I expect Obama to be a lot more of a Democrat in the next couple of years

[MrScorpio]

This is were the rubber is going to meet the road. He won't have any room to be "nice" to the Republicans anymore.

He's going to get a lot more attacks from the right from now on and I expect him to react to those attacks accordingly.

Tonight has been a wake up call for everybody.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. I'm just going to hope for now. If that doesn't happen, I will throw my

weight behind wresting back the word "progressive" from the DLC and will throw my time, effort and cash behind truly progressive candidates, and a possible Dem primary challenger. I'm over the lip service.

[donheld]

2. One can hope

If not I'm afraid 2012 will not be pretty.

[Ken Burch]

3. uh...one can "HOPE"?

:eyes:

(seriously, though, I'm with you on this).

[Desertrose]

4. Thats why I voted for him 2 years ago....we shouldn't have to wait for that.

If he doesn't , he's a one-termer for sure. :(

[spanone]

5. they are going to spend 2 years trying to get him fired....

[deaniac21]

6. I suspect the arrogance will notch downward.

[inna]

7. Unrealistic. Read his interviews. nt

[2Design]

8. yea we will see - he threw his base under the bus without public option or medicare for all

that opportunity is wasted now and all those he pandered too lost - he is a centrist and more right than left - we just did transference of what we wanted him to be and he could not live up to it - when money can buy so many elections and put in NUTS, losing grayson and Feingold is too much

I don't see any hope

[suzie]

27. African Americans are complaining about Obama? Did I miss that?

[aquart]

9. You're kidding, right?

If he does that, they won't be his friends.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. I afraid of more triangulation

When you add in the DINOs, he really doesn't have the Senate all that firmly. He will have to compromise to get anything through. He can be the President of NO, but that creates real risk for his 2nd term

We all need a good nights sleep and over the next week or so, it will be much clearer on how to keep the progressive agenda moving forward.

[Democat]

11. He apologized to Republicans as recently as yesterday.

Don't get your hopes up too high.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. I don't I expect more triangulating

[obxhead]

14. He better have that veto pen ready as well!

You know some real shit will land on his desk.

[AnArmyVeteran]

33. I can't see Obama ever being strong enough to veto a bill.

His hand would tremble at the thought of even thinking about confronting republicans. Obama is terrified of confrontation and republicans. That's why he gave in to them even when he didn't have to. Frankly, after working a year to get him elected and spending a lot of personal resources I'm embarrassed that I even voted for such a totally weak person. Barney Fife had 1,000 times more courage than Obama.

[quinnox]

15. I hope so, but I think he will more likely move to the right

and negotiate with the republicans. I hope I'm wrong.

[kysrsoze]

17. Unfortunately, I think you're dead-on.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. He's the ultimate inside straight

We've been cajoled, sweet-talked, bullied and harangued into believing he's anything other than a risk-averse ultramoderate corporatist since he stepped onto the national stage. With literally nothing to sustain these delusions, we are continually called to the flavour-aide and extolled to drink deep.

This is ludicrous.

It's like the Peace Prize: what is given for achievement to virtually any other politician is continually given to this man based on rosy optimism and nothing short of delusion.

Go ahead. Bet the farm. Draw two, even though the guy across the table is pat and bumping like he's got a boat or at least a high flush.

This is why the term "cult" is so apt: it's all so faith-based...

[stillrockin]

29. Very astute.

[grahamhgreen]

18. Unfortunately, we'll most likely see him move right, and compromise on HCR by removing

Allof the reforma in the bill except for the mandate to buy crapsurance.

And most likely invade Yemen or somewhere...

[obxhead]

19. I don't see another invasion

at least nothing more than escalation in Pakistan.

I won't be surprised a bit to see them "fix" HCR though as promised when the chant was "pass it now, fix it later".

[DeltaLitProf]

20. You'll be disappointed

Obama 2.0 will be the triangulated Obama. He'll concede to several more years of the Bush tax cuts. He'll probably end up sending another "moderate" through the barely Dem Senate to the Supreme Court. To win in 12 he has to hope the economy miraculously recovers on its own.

My advice to him would be to work on foreign policy.

[NYC Liberal]

21. I expect more vocal attacks from the same whiners

who have attacked him from the very beginning. Republicans and others.

Obama has a number of huge accomplishments and he'll continue to fight the good fight, just like he always has (despite naysayers to whom he can do no right).

