Very depressed and feel hopeless

[Politics_Guy25]

Does anyone have any silver linings in this dark cloud. Our party's president has 41 percent approval, we trail by the largest margin on the generic congressional ballot that we EVER have, republicans are on the march everywhere, Fiorina leads Boxer in CA according to two polls now, Feingold is behind in WI, Norah O Donell came on MSNBC this morning and her headline was literally 'Democrats in freefall' in all caps, etc etc.

Things are going to get A LOT worse for us before they get better aren't they. I suppose they may never get better.

Our best hope now is that the incoming GOP congress acts out of control the way Dole/Gingrich did and we get our mojo back. Also, when people see that tea party ideas aren't the way to salvation the way that they think they are right now, that'll help us out tremendously as well.

We probably won't see any signs of life until around September 2011 or so if you had to guess right.

Do you guys see any silver linings. Any ray of hope.

I am just so sad, depressed and a bit scared too I have to say.

[apnu]

1. A ray of hope.

America is hard to kill. We took 8 years of Bush, 6 of which where he had control of the SCOTUS and both houses of Congress and yet we survived. Worse for the wear, this is true, but we survived.

Regardless of the outcome in November this year, the America you and I fight for will not die because of some silly people and their tea bags.

America will correct itself in time, though we make mistakes along the way.

[Politics_Guy25]

3. Honestly man/m'am, there's not much of America left as it is right now

Bush did a great job in destroying everything.

[apnu]

8. Everything isn't destroyed

Not by a long shot. Were it destroyed we'd have a one party system and the place would look like Eastern Europe during the Iron Curtain days. I look out my window and see none of that.

I still see people freely moving around from place to place w/out papers. I don't see egregious rape of the land everywhere I go. I don't see repression of the people on an institutionalized and industrial scale.

I see green parks, and libraries, and public transit. I see people enjoying their weekends at the beach and the park and in night clubs, going to movies and whatnot.

These things are evidence of a people who are not defeated, destroyed or otherwise ruined.

We survived Bush, and though he did his best to destroy America and hand it over to a handful of powerful and rich people, he did not manage to finish the job he set out to do. In that too, Bush was a failure -- just like everything else he did.

[quantass]

2. Until Democrats stop saying F-U to its Progressive Base this silly cycle will continue

And so the cycle continues where democrats once agian shoot themselves in the foot and allow republicans a chance to take power. And once again its ebcause they went right instead of listening to its base and going more progressive. The base wants change for the people not more of the same for the relative few.

Republicans are worse but seeing as how democrats didnt really accomplish much in terms of progressive agendas but rather massive compromises that benefit noone i am having a hard time finding a reason to go out and vote (dual citizenship). I will never vote for republican but unless democrats act like democrats i just cant hold my nose and push the button for them.

I wish we had a REAL democrat party who didnt pretend to be progressive during elections and then swurve right when its over.

[flamingdem]

5. ps Until the progressive left realizes it's not all about THEM the OP will stay depressed

VOTE PLEASE

[zipplewrath]

9. I have thought of that as a motivational slogan

Go ahead and vote, Obama's not on the ticket.

There are plenty of state and local races, plus the congressional races going on for which one can work up some enthusiasm. Even more so considering that there is alot of redistricting that will be going on in the next 2 years. It's perfectly alright to vote.

[ClarkUSA]

16. Great idea! Your "motivational slogan" would definitely work for PUMAs. n/t

[ClarkUSA]

14. I'm a lifelong liberal activist who will be voting straight ticket Dem. Who's "him"?

:shrug:

[flamingdem]

20. Oops I meant about THEM he he nt

[PassingFair]

36. You don't get it.

This is how the logs roll:




And it's not just progressives that get
alienated, independents who wanted change
are the ones who won't vote.

The progressive base will vote, they
just won't work for those who seek to
suppress them within their own party.

[FrenchieCat]

11. I disagree with your statement that Democrats didn't really accomplish much.......

in fact, it is my belief that negative criticism throughout this President's first 20 months
in office of everything he has accomplished or dealt with has been given much more time than
the positives that we have experienced, and currently there are some posters even here
who push the negativity very agressively everyday.

