The Democratic Dilemma: It’s Still the Economy...How to get Dem Voters for 2014!

[KoKo]

If Democrats continue to be mired in a debate with Republicans about austerity, giving voters the choice of a “balanced” plan versus the Republican spending- cuts-only position, they are likely to win the editorial pages and lose the coming elections, erasing any hope for the last years of the Obama presidency.

This effort would best be led by the president who has the bully pulpit. He has been notoriously unwilling to drive campaigns that he thinks can’t be won. And he’s showed little concern about electing Democrats in any of his campaigns. But his own reelection gained momentum when the president put out a jobs agenda that had no chance in Congress in the fall of 2011 and went to Osawatomie, Kansas to define the election as a battle for the middle class.

He’s going to get nothing beyond punitive immigration reform and extended grief from this dysfunctional Republican Congress. He’d be better off hitting the stump than taking the advice of Washington pundits and having a drink with Mitch McConnell. The president has to stop peddling austerity and start talking jobs. But this will take more than sporadic events and a few good speeches.

Senate Democrats have to drive the agenda; the president has to help sell it; and fierce pressure must be put on the House Republican majority (and the Senate obstructionist minority) to pass it – or to be exposed as obstructing even common-sense measures moving forward.

Even if the president chooses to stay above the fray, Democrats in the Congress must rouse themselves to act. Faced with a choice of Democrats trying to sell this economy as on the right track and Republican zealots, voters are likely to stay home in large numbers. Most of those coming out will be voting to throw the bums out. Democrats ought to try to make clear just who the bums are.

By Robert Borosage | May 6, 2013

http://blog.ourfuture.org/20130506/the-democratic-dilemma-its-still-the-economy

[Deep13]

1. The rich are still hoarding it. nt

[WillyT]

2. K & R !!!

[Blue_Tires]

3. I thought the Dow just had a record high or something

it's clear that *someone* is making a killing in this economy...

[KoKo]

14. Yep..the Dow...but, the people without 401-K's or Pensions...aren't going to

benefit from the Stock Market Pump Up. It doesn't affect their lives...but it does help the 1 to 2%. But, Stock Market isn't the Economy...

[graham4anything]

4. oh, this writer Robby Borosage-he is another one of "those" hate the democratic party types

from wiki-
Founder and current president of Campaign for America's Future, Robert Borosage, first registered the organization in 1990. The organization did not reach non-profit status until 1994 and formally launched in 1996. At its launch, the Campaign for America's Future boasted 130 co-founders representing a multitude of liberal and progressive organizations.[3]

The organization's founders saw that existing liberal groups were more active on social issues driven by conservative counterparts as opposed to so called "kitchen table issues" and pressing issues such as poverty, climate change and inequality. In general the founders felt the need to push these issues into the political debate. Furthermore, they felt that the country in general was being pushed toward the right without a proper counterbalance. They believed, then and now, "that conservative zealotry and cultural reaction were misleading our country, generating greater inequality, undermining the widely shared prosperity that is the foundation of America’s democracy and allowing corporate interests to distort our debate and dominate our elections".[4]
---------------------------------------------
yawn. more hate the democratic alt-media part of the 20% that don't want the lie of the 50-50 to be dispelled. The Ron Paul goes round the block and bumps into these type alt-media types.
This guy and his superpac have an agenda, and he sounds like a co-ringleader, passing out them soundbytes to the likes on facebook he receives.

Very similiar to RALPH NADER except one of them has a 70s 'stache.(wonder what Ralph would look like in a '70s stache?
And they rail about the envoironment and climate change, yet, it was Ralph Nader himself that stopped Al Gore the #1 climate change person in the world, from attaining office
(and yes, Rich Ralph's 4.2 million is part of the 1%.)

anyhoo...


Democratic party is in good shape as the house is republican and the republicans will be the ones kicked out.
Groovy ain't it to win back the house and unite America like President Obama was elected to do
(the republican people are hostage to the draconians their party elected, and President Obama and President Clinton shall free them from that grasp).
Working for an 80-20 America with the 20 completely rendered obsolete and the 80 living in peace and harmony.

Anything to annhiliate the republican party in the house.

and elect Hillary in 2016 so we can attain that 80-20 and make America great again like it was back when LBJ had 67 in the senate! (and had republicans who weren't draconian(like at that time the Dixieracistrats that George Wallace led on the democratic side).