He won't be a liberal Bush who bullies, threatens, and skirts on the very edge of the law to get what he wants. I wouldn't suport him if that was the plan. Some people want that, but it is absolutely the wrong way to go, and taking that path will lead to nothing good.

[obxhead]

22. You do not have to skirt the law and play dirty politics to fight

for us. For the people. For America. Hell for the whole damn world when you think of our commitments on this planet.

That is a myth. It works, but it is not required.

Obama has incredible speaking skills. If he were to stand before the people and clearly lay out what we need and how to go about it we could possibly make it happen. Instead Obama chooses to stand by the side and let Congress bring shit to his desk. When I say stand before the people I don't mean mention it and then see what happens. I mean beat us over the fucking head daily with the TRUTH. This passive, I want you to work together and bring me something cool, has got to stop.

Yes he has a huge number of accomplishments. I applaud that.

I fail to understand his near silence and passive stance on the really huge issues though.

[NYC Liberal]

23. No, but some people want exactly that.

They want a politicalization of the Justice Department. They want things done through Executive Orders to bypass Congress. They want to move down to the Republicans' level.

Obama HAS been going out and pushing for things every damn day. Watch some of the rallies. Watch some of the speeches. The problem is that even if you get people on the ground fired up, you still have to get Congress to pass the stuff. And if Congress won't, then it doesn't happen. The Republicans have been gumming up the works in the Senate. That is where bills have gone to die. The House has passed things, only to have them killed because the Republicans abuse the filibuster or abuse other Senate procedures to stall legislation long enough that it dies.

The other problem is that when Obama DOES speak out, you have people here who dismiss it as "just words." When he tries to get votes in Congress, which is done in one-on-one meetings or phone calls, those same people ask where he is and why isn't he speaking. (I'm not saying you're one of those people, by the way.)

What I would love to see happen is for the Republican party to splinter. Right now the GOP is mostly white male right-wingers, with a scant few "moderate conservatives" in the mix. The Dems basically have "everyone else" and that's a very broad range of ideologies. You have:

-conservative Dems, who aren't quite right-wing enough for today's GOP
-moderate liberals
-progressives and "left wing" liberals
-a smattering of socialists and other further left ideologies

If the few remaining moderate conservatives in the GOP broke off and formed a third party, those conservadems could leave the Dem Party and fit in nicely with them. Then the Dem Party could move a little to the left, enough to satisfy both the progressives/left-wing liberals and the moderate liberals. The Dems and the moderate conservative party would find common ground on some issues. And the right-wing, whacked out GOP would be left to fend for itself.

But that's an ideal world. Maybe it'll happen eventually, we can only hope.

[JoseGaspar]

24. Are you kidding?

Look around you.

Tonight is anything BUT a wake up call for "everybody".

Your expectations are fine but they won't carry you across da Nile.

There are 20 million out of work, 10 million who don't have enough work, 10 million losing their houses, 12 million whose status is "illegal"... The only things that are growing are hunger, poverty, profits, and the population of prisons.

"Wait a while" is not an answer. "It could have been worse" is not an answer. "It wasn't my fault" is not an answer. "The other people are worse" is not an answer.

It is not just the economy but how you react to it which matters. "Whose side are you on?"

That is what people really mean when they talk about "FDR Democrats". The Republicans are incidental.

This election was about the Democrats and almost exclusively about the Democrats. Are the losses really because people are "stupid" or because they don't understand Democratic "messaging" or "policy"?

[JCMach1]

25. Let's talk when Soc. Sec. reform comes up...

:(

[BootinUp]

26. He will have to pick his fights carefully

if he plans on running for re-election.

This is election is proof that the Healthcare legislation was significant, hence the backlash from the corporations. Of course the Citizens United decision made it worse.

[NightWatcher]

28. I hate to disagree, but nothing is going to get passed now

Repeal of DADT, DOMA, or anything else and Obama will be seen as a huge flop and will take the responsibility of W's Recession to defeat in 2012.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

30. My friend, I wish you were right.

I fear he will willingly work with the worst of the GOPrs and happily sign legislation that will be harmful to us, all in the name of bipartisanship and a further move to the right. Just like Bill Clinton did before him. :(

[AnArmyVeteran]

31. Nope, Obama will cave in even more now.

[Edweird]

32. Not likely. He 'didn't have the votes' when we had majorities in both houses.

His resistance to republican policy will be symbolic at best. Remember, he likes to "include republican ideas".

[Doctor_J]

34. He might look that way in comparison to the teabaggers

but I believe he will appease even more.