Spouting talking points is not evidence of anything other than the fact that perhaps
you do not care what happens during this election, and so you will continue with your
negative schpil.....

What did happen in the last 20 months is .....
a very large stimulus passed that saved millions of jobs,
budgets inacted demonstrated priority toward progressive governmental action,
progressive supreme court nominees were selected and confirmed,
Stem Cells research was put back on the table,
Student loan programs were unprivatized,
credit card laws were passed to provide us with intelligent consumer information,
large educational money was pumped into various states that otherwise wouldn't have,
community colleges were shored up and funded,
State budget wer saved via Federal funds,
there was the signing the Tribal Act and Order benefiting Native Americans,
and the approval of an age-old settlement with thousands of Black Farmers,
while thousands of Free Clinics were established all over the country,
and although it almost didn't, employment extension was passed,
meanwhile a hate crime bill and an equal pay bill were signed,
and Health Care legislation and Wall street reform did pass,
and the American auto industry was saved,
and later BP was forced to promise 20 billion dollars for their oil spill,
the promise kept that has us responsibly bringing the Iraq War to a close as promised
with a deadline imposed that will end that war completely,
and even in escalating the Afghanistan Conflict as promised,
there was deadline imposed that demonstrates that we will see a start to an end there,
while we got the world to agree to sanctions against both Iran and N. Korea,
and commenced work on ME peace in earnest,
making sure of speaking out against Arizona's immigration law
and then having the justice department do something about it,
and commenting forcefully against the hateful hotly propagandized views on Muslims,
with there being a host of other rarely talked about betterments in this government,
that have happened,
for the good of this nation and its citizens,
and those of the world,

just in the first 20 months of this administration!

Instead, it appears that the negativity peddlers are winning the PR war all over, as they constantly discuss what hasn't happen, discount anything that has, speculate in the negative about anything that might, and intimate that the reasons that Democrats don't care about voting is because this administration hasn't given them anything to be satisfied about over and over again.

I disagree with the view that voters have nothing to be glad that this government did. I just think that there are some who don't want us to ever discuss the positives and so those are swept under the carpet, and are frowned upon in being discussed unless it is about what each of those actions didn't do, as opposed to what they did do.

In otherwords, they talk about him like a dog, and treat him like a he should be a magician.

[zipplewrath]

22. Here we go again

What did happen in the last 20 months is .....
a very large stimulus passed that saved millions of jobs,

Yes, and they over promised what it would do. After being told that it was too small, they claimed otherwise and passed a stimulus that didn't achieve what they said it would. So now they need more, but have no basis for asking because they already have lost credibility. So now they are stuck asking for more stimulus but afraid to call it stimulus.


budgets inacted demonstrated priority toward progressive governmental action,

The budgets were pretty basic democratic budgets. There wasn't anything particularly "progressive" about them.


progressive supreme court nominees were selected and confirmed,

Remains to be seen. They are no where near as progressive as Roberts is conservative.

Stem Cells research was put back on the table,

Yup.

Student loan programs were unprivatized,

Yup.

credit card laws were passed to provide us with intelligent consumer information,

And left in place nearly unlimited rates and penalties.

large educational money was pumped into various states that otherwise wouldn't have,

That's a supposition which you can't really prove. Almost any president was going to need to pass some stimulus, and the republican govenors were going to be begging for help. State aid was almost a given under any administration.

community colleges were shored up and funded,

Again, probably true of any administration

State budget wer saved via Federal funds,

Ditto. Everyone knew it would be pointless to spend federal dollars putting american's to work, while the states were laying them off.

there was the signing the Tribal Act and Order benefiting Native Americans,

Yes.

and the approval of an age-old settlement with thousands of Black Farmers,

Yes

while thousands of Free Clinics were established all over the country,

"Will be" yes.

and although it almost didn't, employment extension was passed,

Again, almost any administration would have done this. Truth is, it probably would have been easier under a GOP president because the GOP congress wouldn't have dared trying to stop it.

meanwhile a hate crime bill and an equal pay bill were signed,

Yup. The equal pay (I assume you're referring to ledbetter) was passed previous to this administration, but he did sign this version.

