every election since 1972. 2010, I voted. Don't blame me for those tea bagger snakes!

I vote every time dem no matter how mad I get. Wasn't my fault the rest of our country screwed up….

Turnout overall was low!

the local Rs who are so aggressive pushing their propaganda at voters in line.

Had they not, things would have been an even worse disaster. They lost the INDEPENDENT vote and many young people were disillusioned by the continuation of Bush policies.

I don't know why this claim of Dems 'sitting at home' persists. It is false. Despite the lack of enthusiasm after the HC debate, the slamming of the Left Wing of the party, the DLC cabinet etc, the WH constantly using the Blue Dogs as an excuse for any failure to push forward a more Progressive agenda, and the incomprehensible efforts to 'work with Republicans' while not giving a voice to Progressive Dems on important issues, it was NOT Democrats who stayed home in 2010. It was Independents. And the Party was warned that if they kept slamming the Left they would lose Independents and they did.

Another thing that cost Dems votes from Independents was the HC debacle. Even elected Dems walked away feeling they had been betrayed, people like Sen. Dorgan eg. He quit politics altogether which was a shame and a huge loss but I guess he had had enough of DC.

The truth is that Dems went out and voted despite everything, and I don't know where this story comes from as it has been corrected so many times.

There are things that he's done that if Bush did them those same people would have been livid.

And on the flip side, anyone who dared legitimately criticize Obama was treated badly.

If we just accept whatever he does and deem it right just because he's a Dem then we are no better than Freeperville. And let's face it, Obama is center right. He's simply not very left on the spectrum at all and if we are true progressives we need to push him to be further left. That won't happen if no criticism of him is allowed. He told us to make him do it and when some tried they were shot down for criticizing him.

But anyway... this is an old story. Now that he's not going to be running for reelection again I hope he won't be so timid and that he takes his case to the people. And the people must push him to make the right case, and that might involve criticism. If we don't push him and only praise everything he does and ignore anything we might not agree with then he will not be all that he can be for us. And now more than ever we need to push back against so much that has transpired lately that absolutely needs to change. (privatizing of election systems, Citizens United, Wall Street regulation etc...)

I hope that we will be allowed to push on DU again, too.

it got to me too, and for awhile I was confused and didn't know what to think, so I didn't say too much. And certainly was afraid to admit here to liking and supporting President Obama!! Yikes, I remember the intense hatred aimed at ProSense and FrenchieCat......

I did make sure to vote at the 2010 elections for Dems, but still, pukebaggers like Tom Reed and Sean Hanna in NY state got enough crazies out to the polls.

Definitely!

Because this place became such a cesspool of negativity after Obama was elected.

Nothing he accomplished was good enough for this place. Despite many great accomplishments.

It is good to hear you say this as I have been Pro Obama all along. Yea there were some things he did that I didnt like but on the whole he has been awesome in the face of a ludicrous opposition party that wont sign a bill to help the country simply because Obama would sign it too.

Everything Obama did was wrong. He couldn't do anything right.

This president has made his share of mistakes, but people were blaming him for shit that he couldn't control.

I'm thrilled that we have finally come together.

I missed you so much....oh man...~tear~

How awesome to see a post from you!

Missed you too!

I have been enjoying the last couple of years where I didn't have to monitor moment by moment what our president was up to for fear that it was yet another total calamity.

Great to see you still posting

before. I always remember that You and I were old Dean Supporters back in the day..

On the First Day of PBO's Inauguration there was an OP Whining about how much money they were spending. And, on that very night it turns out Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and their close goPlutocratic buddies were making a pact to keep Pres Obama to a One Term President.

I know..PBO's Accomplishments were never acknowledged by so many on here..only the relentless complaining was repeated ad nauseum.

I came back because DU was my political home for 8 years during the bush years and it was in General Election mode with the TOS looking like we could all get some work done to help Pres Obama get re-elected. It's been catharitic, informative, and soothing.

And, here we are on Election Eve

But came back. DU3 has improved so many things and the jury system is so much better. It was hard to here in 2010 to be honest. I am glad I came back full force though.

came back, Jennicut..

DU is home for a lot of us.

I left for at least that long after (all that stuff.) It's much better here now - we KNOW who our enemy is.

Egnever tseb eht si gnitoV.

Egnever tseb eht si gnitoV

Exactly

yltcaxE!

That DU is a Obama cheer fest, etc.

Nothing could've been further from the truth these past 2 years.

It was hard to read

for Democrats appears to elude some?

It was very discouraging.

feel better. God willing, we'll get a second chance.

we shouldn't be "fair weather democrats" .. not with so much at stake!

