On SCOTUS: Obama has to acknowledge his base

[Bullet1987]

Barack Obama could quiet down some of the criticism he's getting from liberals if he chose a center-left, Progressive judge. Not someone who has a record of playing along with corporations, etc. Democrats failed to live up to what many people (mostly their base) wanted out of HCR, they can make that up with a good choice here. Democrats always consider what everyone else wants before their own supporters, it's time for that to change.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Let's all say it together 'President Obama is not a liberal'. There, that feels better. nt

[katandmoon]

2. Yup. He was more than happy to let his base think he was though.

[krawhitham]

30. Because you did no research

Or listen to what he said while campaigning

[bvar22]

37. Oh Yes!

During the campaign, Obama was very clear that he would push a Republican HCR Bill.
Had he campaigned on:
*Pro-Cadillac Tax
*Mandates
*No Public Option
*No Re-Importation" of drugs
*Private Closed Door deals with the HCIndustry
....he would NOT have gotten my vote.

Many people who DID "listen to what he said while campaigning" have legitimate cases for feeling betrayed on a number of issues where he campaigned well to The Left of where he is governing.

[wyldwolf]

4. I was hoping someone would ask who Obama's 'base' is...

...since the difference in the election totals of 2004 mostly came from the independent vote.

[Deep13]

10. The "base" is the group that did not change its mind since '04.

You are talking about the swing vote. He needs both to hold onto power. An unimpressed base can mean reduced campaign donations, volunteers, turnout and even an increase in 3rd party votes or voters that skip the POTUS race and go right to Congress and governor.

[wyldwolf]

15. so you're essentially referring to Democrats as a whole

[Deep13]

24. Yeah, and the most activist part in particular. nt

[Bullet1987]

5. Then why did he call himself Progressive during the campaign?

Unless Progressive doesn't equal liberal...and is just a campaign tool used by Democrats to appeal to the base, but never do anything they reall want.

[Captain Hilts]

9. True. nt

[jefferson_dem]

25. Please...

Step away from the ledge and join reality. What do you think Obama's approval is among Dems or "liberals"?

This chart below was from January, BEFORE he engineered the passage of healthcare reforms that "liberals" overwhelmingly supported.



http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/mp_20100104_1650.php

[ClarkUSA]

17. Pres. Obama is a liberal but he's also a pragmatist who has had the best first year in history.

Just a few facts:

:redbox: FDR had 329 House and 69 Senate Democrats in Congress. It took FDR 29 months to pass Social Security after being inaugurated for the first time.

:bluebox: LBJ had 295 House and 68 Senate Democrats in Congress. It took LBJ 20 months to pass Medicare after being inaugurated.

:redbox: President Barack Obama had 258 House & 57 Senate Democrats (plus 1 Socialist and 1 Independent who usually caucus w/Democrats) in Congress. It took President Obama 14 months to pass HCR after being inaugurated.

[NJmaverick]

21. I would rec this post if I could, a must read

[ClarkUSA]

27. Thanks, NJ Maverick.

:fistbump:

[Tarheel_Dem]

46. +10,000. I agree, this post should have it's own thread. (nt)

[Lord Helmet]

29. Interesting stats. Puts the complaints into perspective. nt

[burning rain]

31. Bit more complicated than that...

In Johnson's day, nearly the entire Southern congressional delegation was Democratic, and he was heavily dependent on them for a majority. At the same time, they were mostly a worthless right-wing bunch. Johnson puts it bluntly at the 3:30 mark in this December, 1963 telephone conversation with Katharine Graham of The Washington Post: "We only got 150 Democrats; the rest of them are Southerners."

Also, one has to suspect that Medicare would have been an easier lift if it had not been a public program but involved seniors buying private health insurance with one or another degree of subsidization: that would have brought the insurance companies aboard as supporters. The point of comparison between the recently-passed health care reform, a centrist crony capitalist program, and public programs such as Social Security and Medicare, is pretty dodgy.

