Axelrod and Obama: You should really pay attention to my sister...

[Joe Fields]

You guys don't seem to care about progressive Democrats. That is a given. You seem to think that we have nowhere else to go. Well, I'm not sure if that is true or not. We'll have to see how that plays out. It is my belief that there are a substantial number of liberals and progressives that are so dissatisfied with your administration, that they will either stay home, come November, 2012, or they will vote for progressive candidates and leave the presidential box on the ballot untouched. Personally, I believe that you are digging your own grave. That is just my opinion. After all, it is left to people like me, and many thousands of other liberal Democrats who do the heavy lifting for candidates, during the election season.

Okay. So you don't really give a damn about us, and that has been made clear. BUT...what about ALL of the CENTRIST Democrats and people who call themselves independents these days? (many of whom used to call themselves dems, but are too ashamed of their party's leadership to remain in the club)

This is where my sister comes into play. She is the iconic centrist Democrat. My sister is one of the many millions of Democrats who pay just enough attention to be dangerous. She doesn't follow politics in the way that us hardcore progressives do. She doesn't follow what corporation gave how much money to candidate X or Y. She doesn't know the inner workings of congress, or why this administration continues to give in to the opposition at every turn.

But know this: there are millions and millions of voters out there just like my sister. Their lives are not getting better, and they see your administration catering more to big business interests, while ignoring their interests.

Today I told my sister how your administration signed off on the Tar Sands pipeline. That turned out to be the straw that broke her last remaining hope for your administration. She will not vote for you now, Mr. President. She told me that, it may not happen in her lifetime, (she is 60 years old) but in my grandson's lifetime, it may be entirely possible that we will need gas masks and protective clothing to go outdoors. Her disappointment and disgust were palpable, for at one time, she had been an ardent supporter of you.

My sister is about as "middle of the road" as you can get. She is a fiscal conservative, but leans toward being a social liberal.

There are more of her than are us hard lefties, and she is a perfect example of what your administration will face, come election time.

There is a great risk in ignoring the left hand of the democratic party, but it is beyond stupid that you continue to capitulate to republicans and alienate the BULK of Democratic voters. Too many of us have drawn too many lines in the sand. I would say that, if you have lost my sister, then you have lost the center of your party.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Unfortunately, I am seeing the same thing. And I don't know how

to counter it. I talk to people like your sister, and I try to convince them that things would be worse if the Reps win the presidency, and they could if they don't vote. But we all know that we cannot reach every person who is disillusioned and would consider sitting this election out. We are on the brink of a disaster.

[Tx4obama]

2. Be sure to tell your sister that President Obama has NOT yet weighed in on the pipeline issue. n/t

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tesha]

27. As if that outcome is in doubt, huh?

Did the EPA action not telegraph the answer loud
enough for you?

Tesha

[enough]

35. +1 (nt)

[Joe Fields]

4. I see the unreccers are awake tonight.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. I recced you.

[global1]

6. At Least We Have A Fighting Chance With Obama......

If a Repug wins because Dems sit this election it's all over. The crazies are intent to taking this country down the drain. You'll for sure have massive cuts in social programs if they are not entirely nixed. More tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the middle class and poor. Less regulations for the Banksters, Wall Street & the Corporations. HCR will be overturned. We'll be entirely on our own and at the mercy of big pharma and the insurance companies. And we'll all be subject to being converted to evangelical hysteria. That's probably only the half of what we'll be up against if we sit this one out. Oh and don't forget about SCOTUS. A Repug administration will seal our fate with their judicial appointments that will effect us for decades.

When you come down to it this 2012 election is even more pivotal than 2008. We all got a taste of what's in store during the reign of BushCo. So if you want to go back to that don't contribute to or work for Obama's re-election. Don't encourage your sister or any of her colleagues to GOTV. Sit it out and you'll only have yourself to blame.

[Joe Fields]

7. If that happens, then don't blame us.

When dem leadership STARTS acting like dems, then we will support.

[global1]

9. You'll Be Entirely The Blame With That Attitude.....

Looks like you've fallen for the propaganda. You have drunk the 'kool aid' or should I say the 'kook aid'.

[mitchtv]

13. right , the spineless Democrats have no

responsiblity and that includes our president. Get real, no one owes them a vote, you earn it, and not by saying "you have nowhere else to go", that annoys people.

[jaxx]

15. +1

[Joe Fields]

21. Ha, quite the opposite. I'm one of the few here who can see through it.

Any "kooks" around here happen to be the unabashed Obama groupie enablers.

[sabrina 1]

29. And it is comments like this that create the impression of

a Party that accepts no responsibility for its own actions, pointing the finger of blame at the voters. That is not a pretty picture to paint of a Political Party.

Whatever happened to the Party that DID take responsibility for its actions, whose motto was 'The Buck Stops Here'?

You, maybe unwittingly, will be among those to blame if Republicans take over this country again.

Sorry to present that reality to you.

Hopefully someone in a position to stop this image of the Dem Party from becoming the popular image, will step in and start acknowledging why so many people have lost respect for them.

You can respect someone who says 'I made a mistake', but most people have zero respect for 'blamers' who refuse to acknowledge anything they might have done wrong, even when the evidence is all around that the general consensus says they did.

[Raine]

39. NO, this administration will have only itself to blame

if the voters don't "buy" what they're selling it's THEIR fault.

[nebenaube]

10. Actually it's Obama that gets the blame...

Don't like it... tough shit.

