2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy the Republican race could be irrelevant
Republican presidential candidates have devoted months, if not years, of their lives to chasing their partys nomination, theyve raised and spent (along with their super PAC allies) tens of millions of dollars, and theyve participated in more than a dozen debates each of which has attracted a massive television audience.
But a startling new poll underscores what has got to be a maddening possibility for Republicans: It could all be for naught and there may be nothing they can do about it. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey points to a measurable uptick in optimism about the countrys economic direction, and in the publics assessment of President Obamas performance.
By a 37 to 17 percent margin, respondents said they expect the economy to improve in the next year; back in October, they thought it would get worse by a 32-21 margin. And the number of Americans who believe the country is heading in the right direction now stands at 30 percent hardly a huge number, but a clear jump from the 17 percent who said so in the fall. Overall, Obamas approval rating is at 48 percent, the highest its been in an NBC/WSJ poll since June, when he was still basking in the afterglow of Osama bin Ladens demise.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/26/why_the_gop_race_could_be_irrelevant/
LiberalLoner
(9,762 posts)nevergiveup
(4,762 posts)It is going to be a battle if for no other reason than Citizens United. We must keep the faith but also keep our noses to the ground. Nothing is a given at this point in time.
Frances
(8,545 posts)The billionaires will not give up their tax advantages without a huge fight
DCBob
(24,689 posts)No matter who the GOP nominee is.
Hawkowl
(5,213 posts)It's all relative. So even though the economy and wages are in the shitter, one cursory glance to the poison spewing out of every Rethuglican orifice shows that Obama ain't that bad.
Obama's career can be summed up in one cliche: "I'd rather be lucky than good".
UrbScotty
(23,980 posts)What other President since FDR has had to endure an abysmal economy and two wars, while dealing with the kind of hatred that he has endured? All other Presidents since Truman were luckier than Obama in terms of what they dealt with.
Now the economy is rebounding, one war has ended with another set to end, and the world likes America again. If it was all about luck instead of skill, we'd be in a depression and goodness only knows if we would be at war with Iran.
It's not luck. It's because Obama is that good as a President.
If anyone's lucky, it's us. We are the lucky ones for having such an exemplary leader at the helm of this ship of state.
These events and conditions of his presidency were not unforeseen. The economy, the wars, the bigotry, the political hostility, were all well known to anyone paying attention. Yet, he chose to run anyway. I do not agree with his "centrist" positions most of the time, however he deserves a huge amount of credit for choosing to run, and simply accomplishing anything at all.
So, I do not mean to detract from his abilities by saying he is lucky. All greatness has a great deal of luck involved. I only urge him to be bolder in a leftist direction if he truly wants to solve problems and achieve greatness.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Having conceded national security, middle class issues, investment in the future, infrastructure, restructuing the military, climate change and virtually every other important policy area, after the economy improves they will be left with;
undocumented workers (who will be increasingly needed as the economy gets better)
equal rights for gays (increasingly irrlevent)
leaving them to concentrate on
1) Attack from Mars
2) Chinese invastion of Taiwan
3) Who is going to guess star on Dexter next year
4) Finding a cure for Coulrophobia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulrophobia
5) Getting Women's softball reinstated for the 2020 Olympics
6) Prison reform for 1% ers or any of their elected officials sent to prison