In the greatest offer of bipartisanship Obama gave away the government.

[thunder rising]

Tim Kaine was NOT the person for the chair of the DNC.
Honestly, I'm too disgusted to continue.

Tonight is the fitting cap to 8 years of hard work.
You couldn't even hold the house for 2 years ... very good, sir.

[RagAss]

1. He may decide not to run in 2012

[USArmyParatrooper]

7. He'll run and he'll win. Sorry.

[Scurrilous]

20. Yep.

:thumbsup:

[NYC Liberal]

24. You might want to let Obama and his already formed reelection

Campaign know.

[nashville_brook]

2. i couldn't agree more.

[babylonsister]

3. Was Obama or Kaine responsible for the shitty economy? That's

what people voted against, the party in power. Tell me how Kaine could have talked people into believing a negative at this juncture. Thanks.

[thunder rising]

10. By not letting it get "to this juncture". That's how.

[babylonsister]

14. HOW? nt

[northernlights]

21. you're joking...right? nt

[babylonsister]

25. Not at all; do you have an answer? Are you suggesting

Obama has been resting on his laurels and not tried to accomplish anything? Are you suggesting rethugs and some dinos didn't obstruct at every turn?

[northernlights]

29. Obama got everything he wanted

He got everything he wanted. Possibly even tonight. Too bad it wasn't what the country needed or wanted.

[babylonsister]

30. What did he want? Links? nt

[northernlights]

39. spare me

He wanted exactly the Health Insurance Reform that he got. He gave away public option behind closed doors, before even sitting down to the negotiating table and while his PR people were ostensibly pushing for it. He chose his economic team and he chose to ignore all advice to the contrary. He wanted the smaller stimulus; didn't even try for one large enough to actually help. He chose to extend W's worst policies, and added in assassinating citizens without due process, based on suspician. He extended spying on citizens.

He did differentiate himself from W in one way. When the state attorneys general tried to stop the bankster mortgage fraud early on, W quashed it, saying it banks are federal juridiction, not states.

Now that millions of people have lost their homes and everything, millions more are at risk, and the fraud is blatant and in all our faces, Obama has finally chosen to distinguish himself from W by saying it's a state problem, not federal.

Links not needed. This stuff has been hashed to death and all over DU for months, and you know it. :eyes:

[Bluebear]

41. thank you

[EmeraldCityGrl]

11. This is the kind of attitude that is going to cost us 2012.

At the very least examine where the mistakes where made, who made them and change the
direction of this presidency. Change the people that have so POORLY served this president and
even the president himself. Tonight is a mere prelude to what can happen in two short years.
We can still stop the worst from happening.

[babylonsister]

22. Baloney. All the avenues Dems and Obama tried to take were

thwarted by rethugs and dinos. Even if the proposals that were introduced were accepted, Dems have been in office for two years. It took that long to lift us out of a very close depression.

So it's not my attitude or anyone else's, it's reality.

You tell me, wise one, when rethugs tried to stop even unemployment benefits at every turn, every time they came up for a vote, what could have been done to change that.

[Tatiana]

13. Yes, the economy was bad. No, our party did not have a strategy to defend our seats.

No coherent message (as Bill Clinton noted). No strong local dem party structure due to OFA merging to counter Republicans in areas where the President was not popular (the SOUTH and parts of the midwest).

Look at how Manchin won his race. Just look at it from a pure political strategy standpoint - he found his opponent's weakness and attacked it (carpetbagging) while AT THE SAME TIME highlighting the trust and relationship he had built with WV voters. He never once said "look how awful my opponent is." There should have been a coordinated strategy and messaging. Especially in the southern and more conservative areas, it was important to have a message that would inspire voters besides "hope and change" because in this economy, not many of those people are feeling hopeful at all.

[Johonny]

19. I agree

Two years ago every single person said and knew the economy was shit. It was likely to be shit two year in the future because Bush ran it so far into the ground. The American people would blame the party in power in 2010. Everyone knew this was coming. If they hold the Senate, I think they will get a b-. It was just a hard, hard year to run as an incumbent. I just hope Obama and this Congress passed enough good bills to get us into the black for 2012. Sure the Rethugs in the house will take credit for this Congress hard work, but I think Obama's reelection might carry a lot of house seats. He will never have a huge majority congress again, but I think he will have a good shot at reelection with a favorable house in 2012.

[western mass]

32. no, he was responsible for the sh*** response

to the shitty economy. Handouts to bankers, phony reforms. Lots of nice speeches, though.

[LonePirate]

4. Kaine is a failure. Obama needs to force him out and replace him with Alan Grayson.

[ThomCat]

18. That would be nice, but it won't happen.

This administration has shown repeatedly that they do not like the left.

The only people Obama openly insults, repeatedly, are the left. Grayson is firmly part of the left, and admirably so.

