Dems were so fucking dumb to run away from Obama in 2010 and 2014.

[Drunken Irishman]

[sheshe2]

1. Yes they were, DI.

[PJMcK]

2. Democratic candidates have often been dumb

I've always admired and thought highly of Vice President Al Gore. But think of how he kept his president from the campaign trail because he feared "Clinton Fatigue." President Clinton, with an extremely high approval rating, could have helped put Mr. Gore over the top so that the Supreme Court couldn't have gotten involved in the 2000 election.

Life would have been so different...

[Tiggeroshii]

10. :((

[Surya Gayatri]

30. That arrogant and misguided decision will haunt the annals of history for decades to come.

Oh, the high price of hubris...

[NewJeffCT]

45. was it arrogant

or, was Gore being spineless and going along with the media when they said that voters had Clinton fatigue? (despite polls saying otherwise.) Either way, it was horribly misguided.

I still think that if Gore had become president in January of 2001, we would have gotten a small story in the media in July or August of 2001 about a group of Muslims arrested that were planning some sort of terrorist attack. (Remember, in the 90s, Republicans decried terrorism as a "phony threat.&quot

[Stevepol]

61. I don't think Gore was spineless, but Dems of recent years are.

When Gore won the 2000 election, the black Reps in Congress brought a complaint to the Senate, hoping just one senator would support them. That's all they needed to raise holy hell about the illegal suppression of many thousands of black voters in FL. NOT ONE DEMOCRATIC SENATOR WOULD STAND WITH THE BLACK REPRESENTATIVES. NOT ONE.

What the Dems are particularly spineless about today, as they were in 2004, is in DEMANDING THAT THE VOTE BE VERIFIED. IF THE VOTE IS COUNTED IN SECRET (as by electronic voting machines), WITHOUT VERIFICATION, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE A DEMOCRACY. The vote in OH was pretty clearly altered by Rove using the "man in the middle" and Dems could have helped preserve a semblance of a democracy at least for a year or two, if they had insisted on an investigation, but did any Dem in power raise a peep?

And what about the Dem Party of SC that refused to do anything about the obvious voting machine rigging of the Dem primary in 2010 when Alvin Greene supposedly won the Dem primary over Rawls, a well-liked Dem who campaigned over the state. Greene was a guy with a police record who said he just wanted to run. He didn't lift a finger to campaign, no signs, no ads anywhere. Nothing. Nobody knew him from Adam. And yet he got 2/3's of the vote (at least for those places where the vote was counted on voting machines. Where paper was used, that is, for absentee ballots, early voting, etc. Rawl won by about 2/3's of the vote). At a special meeting of the SC Dems, several electronic voting machine experts testified that it was almost certainly a machine error, but the SC Dems decided not to lift a finger. And certainly not to have another election. Just let it be. Why raise a ruckus?

This is what is meant by the term "spineless."

[tblue37]

67. I like Gore, but he was a weak candidate because he was too easily stampeded. nt

[LynneSin]

50. Gore also picked a shitty Vice President that added nothing to the ticket

Same with Kerry.

Gore and Kerry could have done something inspired by selection a woman or a minority for their ticket to help inspire the voters. Instead both of them selected another 'old-white-male' which basically said 'We really don't care about the core group of our voters'.

Obama was the excitement of the 2008 ticket but he was young and needed experience so for him it was smart to select an 'old-white-male' (Joe Biden was a great balance for Obama).

Hillary may be female but if she wants to inspire the voters in 2016 then she really should look at someone like Julian Castro (or is it Joaquin - I get them mixed up) or Cory Booker as VP. Elizabeth Warren might be good too.

[NewJeffCT]

68. that also hurt

the supposedly pure Lieberman would help offset all the made up scandals of the Clinton white house. but he ended up turning off the base, or driving some to Nader.

[mcar]

64. Yes

What a bad decision!

[tallahasseedem]

3. I agree...

I never understood that. Just another reason why Hillary is a smart campaigner!