It's just taken a little longer to really kick things into gear, now we know

If you did as I did, you shouldn't feel as if you let him down, all those dummies who sat on their asses in 2010 are the ones to blame. But if you didn't vote in the midterms, it appears you have learned a valuable lesson. Every election is important.

I think I feel like I worked really hard to get someone to the prom then left him on his own once we got there. That same passion I had to help get him to the White House, if used to work on a campaign against a tea party candidate, could have made a difference in the '10 elections. Collectively, we could have had an awesome prom.

The people lining up for hours against voter suppression this past week? The TRUE base.

She was one of the loudest anti-Obama yappers out there against the ACA, just before the mids and had a LOT of support here on DU.

She and those like her, pretending to be 'progressives' put a real dent in enthusiasm and turnout with their panic and fabrications, if you ask me. It was pretty shitty around here about that time - Obama was being skewered with lies every friggen day here and Skinner let it happen because he didn't know which camp was the bigger number for his donations, the Obama camp or the anti-Obama camp so he let us tear each others throats out to settle that. There, sorry, I had to say that.

organized and well funded. Never forget that. This year has shown us how, with faith and hard work, we can prevail over Citizens United, Fear, Racism, and the rescinding of rights the other side would like to accomplish. We can't allow that! Stay strong and united.

are confronted with. It's not even a matter of the saying, 'this isn't your father's GOP.' We've learned of people as the Koch brothers have funded all sides, and that they have gotten enough wealth to think they should own the entire world.

The right, the alternative and conspiracy, the Tea Party and the Libertarians are their front groups, along with churches that have been turned away from their traditional missions to embrace hatred, and associations that hurt us all.

And they mean to dismantle all we have ever thought could move us forward to a better world with peace and justice. We'll stay united and remember that they are united and unrelenting. So we lose if we fight, back up or give in.

Thanks.

take over bid. They are out-of-the-closet so to speak. It is right out in the open for all to see, which is even more dangerous as they are so confident with their wealth and position that it is all but a done deal.

Eyes wide open and let the truth prevail. Truth has its own resonance and will move hearts in the right direction. I have to believe that.

And thank you, I'm glad to meet you here, too. I'm mostly thinking about this volunteer passion in Presidential Elections, we've got to keep that up in 2 years!

I think that is a good start - but I can do more.

I've been voting for 46 years and I've never missed a primary or general election. When I turned 21 in 1966 I registered to vote and I've been there since then.

and getting laughed at and ignored.

Those who always had his back had a hard time
on DU....which is a large part of why I stopped posting here....
I was demoralized. It took a long time to be hopeful again....
tell you that.

I'm sure you remember the "lists"......
that were tossed out with the garbage each and every day, no?

Tonight, Rachel was talking about how Obama should have highlighted his accomplishments more.

I think she has it a bit wrong. I think WE should have highlighted his accomplishments more.

That's the part we missed......which is why this has been a bigger battle than need be, IMO.

we didn't need to be posting his accomplishments all the time. I replied ..that yes we did when it was suggested there wasn't much accomplished.

The President's Done a Lot! Here Are More Than 200 Obama First Term Accomplishments, With Citations!

http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/what-has-obama-done-since-january-20-2009.html

... they had items like "considered this ... " and "advocated for that ... " and "Got a new white house dog"

Even though the lists always contained legitimate items for which Obama should have been praise they always contained crap for which the poster deserved criticism.

Copy and paste posts from fan sites are worthy of ridicule.

I think the Jury system has helped a lot.

Or seems to have. I have only been hanging out here again for a couple weeks now so its hard to say for sure.

Welcome back

If only Nance would show her face....

I stayed away for a few weeks from DU but drifted back. I wish I had a dollar for everytime someone called me an Obamabot. Could never decide who these people were. And I got sick of the incessant finger pointing status labeling of "liberal" vs. "progressive", distinctions which are still unclear to me. I found it hurtful and destructive as well as demoralizing. There was certainly a lot of time wasted by the insistence on perfection of ideology.

2 years after the presidential one is the most important. At least in Ohio...that's when we vote for Gov, SoS, Treas, etc.

OH Dems stayed home last time and we ended up w/ Kasich and his union-busting legislation. I doubt he runs in 2 years. But just wait....he'll make a move toward the WH.

some of the obstruction that he faced and about the importance of getting started with the work of the House and the 2014 elections. Good luck!

Teabaggers don't believe in the Federal government being a force for good.

Of COURSE they blocked everything that could help us out of the Bush recession.