Obama wouldn't have anything to do with Howard Dean. In part because Dean was part of the radical left, and used resources liberally to support the left. Obama supported the idea of using resources judiciously to only support "viable candidates" that that meant only candidates who had the approval of corporate backers (the money primary) rather than the base.

Obama wouldn't allow anyone from the left to participate in the Health Care discussions. He blocked everyone from the progressive caucus entirely from having any role entirely.

He has nobody from the left end of the spectrum anywhere on his economic team. Or on his foreign policy team.

How much more evidence does anyone need that Obama does not want anything to do with the the left, does not respect the left, and will not work with the left?

[thunder rising]

33. Agreed. The Administration does not like the left, but that's the base. Who else you gonna call?

[USArmyParatrooper]

5. Yeah, Bill Clinton sucked ass too!

I mean it's all his fault as well he lost the House and Senate.

[hollowdweller]

15. Clinton passed an unpopular gun control bill

Obama passed an unpopular health care bill.

He should have stood on principle and simply passed one that allowed a public option, forbid insurance companies from denying coverage for prexsisting conditions, and lifting of caps without all the deal making and other stuff. Something simple people could understand.

[USArmyParatrooper]

26. You're blaming gun control? Really?

We didn't have the votes for a Public option. And this just in! Forbidding companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions is already in the bill. The bill is unpopular because the American people (once again) have been successfully lied to about the bill.

The last poll I read 40% oppose it, 30% support it, over a third believe it has "death panels" and 65% wrongly believe it adds to the deficit.

The Democrats lost so many seats because A: The Democrats are the party in power in all branches (most important of all the Executive branch and B: the unemployment rate.

[ThomCat]

28. Clinton was also imfamous for triangulating to the right on damn near

everything.

He gave us welfare "reform" that was a republican's wet dream, enacting permanent limits on how long anyone could be on public assistance, and permanently kicking millions of people off of public assistance. This, more than anything, was responsible for creating a large permanent underclass of extreme poverty, especially among single mothers. Does anyone really think voters didn't respond to this?

Of course, the very poor tend not to vote, so it's not like a lot of people really notice or care. Poor people have always been considered expendable.

Remember, it was also Clinton who decided that Corporate money was so important, and so plentiful, that the Democratic party had to pursue it and take it away from the Republicans. The Democratic part had to start giving corporate lobbyists what they wanted, even if it meant turning their backs on unions. Because unions could be counted on to vote solidly democratic no matter what, even if the party betrayed them. After all, what were they going to do, go over to the Republicans? And ever since then, the party has pursued more and more corporate money, and backed more and more pro-corporate policies, and been less and less favorable to unions. Unions have been decimated. They are down to only 7.5% representation in the industries where they even have representation, and even democrats supported changes that have made it harder for unions that unionize. We have Clinton to thank for this change. Does anyone think that voters didn't respond to this?

[thunder rising]

36. This is a great summary of why the base left Clinton. And again left Obama.

Even when we were running on empty in September, we generated our own excitement and Gibs came out and stated Obama would return to his policy of compromise and bipartisanship no matter what happened in the election. I've got to say, that took me by surprise, but then Obama via Gibs has been more conservative than liberal.

[MilesColtrane]

40. The base didn't leave Obama, swing voters who voted for him in 2008 voted Republican this time.

You'll see once they crunch the numbers from yesterday.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. Midterms usually result in victories for the opposition party.

History is good to know.

[VMI Dem]

8. Hey, Tim Kaine was a brilliant fucking decision that will pay off in 56 moves.

[leftstreet]

9. IT'S A CHESS GAME!

[donheld]

16. And you and I are the pawns.

None of them care about us.

[USArmyParatrooper]

27. Says the guy who wouldn't know fried liver from a poisoned pawn.

[thunder rising]

35. That is the point. Whose the master of multi-dimensional chess.

[thunder rising]

12. Let me add: Bush was handed financial surplus and turned it into deficits. What happened here?

Obama took a thriving party and quashed it.

[hollowdweller]

23. No better example at how poor the DNC and Obama Admin are at politics

Bush was able to pass tax cuts, a medicare prescription drug benefit, and get two wars going and the deficit was not an issue.

Obama spends money to help during an economic crisis and he is unable politically to defend his deficit spending?

Same deficit, difft pary unable to defend themselves.

[thunder rising]

34. Yep. They played ball (sort of), but they blew the politics and let wingers rule the message.

[HuckleB]

17. Hogwash.

With the state of the economy, and the mid-term being what it is, this is not some horrific loss. Even I, who am depressed as all get out tonight, can recognize that much.

[MilesColtrane]

31. "Honestly, I'm too disgusted to continue."

Then, by all means, stop.

[Bluebear]

37. Nice.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

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