[Captain Hilts]

32. Southern Dems were worse in FDR's day. Strom Thurmond was a Dem!!!!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

44. Yeah, and Republicans weren't as bad as they are now.

So...:shrug:

[Cha]

36. +1

Thanks, Clark.

President Obama is a Lib Pragmatist who is navitgating in a sea of ignorant craven hate.

This is The Age of Disinformation..thanks to the US Corporatemediawhores.

[ClarkUSA]

40. "President Obama is a Lib Pragmatist who is navitgating in a sea of ignorant craven hate."

Ain't that the truth? I'm glad he's got a thick skin and stays cool under pressure unlike some other presidents.

[indepat]

28. Should the nominee be right-of center as someone mentioned is, I will proffer BHO is not the

ideologically-moderate Republican as thought, but much more right of center as numerous other indicators imho already suggest. His entire base was seemingly sacrificed to curry favor of those opposed to HCR: let's hope his entire base is not again sacrificed to curry favor. :-)

[Tarheel_Dem]

47. Do you speak for "his entire base"? Just which group comprises "his base"?

If you mean the activists, look at the poll posted by Jefferson Dem. You overestimate your importance, and that of this mythical "base". There are some loudmouths who post crap from World Socialists Website, but I don't they can, by any stretch, be considered "the base".

[indepat]

48. Wow! You sure cut my importance down to size in one foul swoop.

:P

[Tarheel_Dem]

49. Someone had to do it. I don't think this president has to worry so much about

"his base". Some on the left could never be considered part of the "democratic base", and I suspect you'd be considered "other".

[still_one]

3. I would not necessarily believe what is getting into these preliminary reports

If I recall those initial reports usually aren't particularly accurate

That does not contradict anything you are saying either

[Deep13]

6. Center-left?

These days anyone to the left of Goering is considered a "liberal." I would like to see someone that FDR would have approved of. Someone like Brennen or T. Marshall.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I'm sorry to say that Obama doesn't have to do anything.

He's the president, he's a centrist, and he'll appoint someone squarely in the middle because that's what he does.

[Bullet1987]

11. So a corporatist?

Because that's what centrist is meaning more and more these days. Someone who won't "rock the boat" and who will put corporate interests ahead of public interests. How is that helping America right now?

[Blue_In_AK]

13. I don't think it's helping America at all.

If the choice were up to me, I'd appoint someone so far to the left it would make their heads spin. It's what is needed now to balance out that overwhelming weight on the right of the Supreme Court. Those guys are so far out of step with ordinary American people, they should be impeached.

[jefferson_dem]

20. I beat you to it...

April 3, baby! Where's my prize?

--> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=259334&mesg_id=259403

[Bullet1987]

45. What are you talking about Jefferson?

I actually like some of the names that have been released.

[BlueIris]

33. Yep.

I don't know why anyone is expecting anything better at this point.

[Better Today]

8. True enough that would work, it would cause a huge slow down in the

confirmation process, but it would stimulate the base.

On the other hand, let's remember where the outgoing Justice came from.

And as pointed out on one of Countdown or Maddow Shows, many fairly liberal judges have been wearing a sort of judicial burka over the many past decades and are primed to get into office and show their true colors.

On this one I'm going to pass on trying to make a judgment when he makes his decision, and hope it all turns out fine in retrospect.

[Phx_Dem]

12. If his "base" is the group mostly responsible for his election, his base

is young adults, African Americans and Independents. Without winning all of these groups, he likely would not be President.

I'm not sure any of them care if he nominates a progressive or centrist judge.

[Uzybone]

16. thank you

Obama's base is not the internet bloggers and far left naderites (those groups will never be anyones base). Obamas base is unions, minorities, young adults and independents.

We do want a progressive judge though. Another Sotomayor would be nice and Obama has a record of progressive judges.

[ClarkUSA]

18. Considering a large majority of self-described liberals approve of him through thick and thin...

I agree with you.