and Health Care legislation and Wall street reform did pass,

Health insurance legislation passed, there wasn't a whole lotta health care in it.
And the jury really is still out on the Banking bill. The teeth is in the regulations that haven't been written yet.

and the American auto industry was saved,

Yup.

and later BP was forced to promise 20 billion dollars for their oil spill,

Yup. One of his better moves in my mind.

the promise kept that has us responsibly bringing the Iraq War to a close as promised
with a deadline imposed that will end that war completely,

Not exactly a progressive achievement at this point. He's executing Bush's SOFA basically.

and even in escalating the Afghanistan Conflict as promised,
there was deadline imposed that demonstrates that we will see a start to an end there,

Again, not exactly a progressive accomplishment. And he hasn't accomplished anything yet. The troop levels just maxed out and all they've promised so far is to "start" removing troops by july of 2011.

while we got the world to agree to sanctions against both Iran and N. Korea,

To what effect we will see.

and commenced work on ME peace in earnest,

Not sure I'd call it "in earnest". Neither side thinks anything will come of it.

making sure of speaking out against Arizona's immigration law
and then having the justice department do something about it,

I'll give ya that one.

and commenting forcefully against the hateful hotly propagandized views on Muslims,

Huh? He had the most tepid response to the whole "ground zero mosque" schtick one could imagine.

with there being a host of other rarely talked about betterments in this government,
that have happened,
for the good of this nation and its citizens,
and those of the world,

But rarely particularly progressive.

And shall we list the decidely UNprogressive actions he has taken?

[Lost4words]

46. such tripe

[golfguru]

35. Except for one thing...the HCR bill as passed is UGLY

For profit private insurers (FPPI) win 40 million additional paying
customers, courtesy of US tax payer subsidy.

Not a single restraint on premium hikes by FPPI is in the bill.
Annual rate hikes as high as 34% are already showing up in some areas this year.

No competition to FPPI from public option to keep rate hikes under control.

Competition to FPPI from across the state lines by other FPPI missing in bill.
So each state has it's FPPI operating as a monopoly without outside competition.

Nothing in the HCR bill to restrain frivolous malpracice suits which end up
costing us consumers more.

No wonder democrats all over the country running for election are running away
from it and I can't blame them one bit.

[ClarkUSA]

17. When did they do that? I am a proud liberal voter who doesn't feel that way. nt

[catgirl]

27. Democratic party, not democrat party n/t

[Lost4words]

47. whatever

[DCBob]

28. A hard shift left is not going to solve this problem..

Big media, big business and the rightwing elite still have tremendous power and influence in this country. The harder left we go, the harder they push back. I dont know what the solution is but going hard left is not it.

[Bluenorthwest]

33. The post you are replying to did not say 'hard shift left'

yet you use the word hard or harder 4 times in that one wee post. Got a message you are trying to drive on home there? Just so repetitive.
Do you suggest that a hard stand upon the status quo is the way? Or a hard shift to the left? Or is it the hard part you object to, and a shift to the left would be fine, just not a hard one? A soft shift to the left? Does that float your rhetorical boat?

[DCBob]

34. It implied it.. and yes "hard shift" is the problem.

A soft/slow shift is the only way we will ever get any farther left in my opinion. The powers that be think we are already too far left now.

[tledford]

44. Sorry, there isn't any such thing as a "democrat party," at least not in the US.

Perhaps you were referring to the "Democratic Party?"

[Lost4words]

45. +1 nt

[flamingdem]

4. Boxer can beat Fiorina, CA knows better nt

[xultar]

6. I am too. But you won't get shit by waiting. U gotta WORK! WE GOTTA WORK!

[rhombus]

7. Get off the floor of self-pity

Make yourself active. Join OFA's volunteer program. http://www.barackobama.com/2010/

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[handmade34]

12. our best hope

is getting busy and inspiring everyone to vote... and don't forget to get everyone that can go to DC on the 2nd

[Andy823]

18. I agree

We need to motive the voters and stop listening to the right wing BS that says it's "all over", because it's not! We need more positive posts to encourage people to NOT stay home, but get out and vote so we don't go back to the Bush years! Those who don't vote are helping the republicans, and no matter how upset they are with the current crop of democrats up for election, it's a hell of a lot better than letting the republicans gain control of congress!

