“I take responsibility….for making an argument that people can understand.”
Voters read the wrong manual
~~ Barack Obama, Nov. 2010
Last month, in anticipation of the impending 100 year Republican flood that would wipe out his party’s majority from sea-to-sea, Barack Obama had already identified the source of the problem: frightened and ignorant voters.
This week, in the wake of that bloodbath, our most intelligent and articulate president ever! continues to offer sage analysis:
“Leadership is a matter of persuading people.”
You see, the voters did not reject his policy agenda at all.
What happened was just a colossal misunderstanding. If we actually understood the Obama program and all those big bills that were passed in stealth Congressional sessions by elected officials who did not read them, millions of voters would be grateful to Obama’s leadership team for saving our nation from ruin.
Got that? Let me repeat it for the slow readers: YOU THE VOTERS DID NOT REJECT OBAMA’S POLICIES. YOU JUST DID NOT UNDERSTAND THEM. OKAY?
And, please get this part, especially: Obama is really really sorry that he did not realize how stupid you were from the get-go. If he had realized that you are such low-information slow learners, he would have put simpler words on the teleprompters for his 65 health care speeches and 55 townhalls.
“Making an argument that people can understand,” Mr. Obama continued, “I think that we haven’t always been successful at that. And I take personal responsibility for that. And it’s something that I’ve got to examine carefully … as I go forward.”
Thank you, Mr. President. From now on I will try listening even harder and taking more careful notes so that I can follow what you are telling me. Thank you for saving our nation! Thank you for keeping the oceans from rising! Thank you for healing our planet! Thank you for being the One I Have Waited For!
The blue-collar voters who supported Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential run deserted the party in droves on Tuesday, according to a new poll.
Democrats’ support from white, non-college-educated male voters dropped 12 percent from 2008, according to a survey Greenberg Quinlan Rosner conducted Nov. 2-3 for Democracy Corps and Campaign for America’s Future.
Only 29 percent of blue-collar men support Democrats in 2010, down from 41 percent last cycle, according to the survey of 1,000 2008 voters, of which 897 voted on Tuesday.
“These are gigantic losses,” Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, whose firm conducted the survey, said on a conference call with reporters Friday.
Shocking, right? The “Hillary voters,” everyone will recall, are mainstream moderate Democrats, in the lineage of “Reagan Democrats.” These are the voters who Donna Brazile dismissed in 2008 when she boldly declared on CNN in her role as an “impartial commentator” that the new Democratic coalition was younger, more urban, and less blue collar. In other words, “F**You Hillary Democrats!”
It’s so amusing, in the aftermath of Tuesday’s mid-term slaughter, that political reporters have dialed up the chatter about a 2012 primary challenge to Obama from the far-left wing of Democratic Party (as if Obama weren’t liberal enough for them, lol). Reviewing the results of Greenberg’s poll showing a gigantic exodus of blue-collar Democrats, how do the brilliant pundits think a more liberal candidate would re-capture Hillary’s white working class voters? They know that Deaniacs are the high-income elites who already support Obama.
The Politico set is in denial. They refuse to articulate the obvious: It will take a more centrist Democrat to win back independents and the lost coalition, the “unwashed” middle of the country who turned out 18 million strong to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008. So, Hillary may insist that she’s not running — that is no doubt true — but if the Democratic Party is truly interested in holding onto the presidency for a bit longer, it would be wise to correct course and draft her.
Buried in election-day frenzy, there was this surprising sentence written by John Fund in the Wall Street Journal on Tues., Nov. 2:
Key donors have told the White House that the president should decide for certain whether he’s running for re-election by the end of December.
So…..Obama has NOT decided for certain whether he will run for re-election?
Isn’t that curious, and isn’t it even more curious how no one else in the Media has seemed to pick up on Mr. Fund’s finding.
Is it typical for a President to be uncertain about whether he will seek re-election by the end of the second year of his first term, or has Mr. Fund uncovered something more significant?
UPDATE: It appears from a Google search that Huffington Post logged a story about this very question on Nov. 2, then scrubbed it.
There will be no shortage of post-election analysis by serious pundits and clever bloggers, but here are some of my favorite highlights:
Marco Rubio, WINNER FL SENATE: Classy Tea Party candidate who smoothly survived a dedicated Democratic scheme to keep a Republican Hispanic from rising to national stature.
Nikki Haley, WINNER SC GOVERNOR: Tea Party candidate who survived fabricated, misogynist attacks on her character to become the first female (and Indian-American) governor of South Carolina.