[EFerrari]

17. A chance of what? He didn't shut down Bush's faith based WH office,

he just renamed it.

He agreed to put the Big Three on the table.

He agreed to extend the tax cuts that are killing us and also agreed to a payroll tax holiday which he also wants to extend.

Less regs for the banksters is already in the works and they already aren't made to follow the regs in place now.

We never got health care reform, we got mandated health INSURANCE in a bill written by industry insiders.

We are already on our own.

Forget about the SCOTUS scare tactic. The Court is corrupt as hell and anyway, you shouldn't be looking back, should you?

Obama is sending us down the tubes a little more slowly but it's the same route and the same destination. That's not a fighting chance at all because no one is fighting for us.

[global1]

20. So Go Ahead And Sit The Election Out Or Vote For One Of The Repug Crazies......

you'll just speed up our demise I guess. Maybe we'll even get into a world war. How does that sound to you? You sound like somebody that likes to complain. So I take it you'll be satisfied. I really and truly feel sorry for you and the people that think like you. Your the ones that gave us the Repug House in 2010. That really moved things along - didn't it?

[Joe Fields]

22. Fail.

[EFerrari]

24. I answered your post point by point and your rebuttal is insult.

And, btw, progressives did not lose 2010. Obama did by doing nothing about jobs for two years and losing the independents to the Republicans. Reality bites sometimes.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. We rarely agree but I am hearing the same thing

Oh the hippies will be blamed but if he loses it will be the centrist staying home or working Republican like oh... 2010

[scheming daemons]

11. Yet another FINAL straw?

What is that, 37 of them now?


:eyes:

[Tesha]

28. Different straws have broken different people's backs. (NT)

[emilyg]

12. knr

[dgibby]

14. That sounds like my sister,

and quite a few other family members and friends. They are not happy campers.

[girl_interrupted]

16. K&R

[blkmusclmachine]

18. The WH knows what it does: 2010 was just a warm-up:

The WH officially threw the DEM Party under the bus today. 2012 will be frightening, courtesy of some pathological "bi-partisanshit" that only Obama pretends to care about. This won't end well. Look at 2010. But for the life of me I'm sure THE WH DOES NOT CARE.

[MilesColtrane]

19. No offense, but she sounds like a typical swing voter.

[Joe Fields]

23. No offense taken. She has always voted straight democrat.

This is why it is so important that Obama pay attention. There are millions like her and he is rapidly losing their support.

[Claudia Jones]

31. if that is the case...

If we are going to describe the poster's sister as a "swing voter" then we would need to describe 70=80% of the population as "swing voters."

[treestar]

25. Why pay attention to her more than anyone else?

Isn't she just so special?

I think Obama should listen to me, too. Oh wait, I don't. I'd rather he be President of the country.

Everyone thinks they are special and should be catered to or else. Maybe that is what is wrong with America. We are just so egotistical.

[Tesha]

30. Posts that seem to deliberately miss the point are tiring.

The problem is that most of us know one or more Democrats
exactly like the person described in the OP. For myself,
I know several. One is Mr. Tesha who is as left as they
come but *ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY* will not be voting for
Obama again. Another is a guy we know who walked the wards
with Mr. Tesha for the last two election cycles; he's done
with Obama too. Oh, they'll both work for our excellent
(likely) Democratic Congressional candidate, but they're
going to sit it out where Obama is concerned.

And I could name quite a few other otherwise-loyal local
Democrats that the OP's post describes quite well.

Obama did himself in by proudly running away from the
Democrats.

Tesha

[Vanje]

34. WHO?

Who IS Obama listening to?

I really would like to know.

[in_cog_ni_to]

26. Progressives need to DRAFT a candidate...NOW. Alan Grayson is young enough and

still wants to be in politics. We need to start a movement to draft him! Maybe he'll ask Bernie Sanders to be his VP when he wins the nomination.

THIS IS THE ELECTION (2012) FOR A PROGRESSIVE TO WIN! We need to get busy on drafting a candidate though!

[dionysus]

32. lol

[XemaSab]

33. I can split all my friends and relatives into two categories:

Democrats who will vote for Obama even though they are crushingly disappointed in him, and democrats who just can't bring themselves to do it.

I am in the latter camp.

[NNN0LHI]

36. Tell your sister for me that if Obama goes down he won't be going down alone

So if she has some favorite Democratic politicians that she wants to see elected there will be a good chance a lot if not most of those politicians will be replaced by teabaggers too.

See if she finds that idea appealing to her.

Don

[Joe Fields]

37. I applaud her for understanding that Obama must earn people's votes.

Let the chips fall where they may. These idiots in Washington deserve to get thrown out. They've done a lousy job. Some may say a criminal job. I, and now my sister will not reward anyone like that with our vote.

[Tesha]

40. Aren't they elected separately? (NT)

[NNN0LHI]

41. A huge majority(86%) of black voters approve of President Obama

He is their president just like he is mine. And they make up a big chunk of our Democratic voting base. Enough to make a difference in a lot if not most elections. Think they will stand idly by and watch as President Obama gets thrown under the bus by Democratic voters and then go out and vote for other Democratic candidates?

Be nice if they would, but I wouldn't count on it.

Don

[Raine]

38. GOOD post ....THANKS! nt

:kick: :thumbsup:

[n2doc]

42. Obama keeps doing things to please the un-pleasable Right wing

While pissing off different constituencies and supporting the 'spineless appeaser' meme that will be used against him next year. All he needs to do is go canoeing and find a killer rabbit.

[jannyk]

43. Kick!