The losses yesterday were NOT Obama's fault.

Democrats lost because most voting Americans..

..think all Mexicans are lower class citizens that need to be kicked out of the country.

..are too stupid to realize that they got a tax cut under the stimulus and that small business got 15 tax cuts under Obama.

..have no idea that Bush was President under TARP.

..have no idea that the auto bailout and TARP have been repaid (mostly).

..are too uninformed to know what's actually in the health care reform bill.

..believe talk radio and the media without doing the research to find out for themselves.

..are afraid of anything they don't understand - like Islam.

..are too busy watching 'Dancing with the Stars' to have a FUCKING clue.

..would have no idea what the Democrats passed for their lazy asses (no matter how much President Obama educated them) because they are not paying attention.

I could go on and on but it's pointless.

...was HORRIBLE and so was the messaging.

I'm ready to go back to a strategy for winning, Tim Kaine stank up the joint and should go no doubt.

and we got ourselves a red senator. I blame the candidate (Giannoulias), who was plenty flawed. (Not in his politics, but in his banking background and youth--two things I knew would be used against him.)

Obama went around the country getting ginormous crowds of college-aged kids out this past month. They just didn't vote, and of those who did, a full 40% of them were Republican (just checked this fact on the exit polls). It's just as likely that all the grousing on the left suppressed the progressive youth vote. Wanna consider that theory?

As for Tim Kaine, why not blame Chris van Hollen and Bob Menendez? Why must there always be a single boogie man to blame things on? That, imo, is lame thinking when reality is so complex, varied, and nuanced in these races.

gave us majorities in 2006 and a Democratic president in 2008. Perhaps your analysis bitter anger rather than political reality?

Look at the Independant voter #'s if you don't believe me.

If they are so stupid and horrible then why did they vote for us last time? They repudiated us because we didn't give them jobs and a stable economy, not because they're ignorant or bigoted.

They voted for Obama this time because they are too ignorant to see the differences, and think Obama is just as bad as Bush. It's a fact that most people don't know about tax cuts, who passed TARP, and that we've been paid back. Is that not being ignorant? A majority also believes that Muslims & Mexicans are the enemy. You can't argue either of these things. They are both facts.

I agree that jobs and the economy were a major part of the losses, but isn't that because people are ignorant and impatient. Ignorant because they don't realize that Obama has created more jobs than Bush, and impatient because it takes longer than 2 years to fix an 8 year mess?

Unless you agree with them.

People don't work like that, dude. That's just the reality of human psychology -- when your family is hurting and you're frightened about ever getting work again you don't have the luxury of patience.

>Unless you agree with them.

Bite me. The fact that we disagree on this does not make me a fucking puke.

And, don't tell me you're not.

Being frightened about getting work again is no reason to vote for Republicans when Obama has already done better than all of the years under Bush.

And, I wasn't saying that people shouldn't be disappointed in Obama. I was saying that ignorance and apathy is the reason they vote Republican. It's disappointing that you don't get that.

A crucial difference. Again, if you're going to accuse me a of being a puke you are cordially invited to bite me.

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to educate Americans and fight the right wing hate machine's daily lie fest. So, in short, you are saying Obama is a dismal failure because he does not know how to communicate.

or half of one.

If the Democrats supported their president like Republicans do, you might have a whole leg. One.

despite all the things that were listed.

You're indicative of the problems he faces from a segment of the Left. What does it matter what he's done, because he's been pre-judged on what he hasn't done YET.

Bullshit.

The OP had a laundry list of alleged accomplishments of the Obama Admin and blamed lazy Americans for not knowing or understanding the things that had been accomplished. I offered that it is President Obama's responsibility and Dem leaders responsibility to communicate that to the electorate. Where you get this pre-judged nonsense from is a mystery to me.

Cheers!

Try this site.

http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/?q=31

You might actually learn something.