Susana Martinez, WINNER NM GOVERNOR: First Hispanic female governor in the USA, bringing some dignity to Democrat Bill Richardson’s disgraced office.
Rand Paul, WINNER KY SENATE: Tea Party candidate and libertarian, surviving adolescent Facebook-style hits on his college dorm activities.
Rick Scott, WINNER FLA GOVERNOR: The Democrats blew this one by nominating a candidate who cheated in the debate on national TV, giving Republicans executive control of a state which is always pivotal in presidential elections.
John Kasich, WINNER OHIO GOVERNOR: Republican who ran a positive campaign in the face of All The President’s Resources on behalf of Ted Strickland, to claim executive control of another state which is always pivotal in presidential elections.
Mark Kirk, WINNER OF BARACK OBAMA’S SENATE SEAT IN ILLINOIS: what more needs to be said? Congratulations, Illinois, for your awakening!
Kristi Noem, WINNER OF SD’s ONLY HOUSE SEAT: Tea Party candidate, business owner, and farmer, ousting a 3-term Obama Democrat.
Biggest loss that’s really a win: Harry Reid hanging onto the Senate leadership. The silver lining in Angle’s loss is that Republicans still have an Obama Democrat to hold accountable in the Senate.
Weirdest outcome: Write-in takes the lead in Alaska’s Senate race. Those folks up there have a bizarre way of rewarding sore losers.
Truest disappointments: Fiorina’s 10-point loss and Whitman’s disastrous performance. They both should have won. California was a wasted opportunity for Republicans.
Glued to election coverage throughout Halloween weekend and into the late hours of Tuesday night, Nov. 2nd. To the extent that it’s possible, I’ll blog pre-and-post election developments.
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Wed. Nov. 3, 2:39 am — Unresolved races include Colo., Washington, and Alaska Senate races. So what the hell, why wait for the official results.
TD projects….
Buck will win the Colorado Senate seat.
Murray will win the Washington Senate seat.
Joe Miller will win the Alaska Senate seat.
That would make the total in the Senate 52 Dem, 48 Rep, right?
In the House, at this moment it looks like a 58-seat pick-up for Republicans, for a total of 233 Republicans to 180 Dems, with 22 still undecided.
Wed. 12:21 am — woohoo, big win for Mark Kirk for BoBo’s old Senate seat in Illinois. Congratulations Illinois!
Wed. 12:13 am – Don’t know why everyone called it for Boxer in Calif. With 17% in, it’s a dead heat at 47-47%
TD is projecting that Harry Reid succeeds in stealing the Nevada Senate race!
11:48 pm — looks like Kasich pulls it off for Ohio Gov!
11:45 pm — Toomey wins in PA!
Reid leading Angle in NV (cheating is hard to beat)
11:10 pm — Toomey in PA and Kirk in IL now hanging on to narrow leads to flip those Senate seats!
10:40 pm — Nikki Haley WINS in South Carolina!
Bennet-Buck in Co. neck-and-neck.
Feingold in WI out!
Nov. 2 9:38 pm — Ohio Governor neck-and-neck
Odd:
Haley behind by 6 points in South Carolina with over 30% in
Giannoulias leading Kirk by 20 points in Illinois
5:34 pm: Tom Perriello (the ONE House member BoBo campaigned for) LOSES.
Manchin leading for WV Senate
Patrick leading for Mass. gov
Strickland leading for Ohio gov (less than 1%)
Sestak leading Toomey
Mon. 8:20 pm
Hard to keep up: victories for Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Kelly Ayotte
Scott leading Sink for Fla. governor
Haley beating Shehan
Tues. 6:00 pm — Drudge publishing exit poll results. Warning, these are NOT actual results:
EXIT POLLS:
Wisconsin: Johnson (R) defeats Feingold (D)
North Dakota: Hoeven (R) defeats Potter (D)
Arkansas: Boozman (R) defeats Lincoln (D)
Ohio: Portman (R) defeats Fisher (D)
Tues. 5:55 pm — This anxiety, butterflies in the gut, reminds me of all the primary election nights in 2008. Hard to believe it’s been 2 years.
Tues. 5:35 pm — First polls close in 25 minutes. Interactive results map by NYT HERE.