[msanthrope]

4. Damn straight. nt

[MisterP]

5. DWS is a complete disaster!

[LiberalFighter]

7. That is not necessarily her fault.

Candidates decide on their own how to run their campaigns.

DWS will not be Chair after her current term is up.

[Auggie]

17. There could have been an umbrella campaign though ...

something akin to a new "New Deal." I think DWS and the DNC have totally ignored Millenials too.

[LiberalFighter]

23. They can't force anything on the candidates.

[Auggie]

25. An umbrella campaign sells the party platform/ideology ...

it's not meant to be singularly used by any one candidate.

[Exilednight]

53. it works for Republicans.

Every Republican runs on pretty much the same platform, and because of it they control Congress.

[Auggie]

55. Yeah ... so why can't Dems do the same thing?

[Mister Ed]

6. "Oh, I'm not like Obama at all" was the worst campaign pitch EVER.

A voter would naturally respond, "Well, your Republican opponent isn't like Obama either. So why don't I just vote for him instead?"

Except, of course, for the voters who wanted someone like Obama. Their reaction would be, "Well, I guess I may as well just stay home then." And they did.

[rpannier]

16. This was the worst moment (IMO)

Grimes was asked three times by a Herald-Leader reporter after an event on Oct. 2 if she voted for Obama, ignoring the question and turning her back on the reporter asking it.

On Thursday, Grimes refused four times to tell The Courier-Journal's editorial board if she voted for Obama.

"You know, this election, it isn't about the president," Grimes said when first asked if she voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012.

After being asked the third time, Grimes responded: "I was actually a delegate for Hillary Clinton, and I think that Kentuckians know I'm a Clinton Democrat through and through. I respect the sanctity of the ballot box, and I know that the members of this editorial board do as well."

At that point, a member of the newspaper's editorial board said: "So you're not going to answer?"

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/election/article44514825.html#storylink=cpy

[IL Lib]

27. +1 n/t

[mcar]

65. I think she would have won if she stuck to being a Democrat

She tried to have it both ways and the turtle pulled it out.

[Martin Eden]

8. Lack of spine ...

... does not win votes.

[coco77]

9. Correct!

They think we weren' t watching while they looked the other way...

[IgelJames4]

11. Indeed they were

And they'll probably do the same thing again in 2018 and 2022.

[white_wolf]

12. It was cowardly and foolish.

Wasn't it Truman who said if given the choice between Republican and a Democrat who acts like a Republican, the voters will choice the real thing everytime? They ran to the right, but the Republicans already had the right-wing vote. Honestly, if they'd ran to to the left of Obama they could have presented an alternative to the Republicans. Instead it was just cowardly.

[NewJeffCT]

43. I think you're right on Truman

Democrats almost always seem to be too timid to proclaim themselves proudly liberal and/or progressive going back decades.

[MaggieD]

13. Well what I learned from DU

Is that "Democrats" hate him. Was that not accurate?

[George II]

20. Yes, "Democrats" hate him, but Democrats love him!

[Ken Burch]

14. More to the point, in a lot of places, Dems just plain DIDN'T run in '10 and '14.

Both of those years, the party leadership sent the message before the campaign even began that the race was lost, that there was no point even trying to fight to win.

And THEN they had the chutzpah to gripe when people didn't vote.

[rpannier]

15. Agree in most cases

Obama couldn't save Braley because Braley couldn't stop saying junk that came back on him
As far as the Arkansas senate race, Obama would have made no difference.
Bill Clinton spent weeks down there campaigning for Mark Pryor and Pryor still got crushed
There were places, like Colorado where that dim-twit Gardner is senator

But, not just in senate races; house races and state level races he could have helped

[ffr]

18. And in 2000, running away from Clinton and the longest economic expansion in US history!

Should have been a slam dunk, but instead the candidates tucked their tails. Look where that got us.

