"Desperate People Do Desperate Things."

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I remember when the Today Show was just killing Good Morning America in the ratings. GMA was just trying all kinds of gimmicks to boost ratings and Bryant Gumbel of the Today Show famously opined "Desperate people do desperate things."

Most of us on this site are committed partisans and will vote to reelect the president. I am resigning myself to the fact that my fellow Americans, most of whom are not partisans but neutrals or opponents will not. For many of them these are the worst of times. They are scared and desperate.

[treestar]

1. I don't see that

We've lived through recessions before.

There are people scared and desperate in good times.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. None Of Us Alive Have Lived Through An Economy Like This Unless We Are Over Seventy Years Old

.

[treestar]

8. I believe living through the great depression would have been far, far

worse than living through this right now.

My parents aren't panicked for example, and they were babies during the Great Depression. So they didn't really have a conscious experience of it, but their age group had the aftermath - they don't like to waste anything.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. With The Proliferation Of Guns

With the proliferation of guns we would have a Mad Max society if unemployment reached twenty five percent.

[JoePhilly]

2. If all those neutrals ever hear from the right and the left is ....

"Obama is bad", we will get a Republican whack job for a President.

And it doesn't matter that the reasons that the right and left claim "Obama is bad" are totally opposite. Those neutrals will hear and accept the "Obama message", and vote accordingly.

The media knows this.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. As I Have Said, Ad Infintum And Ad Nauseum I Don't Blame The President For This Economic Mess

I awlways have to preface my remarks with that.

"It is what it is." But I am afraid this is an enduring mess and most folks in their desperation are going to want to try somethimg new even if it turns out to make the situation even more dire.

[treestar]

9. One argument we have is that they did that in 2010

So laissez faire didn't help much, eh voters?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. IMHO, The President Is The Face Of The Nation

He gets the blame for good times and the credit for good times, regardless of his or her 's true responsibility for said outcomes.

In the end reelection campaigns are referendums on the incumbent.

[treestar]

11. I don't agree with that at all

I believe in the Constitution, not making a fetish out of the Presidency.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. I'm Not Making A "Checks And Balances " Argument

I am merely voicing my opinion on whom the average Joe or Jane blames or credits for their situation.

I could be wrong or I could be right. We will all know in a scant fourteen months and a couple of days.

[bvar22]

17. Harry Truman agrees with you.

Leadership! "The Buck Stops HERE!" NO Excuses!

[existentialist]

5. I completely agree.

Therefore, though many of us have strong disagreement with many of Obama's policies and actions, it is prudent to be very circumspect in our criticisms of him (at least until and if he gets re-re-elected).

And, if we participate at all in racehorse and popularity polls--well, not wanting to lie I'm not participating in most of them because I don't want my disapproval of many of Obama's actions to be translated into support for Republicans who are far worse.

That is also why I believe that we need to focus as much as possible on Congress even though 2012 will be a presidential election year.

It might even be possible the Obama could get ree-elected on the strength of reverse coattails.

And were he to get so re-re-elected, and presuming he knew it, we might find him a little less objectionable in some respects.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. I Think Our Best Hope Is The Repubs Nominate Someone Completely Beyond The Pale

And they just might oblige us.

[existentialist]

15. I won't disagree with that either.

But I still think we should put our focus not on the presidency, but on Congress.

[CakeGrrl]

18. Which GOP candidate is NOT "beyond the pale"?

They all seem ready to dance to the Tea Party's tune.

Do you think any one or two of them would be less likely to greenlight whatever ruinous "policy" comes out of a Cantor-dominated House than the others?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. It Doesn't Matter What I Think

But I do think Hunstsman and Romney come off as reasonable to a plurality or majority of voters.

[CakeGrrl]

21. "Come off as reasonable"

Yes, I get that it's all about desperate, impatient voters being duped (yet again) by a corporate-friendly MSM.

I'm asking if you think those two would be about as ruinous as any of the others because I've heard some people around here say that having Obama in here is about as bad as having Bush.

Back to the point, it's been a weakness of the Dem party at large that they don't SEEM to have an organized way to combat the fact the the MSM is essentially aiding and abetting the GOP.

The bottom line is that, obvious to some here, they need a way to explain to the average voter that it does not help to keep giving the GOP another try just because they ask for it, and that is because of the damage that their policies will do if they get a chance to get back in.

