Why Democrats lost in this cycle, and what we have to learn. 2012 should be MUCH different.

[RBInMaine]

First, it was the economy, the economy, the economy, far and above all else. Had the R's been the majority party, they would have suffered as they did in our waves of 06 and 08. People were frustrated and made the majority party own it. Much of it was a frustration/protest vote. Other main reasons were the R's being more motivated having lost 2 elections. Also, more indies, who voted out of frustration, switched back to the R's. Yes, the R's also had more outside money and better message discipline, but it was overwhelmingly about economic frustration.

No matter what, we were going to take some hits. But, it didn't have to be quite so rough. What we have learned is that our side needs to get the hell out there and MUCH better tout the D accomplishments and message MUCH more effectively. Obama/D's need to act with a united voice as the populist champions of the people and brand the R's as "Anti-Middle Class, Anti-American Manufacturing (they were hugely against the GM/Chrysler bailouts), Anti-Main Street, Anti-Future, and Pro-Past and Pro-Wall Street. We can and must effectively FRAME them as the party of the "backward past," and we can do this because the economy WILL improve over the next two years as they sit there trying to repeal our party's progressive accomplishments while rolling back the cultural changes that ARE on the horizon.

What we have also learned is that this one recession cycle does not mean the nation is suddenly in love with the GOP generally. If Obama and D's start messaging right, we have a GREAT opportunity for 2012, especially since the GOP is already miring themselves in a civil war between the establishment old guard and the Palin-TeaWhackos. I love it.

[msongs]

1. we need to be MORE bipartisan than every so repubs will love us lol nt

[derby378]

2. The so-called Health Care Reform bill did much to discourage Democrats

They worked so hard for so many years to enact real health care reform in America, only to be told by the Obama administration that they're going to have to wait even longer for positive, progressive change to happen. The fox is now guarding the henhouse, and Democratic voters weren't too happy with that arrangement.

[Milo_Bloom]

3. DING DING DING DING!

[RBInMaine]

4. Not so much. There was virtually typical D mid term turnout. Maybe just a little off. It was over-

whelmingly about the economy and too many indies going back to the R's.

[derby378]

6. The economy did play a big part, true, but there was so much lost momentum from 2008

Allowing that wave of momentum to simply break and roll back like Hunter S. Thompson's proverbial wave is just, well, dumb.

[RBInMaine]

7. True to a significant degree, and that was because Obama and his team went into policy-making trans-

actional mode and away from the transformational campaign mode. THAT indeed was a big mistake. They accomplished a lot, but not with enough of a movement behind it. Messaging was not good. Obama was hired to be a "FIGHTING CHAMPION" of the middle class, and that was the persona he should have displayed much more often. He has much too often led as a transactional chess playing "Mr. Spock" type instead of the "Boldy-Going Captain Kirk" type that he was hired to be. He can and should pivot now and correct that. Again, he has ACCOMPLISHED a lot, but the style of leadership should have been more like he was in his campaign. A country in a recession is down in the dumps, and we needed to see the HOPE AND CHANGE mode from the day he was elected. He has been "good" when should have acted "GREAT" and "BOLD."

[spin]

5. I totally agree....

The healthcare bill was a sell out to the insurance industry.

The Democrats we elected pandered to the medical insurance industry and paid a stiff price.

[TheWraith]

15. Actually, the HCR bill is extremely popular with Dems.

Try again.

[former9thward]

8. We lost because of the economy pure and simple.

Congress and the WH chose to bailout wall street and did little for main street. If they follow that same policy for the next two years we will have the same problems in 2012.

[RBInMaine]

12. The Wall St. bailout happened under BUSH, and Main St. in my town was re-paved thanks to the stimul-

us bill.

[RBInMaine]

13. As hard as the Bush bank bailout was to swallow, it was necessary to prevent a depression, and it

worked. I agree there should have been even more conditions, but we could not allow the entire financial system to crash. It was a "hold your nose and do it" situation.

[FrenchieCat]

9. I'm sure that the media yelling that the GOP was gonna win it all

for an entire year before the election helped an awful lot! Nothing like being able to
tout biased ass polls for months after months after months, all showing Democrats losing!
Just figured that this big part of "why we lost the election" should be mentioned.

[RBInMaine]

11. Yes, another component, but the economy was above all else.

[olegramps]

16. Obama failed to stress that it was an economy he inherited from the Republicans

He allowed the Republicans to hang the failed economy around his neck.

[totodeinhere]

17. Those polls should have been all the more reason for Democrats to get out and vote.

If the Dem turnout had been only 5% higher we could have kept control of the House. So when I see the disastrous results of the last election, I place the blame squarely where it belongs, at the feet of so-called Democrats who couldn't even take the trouble to vote.

[MrSlayer]

10. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of lying ads were a big part of it.

Especially since there is a growing amount of voters who consider themselves "independent", meaning they know nothing about what's going on except for what they hear in the aforementioned ads. Willful ignorance and 24/7 right-wing propaganda are a huge reason why these idiots voted against themselves yet again.

[RBInMaine]

14. Yes, another important component, and yes, MANY indies do not think and research well. Too many of

them just expected Obama and Dems to fix everything overnight. When that didn't happen, entirely, they went back to the GOP. We have a very low-information and instant-gratification society today. Sad. Many of today's Americans, such as the Indies in the burbs, have no sense of what it means to deal with some tough times, and they expect things like Great Recessions to be solved immediately. They need to buck up a little and get real.