[SunSeeker]

56. Exactly. That, and Nader, let SCOTUS hand the presidency to Dubya.

[George II]

19. Not all - Dan Malloy welcomed him in both 2010 and 2014 for his two successful campaigns.

[Silver_Witch]

36. Point made and well made at that!!!

That was when I began this see change in the party. Moving away from our platform and courting the right. Note to dems those which did not run from President Obama won!

[George II]

37. Malloy became the first Democrat elected Governor in CT in more than 20 years.

[wallyworld2]

21. Not really

Obama was the 'let's all get along' President for at least 6 of his years in office.

Belittling and ignoring progressives as the radical left, while at the same time bending over backwards to work with republicans who undermined his every move.

Things like Chained CPI and Social Security which would have lowered yearly cost of living raises did not inspire support

Taking Single Payer off healthcare reform did not inspire support

Extending Bush era tax cuts did not inspire support

"President Barack Obama proposed a "grand bargain for middle-class jobs" on Tuesday that would cut the U.S. corporate tax rate and use billions of dollars in revenues generated by a business tax overhaul to fund projects aimed at creating jobs."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obama-idUSBRE96T0F820130730 (A republican inspired plan that did nothing to create jobs), did not inspire support

No Wall Street bosses ever went to prison. Which again does not inspire support

TPP which will decimate our work force and suck tax payers dry in courts that will not include people from outside the industry being judged, does not inspire support

Obama inspired change but he really did not offer any when it came to people who worked for a living, relied on pensions, Social Security or Medicare.

He gets a lot of good hype by his supporters and he gives great speeches.

In the end, not being as bad as it could have been is not the stuff that inspires a nation to get out and vote.

[heaven05]

44. bluedog

he was forced into every position he took BECAUSE of the LACK of PARTY leadership and rank and file. Your response is typical of those who ignore this fact to continue the bluedog approach of belittling our POTUS with non support FROM DAY ONE--2008.

[yodermon]

54. You're offering criticism from Obama's left. The OP is referring to those Dems who bought into the

right-wing framing of Obama and then ran away from it (Obamacare=horrible, he's an uber-liberal crypto-communist, etc etc).

[mcar]

66. Oh brother

[pnwmom]

22. And Hillary is smart to do the opposite. n/t

[shadowmayor]

24. Ask Kentucky

Alison Lundergan Grimes should have beaten the turtle, but she tacked to the right and didn't want to upset too many folks by pallin' around with a President of the United States. Jeeze

[Peregrine Took]

26. No. He deserted us...that's what happened in 2010. N/t

[TomCADem]

40. Then Why Did Dems Run to the RIGHT of Him in 2010?

Many Dems were try to run as Tea Party lite in 2010 in response to the Fox News/CNBC led Tea Party revolt. Also, off season elections tend to skew older and more conservative. President Obama did not desert us in 2010. Rather, many House Democrats tried to run right toward the voting demographic.

[Warpy]

28. I don't think they ran that far. What they did that was so colossally stupid

was run on business as usual. An increase in part time jobs that pay next to nothing is not a selling point.

[Surya Gayatri]

29. How dumb were they? This dumb:

[merrily]

31. I didn't think that DNC policy in 2010 was running away from Obama. It was in 2014.

In 2010, it was a vehicle=based theme: "Don't give them back the keys." and "Forward" (as opposed to going in reverse.

In 2014, it was "Barack who?"" And, "Elect me and I'll help fix Obamacare." That was not the official DNC policy, but it was clear that was the message in most states, even some blue ones. You know what's going on when a Democrat Secretary of State whose dad was an influential state party official refuses to say for whom she voted for POTUS in 2012 and the head of the DNC refuses to mention Obama's name for an entire segment while Joe Scarborough mocks her for not mentioning it.

[ehrnst]

32. He just wasn't lefty enough for some people, who I think expected him

to wear a dashiki to the swearing in.

They were disappointed at how he 'sold out,' forgetting that the president of the united states has management as his/her first priority. The vision thing comes second.