[ProSense]

5. This:

"Even if the president chooses to stay above the fray, Democrats in the Congress must rouse themselves to act."

Yup!

Members of Congress have the power to change the economic equation, but they're refusing to act.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022796943

More from Borosage:

The only hope for Democrats is to make it clear which party is for jobs and which party is standing in the way. That requires more than rhetoric in an election campaign. Democrats have to champion jobs measures visibly again and again, drive them into the House Republican majority, and show over and over which party is blocking progress.

That can begin by taking up the popular parts of the agenda the president put forth in his State of the Union. Push to pass an increase in the minimum wage in the Senate. Start a discharge petition in the House, mobilize activists to demand that every legislator of both parties sign up to put the measure before the House. Engage Organizing for America in a fight that will rouse the Democratic base.

Push an education package that pays for universal preschool by closing tax havens abroad, and provides resources to put teachers back to work. Wage a campaign across the country for an infrastructure bank that will rebuild our decrepit infrastructure, as a centerpiece of a strategy to revive manufacturing in the U.S. Take up the president’s call for retrofitting buildings and stump on it across the country.

Agree, it's still the economy.

How to break the budget process (Republicans reject "regular order&quot
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022805135

Obama hopes to keep economy in national spotlight
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022806106

Update: Recovery Measures (four charts)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022806252

It's clear Republicans have been obstructing the recovery efforts, but if they did the right thing at this moment, it could jumpstart the economy at a time when it's still inching toward full recovery.

[byeya]

6. This recovery has been in inflating the prices of assets and wage earners not sharing in gains

in productivity at all.

Companies have found a new way to shaft workers: On call. If you work for company "A" you are held to 30 hours a week - temp status - but must be available to report to work within an hour or you're through with them. So not only are you paid an inadequate wage, you can't even work a 2nd job because you are "on-call"

[KoKo]

7. BTW...the snips I could post don't go to his earlier comments which are worth the read...

If you have time ...go to the original post...since Copyright...wouldn't allow context.

[bvar22]

8. Wall Street & The Elites are doing great,

but THEY are NOT "The Economy".

Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc


The Richest 1 Percent Have Captured 121 Percent Of Income Gains During The Recovery
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/12/1579211/1-percent-121-gains/

What do you expect when you Bail Out Wall Street,
leave Main Street twisting in the wind,

and then congratulate each other for "Saving the Economy"!!!



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their promises or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
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[KoKo]

9. That photo is Priceless... Pelosi and Reid captured...with rueful expressions...and the

Repugs behind expressing "gleeful" or "wondering maybe even smirking" facial expressions?

Anyway...I do feel the Dems tried on the first one...but, the "stage was set" and so it was Go for Broke. And it did BREAK US...those of us who aren't the 1%.

[Savannahmann]

10. Perhaps we should tell the White House

Because they use Wall Street and the stock market numbers as proof that this economy is doing great.

[forestpath]

11. The Democratic party seems to want to lose. They aren't doing a fucking THING to

help those who desperately need help. Just like Obama, they aren't even ACTING like they give a shit, other than a few congress members.

[Savannahmann]

12. Poor people can't donate the maximum legal amounts.

If they could, there is a good chance they'd be given a job with this administration. Especially if they convinced all their poor friends to donate at the same time, bundling the donations as it were.

[forestpath]

13. Exactly.

[ProSense]

15. Actually,

"The Democratic party seems to want to lose. They aren't doing a fucking THING to help those who desperately need help. Just like Obama, they aren't even ACTING like they give a shit, other than a few congress members."

...there are a number of great proposals by the President that will help millions of people.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022807040

[bhikkhu]

16. Link to the full original study:

http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2011.pdf

which has a good deal of information, is well written and well worth the read.

[Savannahmann]

17. I wonder if anyone else realizes how precarious the situation is for us.

All the Rethugs have to do is crank out some pro business legislation with the deceptive title like the Plan for Jobs, and when the Democrats object, run with the narrative that the Democratic Party is against jobs. It isn't like we could run on our record. With the exception of the Stimulus, we haven't done anything to push jobs. We have passed several riders and pork exception to help our corporate donors, but otherwise, we've ignored the poor and working class. If the Rethugs can create an image that they care, like they did with the contract with America, we'll lose big time in the 2014 elections.

[KoKo]

18. So...It goes back to this?

[KoKo]

19. Kick...because we need to be thinking forward to 2014