Why would or should I have to go to some web site to know what Obama's accomplishments are? Is that how this President wants Americans to learn about his policies? Is that the extent of his PR skills?

It's not up to Obama to force people to understand his accomplishments.

And, NOBODY WOULD LISTEN ANYWAYS. Are you really that blind, or haven't you been paying attention for the last 6 years?

No one is paying attention. They casually hear things about a pissed off tea party and big wins for the Republicans, so they stay home.

Americans are willfully stupid.

Obama couldn't have done anything with a media that was 90% against him. It wouldn't have mattered.

of our media today and formulate a plan to be more effective. Simply throwing one's hands in the air and offering that nothing can be done has never, ever in the history of the world solved any problem.

When your team is saying the same shit about you as your opponents.

It didn't change a fucking thing.

It's disappointing that you see the enemy as the Democrats and not the other side.

phenomenon as being pro-social justice that the GOP labels as "soft on crime."

Selfishness pays off in America.

That's what I heard "our team" saying.

And let's deconstruct your OP for a second, although I agree with it completely.

DeFazio, my Congressman, Mr. Progressive Hero, WOOHOO...

Let's see how he measures up to your OP:

..think all Mexicans are lower class citizens that need to be kicked out of the country. SILENT

..are too stupid to realize that they got a tax cut under the stimulus and that small business got 15 tax cuts under Obama. SILENT, except to say he opposed the "waste in the stimulus". Yes, he ran against the stimulus.

..have no idea that Bush was President under TARP. Ran against TARP too, but never bothered to say that Bush passed it.

..have no idea that the auto bailout and TARP have been repaid (mostly). Never mentioned any of this either, or the jobs saved under the auto bailout, or a word about mortgage fraud by financiers, or how the real job loss is due to construction NOT logging. Oh yeah, he criticized Obama for ending WOPR and not replacing it with another logging bill. MORE logging, that's what Mr Progressive ran on.

I'm not seeing the enemy as Democrats. I'm saying there are very few Democrats who ran WITH the President or advocated the policies that were passed. I'm agreeing with you. I just think there are plenty of Democrats who are a big a part of the miseducation situation too.

To Jon Stewart's point.

They should be educating the public rather than inflaming the rhetoric.

Obama could have shouted the truth from the roof of the White House. But if the media doesn't cover him shouting, then only the Secret Service agents and a handful of tourists hear him.

Not all of us are bigots and blowhards.

This time no one that voted Democrat last time should have forgotten how bad it was under Bush and the Republicans. Instead, many forgot and decided to go with their unhappy feelings again and vote out the Democrats. My argument is that if they compared the job #'s of Bush and Obama they would know that it would be stupid to go back.

Oh well!

It's really too bad Obama didn't have any way of countering Republican lies. A pulpit, if you will. That would be bully, wouldn't it?

Are saying there is some pulpit out there that actually work for him?

and R.

I can't say that enough. When people don't have jobs, they are angry and will take it out on the ruling party.

and that is what happened. And while I understand the OPs point---Americans are lazy and ill-informed---Obama must take some blame, and he did in his speech today. Props to the President for accepting responsibility. It's good to see. This will make him a better president. He wants America to succeed, and he will do all he can to make that happen.

Thanks for agreeing with me.

Unemployment rate:

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2008 5.0 4.8 5.1 5.0 5.4 5.5 5.8 6.1 6.2 6.6 6.9 7.4
2009 7.7 8.2 8.6 8.9 9.4 9.5 9.4 9.7 9.8 10.1 10.0 10.0
2010 9.7 9.7 9.7 9.9 9.7 9.5 9.5 9.6 9.6

http://www.eschatonblog.com/

No reason for Atrios to make up these numbers. So the horrible economy caused by Bush bears its fruit while Obama is in office and people are pissed off and feeling insecure about their now and their future - do not take this sentiment lightly.

Because very little of it applied to them or affected them in any major way and that was the message that Obama was unable to deliver.