Then the media let them get away with complaining about how ineffective government is in solving problems.

We NEED to get the baggers our of Congress before our government will function, again.

It's not just the 2010 elections either. From day one we were pick, pick, picking at everything he did that we weren't 100% happy with. Even that would have been okay if there had been some balance-some support and enthusiasm and just generally getting the message out. I don't want us to be like the right who blindly defend every action by their leaders but we need to do a little more cheerleading. Low info/indie types tend to conform their beliefs to what they perceive to be the majority. When we were quiet, or negative, it effected President Obama's approval rating and diminished his power to do the things we wanted him to do. I support those who want to hold our leaders accountable but, if we cut them off at the knees, it achieves nothing.

Even the so-called liberals on TV, you know who they are.
He was not in office 3 months before the Dems thought he should have found a cure for the common cold by then.
I have been disgusted how people have treated President Obama. NO other president has been treated so badly by both Dems and Repubs.
The Dems even treated Bush better than they treated President Obama, and Bush was a disaster.
I am not surprised that the Repubs treated him badly, BUT I am shocked and dismayed that the Dems joined in.

He will serve a second term, and I will stick by him the next four years, as I have up to this time.
I have always been his loyal supporter.

She was still smarting from Hillary's loss. This is not to dredge up bad feelings from the past, but it is what happened. The "liberals" on the teevee and in the left-o-sphere soon followed Helen's lead, and that's where the now infamous "disillusionment" got its start. It quickly spread to DU, and it's still here, especially when you see threads fawning over Jill Stein, who's polling at about 1%.

I too watched the 10 minutes clip and I must say it was the best 10 minutes of the Rachel Maddow show I had ever seen. I would like to send it to everyone I know but can not find it online on the show's web site. Can anyone help me locate it?

Thanks

but can't find them yet!! Will add here if I can! It was so very good!

and critical of the President to apologize.

Updated: My post was said with a tongue in cheek tone, I should have made that clearer. Thank you.

As what's done is now done, and folks are grown up
and did and said what they wanted to, and that's that.

We will pull it off in the end, I do believe.....
But there should be no mistake that we did send a message to the low information voters long ago
that even we Democrats didn't have any faith whatsoever
in this President.

perhaps in the future a better balance of noting both the good and the bad,
considering that he never stated that he was a raging Liberal itching to just
do whatever each of us believed he should.

by putting a scarlet letter next to their names.

It will be removed when they sign a loyalty oath.

It's time to make examples of these people.

PARTY UBER ALLES!

Obama made major mistakes worthy of criticism. And criticism makes an intelligent mature adult stronger.

And I will continue to do so when he goes too far to the right. he says his number one priority will be education. My son is struggling through a school system that sets him up for failure. I will be watching.

The idea that criticism is by definition "letting the President down" has it entirely wrong.

Look at the LGBT community. We raised hell at this President. Yes, his partisans shouted at us, ridiculed us, told us about all the damage we were doing, said our civil rights were ponies and single issues.

And yet . . . it worked. The President ultimately did the right things. Now he has a potent and devoted constituency. And equality is the dog that didn't bark in the national campaign. This isn't 2004. The President's record on civil rights in his first term was improved dramatically when the LGBT community let him know in no uncertain terms, "Nowhere near good enough, Mr. President."

If only people had done the same on other issues, the President's position in this election might have been so much better.

But it is what it is. Some people seem to think supporting a politician means clapping as hard as you can no matter what's going on.

Maybe we'll see differently in his second term, when electability isn't an issue.

I mean we had a thread here not even a few days ago borrowing the "cat food commission" term. A term, might I add, coined by tea baggers over a dishonest and patently untrue view of health care reform.

Obama has done well with pressure from the left, but the congress was lost because a lot of young voters stayed home because they were disillusioned due to the right wing narrative dominating the media (particularly the manipulated rise of the teabaggers). Had we, instead of borrowing their vernacular, gone on to fight against it, I think the picture may have been different.

the main right wing narratives I remember were "professional leftists" and "<insert name> derangement syndrome" being leveled at critics.

because the Democratic Party didn't use the power of the mandate for progressive change they were given. It wasn't about "right wing vernacular".

is not a good idea.

its called reality> Maybe my experience in Iraq has given me rare perspective. President Obama has done all that he literally could do. That means all he could get passed in the House, and all that he could do without committing political suicide. Not giving the right that one or two things they could really nail him on. His first 4 years was all Chess.

Support him. have REALISTIC expectations. There is a TED talk about that. Happiness and realistic expectations. Look it up online and you will understand.

actually, kind of funny that you brought that here.

