General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am no longer a Democrat. [View all]merrily
(45,251 posts)on a given day when he was absent. Same for all the others.
By the way, you are mistaken that Kennedy simply retreat to Massachusetts between the inauguration and his death. He did fly in for a couple of important votes and he also worked in D.C. on his own version of the health care bill. And, though I cannot swear to this, I seem to recall they allowed him to vote by phone or proxy a couple of times as well, but, again, that is only a vague recollection.
Lieberman, though an indie, was still in the Democratic caucus, like Sanford. Contrary to popular belief and legend, Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu and Lincoln did not always vote against their own caucus. And, if they did, whose fault was it? Democrats will defend an incumbent to the death (unless the incumbent is liberal).
But, regardless of the details, how hard did Obama fight for anything he supposedly wanted? And what was that is did fight for?
Obama himself described his policies as those of a moderate Republican from the 1980s. That would be epitomized by Reagan, whom Obama placed on his list of top 10 presidents in all of U.S. history. Obama was not fighting for liberal policies. Further, at times, such as the Obama tax cuts for the rich of 2010, and lack of a public option in Obamacare, he fought his own caucus.