The Middle of the Road leads to Nowhere

[soupkitchen]

This is the message Obama should take from yesterday's election results.

I don't know anything about Virginia, but Corzine lost NJ not because people voted pro-Republican but because they voted anti-Corzine, anti-incumbency.

In this sense it was an anti-Obama vote. Not on a personal level, but in the sense that the voters were saying the status quo is not good enough. Unfortunately, Obama is increasing being seen as a Status Quo kind of guy. Which would not bode well for him in 2012, nor more immediately for his party in 2010.

Americans want action, not, given the severity of our problems, the inaction of compromise.

Fight to win, and lose, and you can still win at the ballot box.
Fight not to lose, and you will lose the policy fights and at the ballot box.

Obama should take this lesson from yesterday's results: the middle of the road leads to Nowhere.

[Xipe Totec]

1. The middle of the road is where lines are drawn

[soupkitchen]

2. President Opossum

Perfect

Again a picture is worth more than words

[dolphindance]

20. President is roadkill, huh? F-ck you. (eom)

[cliffordu]

24. KInd of a waste of space, aren't ya??

[flaminbats]

22. it also allows for a change in direction..

both sides end at some point.

I think the middle road can be used to make necessary compromises to stop filibusters and pass legislation. It's also a fatal solution when used for winning elections or backstabbing voters.

[SIMPLYB1980]

3. Sorry but the middle of the road won Obama the Presidency.

He is and always has been a moderate.

[Greyhound]

4. Sorry but being not George bush got President Obama elected.

"Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time."

[Captain Hilts]

5. Any of the top Democrats would have beaten McCain. nt

[SIMPLYB1980]

10. And they would all be considered middle of the road by

DU standards. Obama, Clinton, Edwards, Biden.... All moderates.

[stray cat]

13. One would think if purity was so great - "real progressives" would win Natl elections

[Captain Hilts]

14. Very true. nt

[SIMPLYB1980]

6. Wrong but keep telling yourself that.

Maybe one day the country will be upset enough to elect DK, but I think that day will never come. Obama has held strong to his moderate ways because that is how you get the Independents and Moderates to decide to vote for him. The republicans have forgotten this which is why they lost.

[soupkitchen]

7. Once

[BurtWorm]

9. He ran on 'change.' People believed everything would change.

I don't think yesterday was necessarily a referendum on Obama. But I do think Obama will be in trouble if people don't start feeling a real change. We're sick of the rotten, Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Gingrich-DeLay corrupted, festering swamp of American politics. People want a sea change. Obama should think about how to deliver that. Now, before it really is too late.

[Kansas Wyatt]

15. Rahm has had a busy morning telling Obama that the pesky...

Democratic base is just trying to ruin his chances at passing legislation (Republican) and get re-elected, so he must go after more Republican votes now.

After the 2010 & 2012 Elections, we will see Rahm on tv scratching his head trying to figure out why people would vote against their best interests.

[rhett o rick]

17. By your thinking, the middle of the road gave us King George the Idiot.

In 2000 the progressives were turned off by the Clinton/Gore presidency that gave us such great things as NAFTA and WTO. So they stayed home and the middle voted for the BushCrimeFamily.

In 2008 Howard Dean and the progressives went all out for Obama, manning phone banks, going door to door, writing emails and letters, visiting Congressional offices, etc. only to see Dean fired by Obama and Rahm Emanuel hired as chief of staff.

I am curious, do you consider Rahm Emanuel and the DLC as moderates? Do you consider the Blue Dog's as moderates?

[stray cat]

8. The dem who won in NY (Owens) is a moderate isn't he?

[SIMPLYB1980]

12. Yep.

But I expect some here think he is a flaming progressive.

[stray cat]

11. The GOP candidate in the NY district - lost to a middle of the road dem.

[soupkitchen]

16. First of all, we're not talking purity

We're talking balls.

And secondly, the larger point is that in traditional swing districts, or swing elections, the middle of the road incumbent will always be beat by the middle of the road opposition during tough economic times.

There is no doubt the middle of the road has been the traditional path to electorate success; unfortunately, it's also been the path to the policy quagmires from which we find ourselves unable to extricate the common weal

Ultimately, a claim to the higher moral ground is not staked with words, but with policy.
Rhetoric is a wonderful clarion call to action, but ultimately it doesn't replace the public's admiration for the good fight.

[Sebastian Doyle]

21. The GOP candidate dropped out of the race.

The batshit crazy lunatic "Conservative Party" candidate lost to a middle of the road "democrat". Still, it was a move to the left (if only slightly) in a district that the 'Pukes had owned since the Civil War.

Meanwhile, in California, they got an upgrade from DLC tool Ellen Tauscher to an actual Democrat.

So that's two steps to the left for the House.

[mmonk]

18. I would say it leads to rightwing govenment actually.

[Echo In Light]

19. Under the guise of a healthy, 2 party, transparent, representative democracy

The ruse is quite effective for those who want to believe.

[mmonk]

26. yep.

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. It does indeed nt.

[bullwinkle428]

23. You are aboslutely correct - off-year elections are all about BRINGING OUT

THE BASE!!!!!!!

That middle-of-the-road stuff has to be worked in a little bit when you're talking about the Presidential election, for sure, but in most cases, it gets you nowhere!

[soupkitchen]

25. Or, in other words

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/4/800316/-Tonights-big-lesson

[PretzelWarrior]

28. that's the stupidest thing I've heard today

[izzybeans]

29. It leads to being hit head on, on the left, and from behind on the right.

Or if you are standing sideways, you stand the risk of being crushed from both sides.

So it leads somewhere.

Either way I just prefer good ideas to bad. I don't care if they are even on the road or not.

[TexasObserver]

30. the middle of the road is my private cul de sac

Listen to the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde belt out the tune, and hear her say what you are saying.

I highly recommend it for anyone. It's under 4 minutes, and features Chrissie, who has always been simply awesome. This song was written when she was in her early 30s, had become quite successful, and had a child.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4wHwv8DABM&feature=related