One of the things that frustrates me about the Obama campaign is that it's not enough to say "we can't go back to the failed policies of GWB". They need to explain in no uncertain terms what voters will stand to lose in a NON-ABSTRACT way if the GOP gets more power. They cannot afford to assume, despite the diplomacy of the idea, that the American voters "get it". They need to explain "Taxes 101" or "Medicare/SS 101" so that everything on the table is spelled out.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. I Think The Economy Is A Big Problem Regardless Of Who Occupies The White House

My greatest fear is what a Republican Supreme Court, Congress, and presidency would do to women's rights, gay's rights, and the rights of other vulnerable minorities. For that reason alone President Obama is a infinitely, infinitely, infinitely better choice.

I agree that President Obama should emphasize the Repubs are a mortal threat to popular social programs like SS and Medicare but I am afraid if this economy continues to suck that it will be enough.

The president was dealt a crappy hand. You know that. I know that. Most people here know that. But I am afraid folks are going to forget that and vote for the man or woman who offers a panacea.

[louslobbs]

23. +1

Lou

[no_hypocrisy]

7. I want to know whether when the president is re-elected, whether he'll

shift left as it's his last term or whether he'll continue to obfuscate in order to protect the office for the democratic candidate in 2016.

[geek tragedy]

13. Funny, I thought your title referred to the President

and his pandering to rightwing ideology.

[LWolf]

14. Thank you for putting it on the table.

You are absolutely correct. I am not a partisan. I am a Democrat, and the vast majority of my votes go to Democrats. None, ever, go to Republicans. I support the Democratic Party platform. But I am not a partisan.

I have always said that DU is fractured by design. When it self-describes as a "left-wing discussion board," and also self-identifies as a supporter of the Democratic Party, a conflict is built in. The Democratic Party is not "left-wing."

I'm not a partisan. In my view, the purpose of the party is to uphold a set of political values, whether from the position of citizen voter or elected representative.

The issues are the priority, and the party is simply a vehicle. As long as the Democratic Party is moving leftward, I'm there.

The party is not a sports team, I am not a fan, and the players are not celebrities.

I don't think it's good to be a partisan. To me, that means to follow no matter where you are led; not to question authority, but to do as you are told. That's just not who I am. Not politically, and not in any other area of my life. That kind of "partisanship" is eerily similar to the masses that don't want to know, don't want to think, just want to trust some talking head to tell them what is true. I expect that from the right wing. I am embarrassed when Democrats exhibit those tendencies.

I support the party when it has earned my support. My support is earned by upholding a set of political values. By continuously working to keep us on the leftward path to a socially and economically just world.

The Democratic Party has strayed off that path, delving into neo-liberal economic policies and "compromising" with those going the wrong way by backing up to their less evolved positions.

The current administration's obsession with compromise has compromised the strength and health of the party and the nation. I'm not signing on for more of the same.

That doesn't mean I'm not a Democrat, or that I won't be supporting every Democrat on my ballot who has demonstrated to my satisfaction the willingness to put us back on the path and move leftward at a brisk pace. I will.

It might be a good thing for partisans to take a look at the Democrats that have been marginalized and disenfranchised, and try to EARN their support. Earn it, not by bullying them, but by actually valuing their presence enough to make sure the party represents them.

[bemildred]

19. Yes, public policy is what matters, parties (to the extent they are useful at all) are just a tool.

And that is even more true for politicians. I am a Democrat when they support progressive policy, when they do not, I will be looking around. And that is how things are supposed to be.

[LWolf]

24. The way things are supposed to be.

If the donkey won't pull the cart where I'm trying to go, I'll turn it loose and hitch up to something else.

[Akoto]

25. Sad thing about decisions of desperation is ...

They are often misguided and terribly dangerous. These folks may well get a far worse end result than they'd hoped for.

It's something I sort of have personal experience with. I'm disabled with a condition which, while not lethal, causes constant and generally near-intolerable pain. At times, I have almost convinced myself that I needed to go see quacks and have their surgeries, even though I knew they were experimental and had caused great suffering to others.

Why would I do this? Well, because I was desperate and wanted the pain to end. Going down the desperate road would've made things much, much worse for me, but I was only looking at my immediate situation when I considered those unwise options.