Tues. 4:50 pm — PUMA alert: Quote from a former congressman in PA, “There are a number of Democrats who are showing up and indicating, affirmatively, that they’re voting Republican…”
Tues. 4:20 pm — John Zogby gives Newsmax 3 bellwethers to watch tonight:
Bellwether No. 1. Pennsylvania Senate — Democrat Joe Sestak vs. Republican Pat Toomey. Specifically, look for how big the turnout is in Philadelphia. “If a big vote comes out of Philly,” Zogby tells Newsmax, “that could bring a Sestak victory, [and] then means local officials and the governor were able to generate turnout from the Democratic base. And if that doesn’t happen, [it means a] bad night for the Democrats.”
Bellwether No. 2. New Jersey Congressional District 3 — Democratic Rep. John Adler vs. GOP challenger Jon Runyan. “Adler is a one-term incumbent, Runyan is a former football star,” Zogby says. “The district cuts right across the state, and it’s been a 1- to 2-point race all along. If Adler is knocked off by Runyan, that’s another good indicator.” Polls indicate the race is a tossup.
Bellwether No. 3. New York Congressional District 24 — Democratic Rep. Mike Arcuri vs. GOP challenger Richard Hanna. “Mike Arcuri is a two-term incumbent Democrat running against a libertarian, independent Republican,” says the pollster. “If the Republican loses, it’s not going to mean so much that Arcuri won it. But it would indicate that the tea party maybe is not very potent, at least in upstate New York.” The latest Siena College poll shows Arcuri leading 48 to 43 percent, with 10 percent still undecided.
Tues. 3:30 pm — all kinds of noise in the blogosphere of low turn-out in Dem strongholds. *fingers crossed*
Tues. Nov. 2, 2:20 pm — Irresponsible: U.S. will spend $200 million per day for POTUS entourage to Mumbai.
Tues. Nov. 2, 2 pm — LOL – here’s Andrea Mitchell trying to defend BoBo against attacks by Chris Matthews, who is having a meltdown upon the realization that BoBo is Not The One We Were Waiting For afterall. Watch the entire video, especially the 2008 speech segment at the end. h/t Townhall:
The White House wants to use the news conference the next day to help Mr. Obama reframe his presidency and signal that he heard what the voters were trying to tell him.
TD NOTE: As I have said repeatedly, this mid-term earthquake was intended by Obama all along. He used his first two years to push through as much of his radical agenda as possible, knowing that he’d push voters to the brink. Now, he will straighten course having received the peoples’ message, and he will use GOP majority in Congress to win re-election.
Only three years ago, Americans became acquainted with a junior U.S. senator with an interesting personal history, notable rhetorical gifts, programmatically liberal ideas and zero legislative accomplishments. Whereupon he was hailed as a saint and elected president.
In Argentina or Venezuela such behavior may be unexceptional. But we’re America, as they say: We’re supposed to be into celebrity culture, not cult-of-personality politics. What happened?
Tues. Nov. 2, 1 pm –
Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal today:
Franklin Roosevelt led the nation through 12 years begun in incomparable national misery virtually to the end of the war. When he died, an anguished country mourned as it had not done since the death of Lincoln. Americans trusted him. The story is told of a man found weeping when Roosevelt’s funeral train went past, who was asked if he had known the president. “I didn’t know him,” he replied. “But he knew me.”
The times are now vastly different—no one expects a candidate with the powers of an FDR these days. But the requirements of leadership don’t change. Despite charm and intellect, Americans have never been able to see in Mr. Obama a president who spoke to them and for them. He has been their lecturer-in-chief, a planner of programs for his vision of a new and progressive society.
Plenty of suggestions, none of them feasible, are in the air now about how he can reposition himself for 2012, and move to the center. Mr. Obama is who he is: a man of deep-dyed ideological inclinations, with a persona to match. And that isn’t going away.
Mon. 11:00 pm — Countdown 1 hour to Election Day. For your country’s sake, please exercise your right and fulfill your duty to vote. God bless America!
Mon. 7 pm — Jim Geraghty of the National Review makes final state-by-state Senate predictions. Excerpts:
Florida: The biggest rising star of 2010, Republican Marco Rubio, wins by a wide margin over independent Charlie Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek.
Illinois: Republican Mark Kirk beats Alexi Giannoulias by a wider margin than the current polls indicate, in a loss that is particularly stinging for President Obama.
Nevada: In perhaps the night’s sweetest victory for Republicans, Sharron Angle narrowly defeats incumbent Democrat Harry Reid. Reid has had enormous time and almost unlimited resources to close the deal and hasn’t done it. Reid will blame his defeat on the media’s unwillingness to really scrutinize his opponent, and will express relief that his life will soon be free of those smelly tourists.