And, no, he didn't do all that he could do. He was blocked at many levels by the Tea Party and their candidates who were elected in '10.

I do support him, have done from day one until today and through til 2016.

I hope that things are going well for you now (hopefully stateside?) and you're getting all the support you need.

PS I don't really understand the invitation for me to feel bad.

I think it is best if people vote for everyone in their party all the time without exception. We can make that easier by advocating for a sort of "locked in" default vote in which our votes automatically go to anyone that declares themselves a member of our party. That would ensure that no mistakes are made.

He did not relentlessly call out Yurtle the Turtle and The Boner as asswipe obstructionists during the '10 campaign.
And he didn't insist on being given a compatible Congress this time.
I believe it will all turn out, but just sayin'...

I was a very early supporter of the president's. He was my senator, and so I perhaps had a more detailed and realistic picture of who he was than many. I was amazed at all he was able to accomplish in his first several years, and all he did even when he couldn't accomplish things because of obstruction later (including implementing part of the Dream Act on his own).

I stuck with OFA after 2008. Well, not that much, but when needed. When they called me to phone bank for Martha Coakley out in Massachusetts in 2010, we drove up to the north side of Chicago and spent a bunch of hours on the phone at the Northside OFA offices. That didn't work out so well: but we tried, all the way from here in Chicago. And when they called me to go out to the suburbs and demonstrate in front of Melissa Bean's office to pressure her to vote for the Affordable Care Act, we spent the better part of a day there (20 miles away) hootin' and hollerin with our signs and fighting off tea party types. She voted for it and lost her seat as a result to that schmuck Joe Walsh!

I just hope that with all the renewed enthusiasm we've generated here for the president, that we don't just fall back into old ways again after he is re-elected. We all know this fiscal cliff thing is coming, and Obama has promised he's going to have to make the "grand bargain" with Republicans again. It's not going to be pretty. But it's not going to be the end of the world either. Let's support the president this time even as we goad him on to take the most progressive stances he can while still cutting a deal to move the country forward. Let's push, but let's not start up again with the "he's worse than Richard Nixon" stuff. That's all I'd like to see.

I'm starting to get very excited about the next four years. I hope we see as much accomplished as was done in the last four. It's good for us and good for our party and good for progressive values if we continue to have his back after the election. Stay active on the ground when you're needed to fend off Republican offenses, and we'll all be cool.

The ball definitely was dropped by the rank and file in 2010. It was obvious that this was an important election, and I don't think that there was a good excuse for Democrats to not get out and vote.

That said, Obama, his advisors, the Democratic Committee, congressional candidates, and liberal individuals and organizations with money and clout let us down too. It was obvious throughout 2010 that both the stimulus and health care insurance reform were being lied about and getting hammered! And where was everybody? Where was the messaging? Why wasn't there a stream of ads on tv and candidates all over the place explaining the benefits of the stimulus and the health care proposal? Where was the fight in them? I'd have to say that even as a supporter of the president -- who follows politics fairly closely, and was in favor of the stimulus in concept -- I still have not heard Obama or any leading Democrat go over some of the specific results stemming from the infrastructure peice of the stimulus. As for the health care insurance reform, after passing it, leading Democrats seemed to head to the hills like they never heard of it. They were convinced that if they kept the thing a referendum on their local likeability rather than battling on the issues, they could survive. Boy were many of them wrong! And Tim Kaine is running for Senate in Virginia, and I hope he wins, but wow, where was the fight in the Democratic National Committee he chaired in 2010? Could we have gotten a worse outcome? The Democratic Party allowed FOX, the tea party, and the rest of the right wing noise to DEFINE the stimulus and health care insurance reform as negative policies in most of the public's mind.

PB

him in the things that he tried to do for the American people. I saw the alternative and I did not like it.

The way he was caving left and right just disgusted me. Then, I don't know, watching the pukes stonewall and stonewall and stonewall some more, and realizing what the President had accomplished in spite of all that, I got back on the bandwagon and vowed to support him through reelection to shove it down the throats of the scumbags. Tomorrow the Obama administration begins anew!

Two things:

1. Resurrect this conversation in two days (after a HUGE WIN!) and focus energy on GOTV.

2. Create a new section of DU dedicated to House races. (Forgive me if that's been done - I'm still learning the DU Ways).

Thoughts?

would be amazing!! For example, crossing folks in already Dem districts into a district that is trying to get rid of a Tea Party (or any) Republican. This is what I wish I'd done in '10.

