"Time for Obama to fight back" {The Guardian}

[quinnox]

Good article on the election and what Obama should do now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jan/20/obama-brown-massachusetts-senate


Two weeks ago, Brown was an obscure Massachusetts legislator whose senate bid was widely believed to be little more than a visibility-raising warm-up before running for state treasurer later this year. Now Brown – a Republican who vows to stop healthcare reform and who denies that waterboarding is torture – has won the US senate seat held by Ted Kennedy from 1962 until his death last August.
....
Though the verdict on Coakley may have had much to do with her deficiencies as a candidate and the local political culture, there seems to be little question that it will also serve as a referendum on Obama. More than anything, Coakley's defeat should mark the end of Obama's efforts to create a new, bipartisan political climate in Washington. If he is to avoid the fate of Bill Clinton in the midterm elections of 1994, Obama will need to embrace the populist anger now surging through the country rather than seeking to defuse it.
...
Obama's attempts to find compromise solutions did not stop Republicans from labelling him as a radical – or their nutty tea-party allies from calling him a "socialist" and worse. And, in retrospect, that was going to happen no matter what he did. His real problem has been that, to his supporters, he looked as though he'd been sucked into the very system he was elected to reform. Thus an Obama ally like Martha Coakley, a loyal Democratic apparatchik who'd long been criticised for her reluctance to take on political corruption in Massachusetts, became the perfect foil. (Coakley is best known for prosecuting Louise Woodward, a British nanny accused of killing a baby in her care.)

For Obama, the lesson of Coakley's defeat is that he needs to start fighting for principle the way he did during his campaign. Had he demanded and won a stimulus package big enough to restart the jobs engine, and if he'd insisted on a stronger healthcare bill and pushed for quick passage, he'd be in far better shape politically right now.

[janedum]

1. Yep. It's time for President NoBackbone to stand up, as IF he had one!

[polysciguy420]

2. Hey,

I agree with you. However, IM(humble)O, I beileve at this time his hands are politcally tied. He has to be careful not to committ political suicide and this is a serious concern, exspecially in the hostile political enviroment the wingnuts have created. As a liberal, I would certainly like to see Obama get through congress at least some sort of Health Care reform, as well as a number of other issues. However, patience is the key in this instance. Obama should be politcally careful until after the 2012 election afterwhich we can usher in the LIBERAL REVOLUTION many in this country have been thirsty for. Although, if Obama is to careful he runs the risk of alienating his base and losing the 2012 election anyway. To you quinnox, I just say give him a little time to "git-r-done" and we'll be in good shape.

[G_j]

3. good points, well written

K&R

[bahrbearian]

4. Oh I see , "Now" its time to fight back.

Are you sure we can't wait a little longer.

[crazylikafox]

5. excellent analysis.