[Pirate Smile]

13. The official campaign season JUST kicked off. There is lots of time and here is one

big positive - there are enough Obama & Democratic voters to hold the House and Senate. We just have to make sure they will vote. Right now they are not showing up in the "Likely Voter" models. They aren't really planning on voting but most of them still support the President. We just need to turn them out.

We would be in a much worse position if all these horrible likely voter polls didn't also include a significant and very "getable" number of Democratic voters.

I've called people within the past two weeks who say "I only vote in Presidential campaigns so I wasn't planning on voting" or they hadn't really thought about the election. Those folks are being contacted to say - we really need you to vote, it is very important to the President, can we send you a vote-by-mail request form. The GOTV will be working to make sure they vote but people need to volunteer to help make it happen.

The Game is not over. The serious part is just getting started.

[Saturday]

15. The silver lining is.....

no one voted today, it's not election day. We have time.

[ClarkUSA]

19. I've never been the Chicken Little type. Read this and go on the offense.

Read all about it: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x434148

[Politics_Guy25]

21. I thought of one good thing

Norah O'Donnell is an extreme fascist crazy tea partier. Of course, she would proclaim doom for the democrats. Forgot about that.

[emulatorloo]

23. um "Norah O'Donnell" is an idiot. The only poll that counts is election day. Do your part

You'll feel a lot better if you get off your ass and vote Democratic on election day. Take your democrat friends and relatives and any body else who needs a ride.

[Ramulux]

24. I felt like this until yesterday

Seeing Obamas speech definitely gave me a little hope that the dems know they are going to have to come out strong in the next 2 months. However there are a couple pieces of good news from the last day or two. First off we are tied on the congressional ballot proving last weeks big numbers were a fluke. Next, we have Coons beating O'Donnell in a match up which could very well happen if Castle blows it. Next, we have Murray up over Rossi and the DCCC releasing a bunch of internals with good numbers for some endangered incumbents. I think things might be swinging back our way, and I know I am going to be doing everything in my power to help GOTV. Everyone should volunteer with Organizing for America.

OFA Link
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/ofavolunteer?source=www_navbar

[Onlooker]

25. Here's the way I look at things

In the long run, liberals always win. From ending slavery to giving women the right to vote to ending child labor to advancing public education to creating affordable colleges to giving blacks civil rights to creating a minimum wage to implementing health care reform to going to the moon to gay rights to Medicare to Social Security to the Family Leave Act, liberals always win. Yeah, we don't hold onto power as long as conservatives, but we change the United States for the better; conservatives merely hold back the tides of change for a few years. Whether the Dems win or lose (and I think they have a very good chance of retaining control of Congress), they have already won with the massive Stimulus bill (that's changing our energy future, among other things) and Health Care Reform.

[gkhouston]

26. Our best hope now is to do something other than obsess about media talking points.

Get busy working on somebody's campaign or for your local Democratic party and you'll have something more productive to do with your time than worry about how millions of Americans are or aren't going to vote in November. You can't change the votes of millions of people, but you might be able to influence some people in your area. Believe me, if the Republicans win in November, there will be plenty of time for cryin' in our beer after Election Day.

[provis99]

29. Here's a bit of silver lining.

1 We're going to keep the Senate. Obama might have another SC Justice pick before his 1st term is up, so keeping the Senate is important. I think we might lose the House, but even Republican strategists are afraid the House Republicans will act so stupid, the Republicans will lose the House again in 2012.

2. Obama's approval rating is at least 41%, and I think closer to 49%, which is damn good at this point in his Presidency. It will also go up once the midterm elections are over, and he is looking good for a second term.

3. Norah O'Donnell is a right-wing ass. Listen to Thom Hartmann on the radio for analysis of the pre-election predictions, or watch Maddow on MSNBC. And the more hysterical Fox News gets over the election, the more likely that Democrats will close up in the polls.

4. Democrats always move up in the polls a few weeks before an election; so some of those races where Democrats are currently behind, the race will tighten up to slight Democratic victories, which is good for a midterm election.