South Carolina: After closely looking at Palmetto State early-voting trends, turnout patterns, and campaign expenditures, my super-duper astonishing upset pick is . . . Alvin Greene. Okay, no, not really. Republican Jim DeMint wins reelection and is becoming a true kingmaker in the Republican party.
West Virginia: Democrat Joe Manchin hangs on, but John Raese has a future in West Virginia politics, in some yet-to-be-determined role.
Mon. 10:15 am — Public Policy Polling last-minute surveys HERE.
Sun. 11:20 pm — Creepy cult alert: did you see the crowd chant “O-ba-ma” yesterday while BoBo stood there with the weird expression of an egomaniac on his face? I’ve lived through many US presidents, have never seen one “chanted to” by name before.
Sun. 9:40 pm — Brutal, Meg Whitman’s closing commercial, “Again,” using actual video of Jerry Brown in his own words:
Sun. 2 pm — Just came across this histrionic NYT headline from a couple of days ago: Bill Clinton’s Role in Florida Senate Race Seems to Cost Democrat Some Black Votes. Oh please. Florida Democrats decided before Bill supposedly intervened (which everyone has denied anyway) that a vote for Meek was a lost cause. I have liberal friends and relatives in Florida and they all lined up for Orange anyone-but-Rubio Crist weeks ago.
Sun. noon — On national news now: Sarah Palin slams media in Alaska for plotting against Joe Miller, calls the Alaska media “corrupt bastards,” after they were caught concocting a “Rand Paul” like incident at a Joe Miller rally. Hopefully these “reporters” will be fired immediately. They should have been fired by now.
Update Sun. noon — Fascinating, looks like In Trade forecasts a split Senate. At this moment, a 48% chance the Dems will keep the Senate, a 13% chance Republicans will take it, and a 43% chance of a tie.
Update Sun. 10:40 am — Shocking, right? Anchorage CBS reporters accidentally recorded scheming against Joe Miller. Fair and balanced!
Update Sat. 11:55 pm – Dems keep Senate now down to 50% on In Trade.
Update Sat. 11:45 p.m. – Devastating: Where are the jobs, Harry?
Update Sat. 11:00 pm — FOX News commenting on Philadelphia suburbs turning red, or at least purple.
Update Sat. 11:00 pm — Courtesy of Bud White: 47% of Democrats want Obama to have competition in the 2012 primary. And from Time!
Update Sat. 4:00 pm — Interesting, In Trade shows chance of Senate staying in Dem. control down to 53%
Update Sat. 3:30 pm — I generally adhere to the “under promise over deliver” philosophy, but can’t help wondering if Dick Morris — the only pundit I’ve heard predicting a GOP takeover of the Senate — is right. Note Morris also thinks BoBo could be primaried. We can HOPE.
Update Sat. 2 pm — Kickin’ things off with Carly, California’s Big Hope:
“But among Democrats who say they supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries, enthusiasm drops to 24 percent. Clinton Democrats are also nearly four times as likely as Obama Democrats to vote for a Republican in this year’s congressional elections…”
In 2008, they said we’d “come home” after the party pissed on our candidate, top primary vote-getter, Hillary Rodham Clinton. True enough: one way or another, Barack Hussein Obama wormed his way into the White House. They have laughed us off ever since.
But the PUMA memory is a long one, and the Democratic party establishment is going to see the first tangible evidence of this in less than a month, when disenfranchised Hillary Democrats piss on the party we once called home.
My memory is sharp. My loyalty is unwavering. I am a Hillary Democrat, and I vote.
“You ever watch those nature programs where the herd doesn’t hang out with the sick one? You got that poor sick antelope or whatever standing all by itself and when it tries to join back with the herd they run away from it? They’ll even attack it themselves if they have to. That’s what happens in politics. If you are in real trouble, the others separate from you. That is what is happening to the president right now.
As a loyal Hillary Clinton Democrat, I don’t dare hope that the “White House Insider” knows something that would explain Bill’s campaign decisions being in complete opposite contrast to Obama’s. Certainly Bill could have avoided this stop, in deference to BoBo.
“How rich is the irony that the President Obama won’t endorse Caprio, but former President Clinton will,” one Democratic strategist told POLITICO Tuesday night. “Given this political fiasco, every democrat should seriously question whether the White House understands that their goal in 2010 is not to position themselves for a 2012 relection campaign on the poltical carcasses of good democratic candidates. Thankfully, President Clinton is focused on 2010 and saving ALL democrats.”