[Hekate]

43. Indeed it is. Glad to add my vote to your statement.

:thumbsup:

[yurbud]

14. actually, polls showed independents wanted the same things out of HCR as Dems did

So Obama and Congress weren't ''playing to the middle,'' they were playing to the money.

[Captain Hilts]

26. And a majority of Republican voters wanted a public option - 62%. nt

[jefferson_dem]

19. Here we go...

Starting with the demands and pre-emptive hand-wringing already, huh? :eyes:

[scheming daemons]

22. Amazing how many liberals have already forgotten the Sotomayor pick

You act like, when faced with this exact same situation last year, he didn't pick a center-left progressive judge.


Sotomayor is a center-left progressive.


You have exactly one data point showing Obama to be what you want in this regard..... and ZERO data points to suggest otherwise....


....yet you post an OP that acts like the truth is something else.

[ShadowLiberal]

38. Yeah but he could have picked more liberal people, and I think Obama picked Sotomayor too soon

Personally I think Obama made a mistake nominating Sotomayor when he did, Reagan made this exact same mistake.

Reagan got a court opening when republicans controlled congress and nominated Scalia, he was the first Italian American ever nominated for the court. That put pressure on democrats to vote for him, it would give them bad headlines saying that they voted overwhelmingly against the first Italian American nominated for the supreme court. Scalia was unanimously confirmed by the senate, and senator Byrd (D) even asked him to appear at a campaign event with him in West Virginia.

A few years later democrats take control of the senate, and another seat opens up on the Supreme Court. Reagan nominates Bork for the post, a radical conservative, and the democrats reject it. Had Reagan nominated Bork before Scalia when his party controlled the senate we'd probably have a justice Bork on the court today,, and Scalia would have probably been confirmed anyway seeing as no democrats voted against him when Reagan nominated him. Instead conservatives had to settle for Justice Kennedy, a moderate conservative who votes to keep abortion legal among other things that they despise.

I think Obama should have gone for a young (as in 40ish) radical liberal the first time, and nominated a Hispanic, Sotomayor or some other liberal Hispanic, when his next court opening came. He might end up repeating Reagan's mistake, or more likely he'll feel he has to nominate someone more to the right then Sotomayor if he's to stand a chance at getting them confirmed.

[Cha]

39. I was just going to add that Justice Sotomayer made

this "base" very happy.

[NJmaverick]

23. While I am hopeful that President Obama will replace Stevens with someone equally as liberal

History suggest that doing so would not quiet or reduce the attacks form the alleged base. I say alleged because many of the liberals attacking the President are Green Party members rather than the Democratic liberal base.

[cali]

34. look, whoever he chooses is going to be presented by the administration

as a moderate. that's how the game is played, but there are some good names on that list.

[Sebastian Doyle]

35. He needs to nominate someone whose opinion of corporatism

is 180 degrees to the left of Opie Roberts.

[Cha]

41. President Obama has acknowledged his base

on Justice Sotomayor and his "base" acknowledges him on the very good things he's been doing for the country. That's his base.

[davidpdx]

42. Here is some good information from Electoral Vote

Don't believe the media hype about Clinton, she's not going to be pulled from SOS it's too important and a waste of resources (another SOS would have to go through the conformation process).

My favorite on the list (and I'm bias for a reason):

"Harold Koh might be a relatively easy nominee to get through the Senate based on his biography and lack of a long record for opponents to dig through. His parents were born in North Korea but escaped to the South. Then after the country became a dictatorship, they (and young Harold) escaped to the U.S. Koh had polio when he was 6 but after multiple operations and treatments, he managed to overcome the disease and graduated from Harvard and Harvard Law School. This is the kind of "American Dream" biography Republican senators will have a lot of trouble attacking. After graduating, he became a professor at Yale, Dean of the Yale Law School, and later had various government jobs, including a stint in the Reagan administration. He is now Hillary Clinton's senior legal advisor in the State Dept. When looking at a problem, he often asks how other countries have dealt with it. In any other country, this would be considered a wise thing to do, but in the U.S. it is controversial."

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2010/Senate/Maps/Apr03-s.html#1