5. Democratic voters turn out at higher rates in Presidential year elections than midterms, and Republican strategists know this. That's why their hoping their side doesn't screw up between 2010-2012. Assuming of course, if the Republicans even take the House. Because 2010 is where the Republicans will peak; its all downhill from there.

Hope this encourages some people here.

[customerserviceguy]

30. There are two types of Democratic congresscritters

One is the true progressive, and they are generally in districts that won't kick them out, as they were gerrymandered into them by Rethugs who wanted to get GOP'ers in the surrounding suburbs. We'll hang on to the vast majority of them. They're our natural leaders in the Congress.

The other is the DINO, the Blue Dog, who might have displaced a Repuke one, two, or three elections ago, because of concern over the body count in Iraq, but votes often enough with the other side. If they get replaced with tea partiers, then we have a chance in 2012 to replace them with progressives when the pendulum comes swinging back our way.

[Bluenorthwest]

31. I marvel at all the people who can see the future!

As I said to a friend today, if you are so certain of things that are yet to be, you ought to be rolling in money, among other things. Valuable skill.
The thing is, the election season just started. Everything that happened before this week is forgotten, it was a waste of time to do it, and this is the starting line. I know the other guys have been making a lot of noise, but they've just been blowing out their pipes to a half full hall.
You can do all the politics you want during the summer. Just don't expect the voters to notice until the kids are back in school.
I mean, really. The election is months away. And you jump into language like 'our best hope now' and such? To what freaking end? What can be gained by this sort of, frankly, self indulgent stuff? I just do not agree with you that your magic eyes can see the future. We both live in the same world. Polls are not always right. If they were, no election night would ever be a nervous one, we'd already know. Is that the case? No, it is not.

[BlueIdaho]

32. Don't believe everything you see on the TV.

The M$M wants you to believe the end is near, it works well for THEM on so many levels. As a mouthpiece for the wealthy, driving a narrative of doom and gloom makes it that much easier to screw working men and women with lower wages, longer hours, more lay-offs, more work for those left on the job, and the dismantling of the unions. That's all good news for their corporate bosses so the TV talking heads will shout this shit from the roof tops and take their fat paychecks to the bank as a reward for a job well done.

The truth of the matter is, the party of NO can only win if their GOTV effort is better than ours. That is only possible if we buy into the M$M narrative. If we call bullshit on the paid media puppets, put our heads down, and work like hell until election day, we can stop this bullshit in its tracks.

No one is going to hand us this election, but if we work like it matters we can earn a victory for ourselves and our children.

[babylonsister]

38. Amen! True that. nt

[chrisa]

49. It's more like they're trying to sell stories, rather than reporting them.

Making everything "Doom and gloomy!!!" makes more people watch, which leads to more ratings and more money.
TV news is all for profit now, and predictably had turned to crap because of this. That's why it's more tabloidy (even with serious issues) these days.

[golfguru]

37. Cheer up: Gallup: Parties Tied at 46% on Generic Ballot

[applegrove]

39. Gallop poll says the Repukes and Dems are tied at 46%. This after the GOP has run a perpetual

campaign and Obama has not. Now that Obama has started to campaign things will be looking up for dems.

[ibegurpard]

40. concentrate on your friends, your family and your own sphere of influence

do everything that you can to make the world a better place in whatever small ways you can...that is the only way to get through despondence over large-scale events that you have little to no control over.

[lonestarnot]

41. Somebody better call you the whambulance.

[ibegurpard]

42. geez that was creative

did you make that one up yourself?

[treestar]

43. I recall seeing so many posts like this in the run up to the 2008 election

[chrisa]

48. It's not that bad.

I think Liberals are exaggerating, considering how bad it was under Bush. I've seen a 100% improvement. Obama is no FDR, but I always thought that was a ridiculous standard to hold him to. He's more like Clinton, and for that I can't complain (though we may disagree on some issues, with me being more to the left).

Repukes aren't on the "march." It's a media sensationalist exaggeration, much like the mythical teaparty (50 protesters at most at each rally, whining corporate talking-points).

There will not be a GOP congress, unless if Dems get lazy again and refuse to vote. If you don't vote, you can't complain. Elections will never be a sure thing, but the tea party is not going anywhere (unless maybe in states that are already generally red).