Not enough people are aware of the importance of voting, especially in midterm elections. Only 40% of people eligible to vote came out in 2010! I understand a lot of liberals were frustrated with the president, but that was ridiculous! People died in the old days so that everybody can be granted the right to vote, yet so many people nowadays (especially my fellow millennials) take it for granted. But I also think Democrats are going to have to find a way to motivate more people to vote, even if they have to come up with some lottery system.

overwhelmingly positive. Kudos.

in the way the Obama campaign has organized things. I will write about my thoughts on this after the election.

It was a complete turn-off for me, and I'd like to read what you think.

GOP House isn't going to yield. I hope that enough of the Teabagger nutjobs in the House lose, and that scares the rest of them in the direction of sanity to cooperate with President Obama in his second term.

I see no difference between Karl Rove and Rahm Emanuel and placing him as chief of staff really threw a bunch of us on our asses.

I've never been involved with mid-term elections. I'm certain that my tea party representative will be re-elected this time. If they try to obstruct the way they have the past two years; they will be easy to topple.

Since obstruction is his battle cry; I expect in two years that he will be easy to dispose of. Perhaps the candidate that opposes him will be stronger in two years too.

I am a hard core partisan and have supported the President all along. He takes the long view and will continue to chip away, an inch at a time if necessary, until he gets it done.

I wasn't a pearl clutching sometimes-supporter, crying and whining anytime something happened that I disagreed with.

I wasn't making a fool of myself with the both-parties-are-the-same stupidity so often indulged in (and allowed, shamefully) here at DU.

It is good to see some see the error of their ways. If it continues for longer than a couple of days after the election, I'll believe it's a real perspective adjustment.

Julie

post J! I am with you (and the President) and have been, all along.

So many of "you" and your cohorts on MSNBC really did the repugs and baggers work for them... bashing the president... he wasn't doing enough to get exactly the type of health care you wanted, wasn't doing things fast enough, wasn't fighting against the miscreants in the other party hard enough... you should be ashamed.

while he was trying to work. CNN was ripping him, MSNBC was, and of course FOX and porbably all the rest. While he was trying to gt things done. How disgusting.

Now they are bandwagon glee club supporters. Fair weather friends. Gawd, I have no use for those fakes any more.

that this election is extremely important and here is why:

Economic recovery from the great recession is going to happen, it is only a matter of time. The policies that the President has implemented have brought real and substantial permenant change for the better and in a way that bolsters the middle class, that is why there is no chance of a double dip recession.

If Obama doesn't win than Romney and rethugs will start 2013 with their agenda of draconian cuts at the same time the economy will tick up and improve because it is on course to do just that because of all the work that Obama and the Democrats have done. However the perception and the visual statistics will give the rethugs ammo for a false narrative that it is their policies that are working.

That is why this is the most important election in our lifetimes, undoing the changes and the new meme by the repugs will make it nearly impossible for Democrats to get elected without moving to the right.

Many, particularly young, people registered to vote for Obama in 2008. They were not educated about down ballot races and by tradition were not expected to vote in 2010. Not all Democrats wanted them to vote. Check out how Congress people feel about the college vote. Many incumbents of both parties discourage voting on college campuses.

The election apparatus is definitely broken. Great voting coalitions can be built around fixing it. The devil is in the details. Any specific plan will have opposition.

Both parties have underestimated Latino voting strength. If they vote, they will want more attention from all levels of government. Change has never come easily.

Take this Plege - I will vote in every election. How many of us did not actively participate in 2010?

I think he played the middle to get a second term, and will go left now.

I gave everything I could and made calls and did everything I could in 2010. Every single person I donated to lost. I had the passion, even if I was disappointed with Obama, he wasn't up for a vote. So not it, on my part.

You could not turn on the TV, go online, read a newspaper, or listen to the radio without hearing and seeing the Tea Party. Many Dems snoozed through the mid-terms and the country was the worse for it.

I realize some at this website will be angered by this post, but this is my view. It was President Obama and the Democratic Party Leadership that dropped the ball in 2010. They were the ones who did not discuss the accomplishments of the first two years. They were the ones who instead of talking to Democrats and explaining their accomplishments attacked Democrats for asking for more accomplishments. They were the ones who did not encourage people to vote. They were the ones who did not try to tell people of the importance of the 2010 election. They were the ones who gave up months before the election. I remember that in 2010 President Obama and some Democratic leaders accepted defeat months before the election.

I understand that President Obama and the Democratic Party leadership cannot be asked to force people to do things nor can they be asked to do things for people. However, they could have done more. It was not just the people, they could have done more.