It wasn't because they weren't listening, it is because the answers were spin.

by ceding the microphone to the right and through pre-compromise and including right wing ideas in his high profile policy initiatives, he muddied the water about the differences between the two parties (which he also did by saying what swell, well-meaning guys his opponents were).

is all you get in this game. Anything short of universal health care, complete withdrawl from Iraq and Afghanistan and <8% unemployment would have been, and was, regarded as failure. President Obama and us Democrats way overpromised, we couldn't help but under deliver, and no amount of rightousness or any amount of facts will change that.

I don't blame someone who's been out of work for one to two years for voting *EVERYONE* in power *OUT*. Not saying it's right, but the endless meme around here "Bush had 8 years to mess every thing up, you can't expect Obama to fix it in two" is useless. The Rupublicans didn't whine, they didn't 'blame Clinton' they didn't even really do that good of a job of getting their message out- they made legislation (bad legislation, of course, but....)

Pointing out the problems that Bush caused, + $1.25 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but not reelected.

that got Obama nominated in the first place? The "American Idol" mentality cuts both ways. A man with an oversized ego, but very little practical experience running anything other than his mouth, won the nomination of his party during one of the toughest economic times since the Depression.

As the NYT and other publications have been reporting for the past 2 years, Obama always thinks that he is the smartest person in the room.

Remember what Representative Marion Berry (AR) said back in January? He claimed to have warned Obama about a midterm bloodbath comparable to the 54 seats the Democrats lost in 1994. Supposedly Obama responded, "Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me." Yesterday the Democrats suffered the biggest loss in the House since 1948.

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.......

:shrug:

Yeah, he probably should have run on electrolytes. :rofl:

Big news.

:D :hi:

What the fuck did President Obama did to you personally?

But sometimes the behavior of this country indicates that America is not ready for a President of color. The violence, chaos and bashing of Mr. Obama from all sides reveals that as a nation, discussing race is verboten simply because it will upset the dominant culture. When it comes to the other Presidents, I have never seen such a "fair weathered" personality develop for Mr. Obama so quickly. It seems that even before the Inaugeration, people lost their sense of decency and unleashed not only their views about people of color; they also doubled their animus against Mr. Obama and his family. In some instances, those who slam the POTUS treat the man as if he was beneath them.

There is an anger among the folks of the dominant culture that still hinges upon being against anyone of color reaching powerful and society changing positions. And like Rosewood, there is a segment of the population who wants to violently tear such progress down.

So, this goes beyond the wondering who's at fault for the Democratic Massacre on Tuesday. This entire situation has ripped open a lot of wounds racially and politically to the point that this country is going to undergo a cultural, class and racial struggle.

There are a lot of good and decent people who really want us to progress as a nation in which everyone,regardless of societal identity, is equal to one another. However, the bad and violent outshout those of peace while manoeuvring into positions of power. Therefore there's an undercurrent that also needs to be dealt with all the while fighting for economical and health related change in America.

Just hoping he and his family stay safe, if they could kill two Kennedy's, Obama is at a greater risk! Stay safe President Obama!

After all, you didn't think racism was over, did you?

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:eyes: :puke:

Your fervent protest says a lot more about you than it says about anyone else.

That is why I am glad that there are a lot of others who see what I'm talking about and are able to discuss it in a rational fashion.

By all means, keep on puking until you feel better. I hope that your vomitting will rid you of your aversion toward anyone discussing racism in this country.

But I doubt it.

President of the US, how dare he?

You CANNOT reason with insane individuals...


you have to stand strong and your base will follow.....

even Dems started to undermine him. America, where nobody else than a white can succeed. You go President Obama, do not try to work with them ever, they not on your side! Obama never had a bull dog, JFK had his brother. It is a shame how America is so fucked up, blacks not given a chance!

Heck even a female of India ancestry won in red neck
southern state as governor. IMO the racial thing is overblown.