"Contrary to the expert opinion, Obama is still very much in the driver’s seat"

[impik]

Pundits and politicos alike would have us believe that the Obama era is over, with the general elections in 2012 being a mere formality to an imminent Republican resurgence. Obama went too far left, or so the argument goes, and the Republican gains this year are a leading indicator of a re-adjustment.

In our view, this perspective is fundamentally wrong: the results of the present mid-term elections have little to do with the probable outcome of the general election in 2012. Obama, contrary to the expert opinion, is still very much in the driver’s seat. Here’s why.

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http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2010/11/08/misreading-the-midterm-tea-leaves/

[Better Today]

1. If only that were true. I see no evidence of it, but am willing for Obama to surprise me and

recreate the brief hope I had in him.

[ProSense]

2. The disconnect

Some people are complaining that the President didn't effectively communicate the good things his administration achieved. Those same people are complaining that he should have rejected compromising with Republicans. The only thing Democrats are doing is complaining about messaging and strategy, and they wonder why the overall messaging sucks.

Bayh has a strategy. Nelson has a strategy. Sanders has a strategy (and I agree with him). The three of them agree that the President needs to get tough on somebody and do it their way. The difference between Sanders and the others is that he actually supports the President's agenda.

The President's strategy should be getting things done and not worrying about the mixed signals coming from his own party. He's not going to change Bayh's opinion.

You could point to many times when the President called out Republicans, even Fox News and the media, but at the end of the day, he has to get something done. This is the problem with the hyperfocus on everytime the President mentions bipartisanship. Do people expect him to never compromise and always say that he's unwilling to work with Republicans? People can pretend that compromise isn't necessary, but I guarantee that if the President failed on some of the key initiatives, he'd be hearing it from these same critics.

The tax cuts are not equivalent to health care reform, Wall Street reform or the other major policy achievements. If the tax cuts fail because of Republican vote against them, people will see Republicans for what they are. The tax cuts are not critical. The President can afford to stand tough here, and Democrats in the Senate need to stand tough with him.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Some people are complaining that the President didn't effectively communicate....

and some of those same people are the ones who step on the President's message, rather than
spreading the word. Some are so busy complaining in fact that they don't know what the President
is communicating, cause they don't have time to listen, as they are too busy spreading the message that the President doesn't effectively communicates....like it is up to only him to break through not only the lound hissing sound being made by the GOP and by the media, but by those who, back in the days of Clinton, were defending every and anything Clinton did, and fighting back hard at the Republicans.

We were the ones that we were waiting for, but we were too busy to complaint about our own to notice
that we were part of the problem and not part of the solution.

[donheld]

5. With unemployment high as a kite, a war going arye,

a good chance tax-cuts will be extended even for billionaires only to make the debt even worse. Not to mention CEO pay + bonuses out the roof still. With those things in everybody's minds. President Obama can say what ever he like. If he's not really seen working to fix those issues, words won't matter. BTW he has hosts begging him to uses them on MSNBC to no avail He ignores them too.

[DemocraticPilgrim]

6. ABSOLUTELY, always fine posts frenchie. n/t

[Clio the Leo]

4. he's been "finished" so many times I've lost count. nt