At least Obama was able to work with his fellow progressives...

[heaven05]

42. bluedog

democrats really did not accept him as POTUS or want him in that office. This fact has been clear as a clean mirror reflection from day one.

[Festivito]

33. Drop the 50-state strategy and depend instead on the media to deliver truth.

Dumb? Stupid? Corrupt? Or, just plain treasonous!

[Night Watchman]

34. 7 Nov 2014 - Bill Maher: ‘Democrats Suck,’ ‘They’re Horrible’

The good stuff starts at 3:29...

[Still In Wisconsin]

35. Agreed. That strategy never works- for either party. n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

38. Much like gore in 2000

[Proud Liberal Dem]

39. I have to agree, sadly

Like, WTF what did they think they were doing by running away from Obama/ACA? The Tea Party idiots should have been laughed at, not feared/placated.

[heaven05]

41. 100% true

not one came to his defense, Pelosi, Reid were utmost cowards, they could have led the charge. I said this very thing since 2008.

[Jitter65]

46. Just like Gore ran away from Clinton in 2000. nt

[Blue_Tires]

47. Not like I didn't try to warn people

You can add 2016 to the list, too

[rladdi]

48. If you review the past history of when Democrats had the power in House and Senate

They did nothing to past difficult bills they knew the GOP would vote NAY. Even passed up voting for Obama nominations in the Senate, leaving it to McConnell and the GOP. Yes, Democrats are really ignorant as politicians. And committee hearings on Republicans who did wrong. G. Bush and D. Cheney should have been given committee hearings, but Democrats failed America on 2 wars.

[LynneSin]

49. That wasn't the reason we lost.

It's 3 reasons which have little to do with Obama and will continue to be a problem no matter who the President is.

#1). Democrats are lazy voters. : Even before the ultra-partisan politics that embroil Washington DC, Democrats have historically show to be less reliable at the polls than the GOP. Unless there is an exciting candidate on the ballot (example- 2013 special election for Democrat Cory Booker for US Senate - Cory did bring out higher democratic voter turnout which is why Republican NJ Governor Chris Christie spent $20mil+ to hold Booker's special election 4 weeks before the regularly scheduled NJ election which included Christie's 2nd run for Governor).

#2). Democrats aren't doing much to excite those voters either.: The same boring people are running for US Senate and it brings little excitement to the voters. It's sad that a country as richly diversified as the United States has very few Hispanic or African-American US Senators amongst their ranks. Instead it seems to be the typical boring old white men running again and again.

#3). Gerrymandering frustrates voters since 98% of the House Seats are structured to be safe for one particular party.: If you are pissed at your representative in the US House then you should have the right to vote them out of office. Yet this country is so horribly gerrymandered that a state like Pennsylvania can have more voters vote for a Democrat to represent them in the US House and still have the GOP pick up 13 of the 18 PA House seats (that was based on 2012 numbers). If the voters felt they could do something about their wretched representatives they might get out more often and vote. But since US House seats (and many State Congressional Seats) seem to be lifetime positions, people get frustrated and not vote, especially during Mid-Term when reasons #1 and #2 isn't inspiring them to vote.

And probably #4 - Wretched Voter ID laws have a big factor too.

Obama could only help during the mid-terms if he was actually on the ballot.

[uponit7771]

60. For number one and 2 I don't think dems are lazy its just the DNC hasn't adjusted to their base yet

... and it's not anyone who would vote GOP. They should go far left to excite the base but having people who run away from Obama in 10 and 14 is stupid, don't support them... let them know if they run away from someone like Obama they're fucked anyway... might as well go down fighting.

Number 3 is what should be a GE issue, get rid of gerrymandering... 1.3 million more dems voted for dem congress folk in 2012 and we got little for those votes because of gerrymandering.

That should be the first USSC case... taxation without representation or one person one vote

[liberalnarb]

52. My governor didn't run away from Obama in 2014

and he won

[Jopin Klobe]

57. They didn't run away from President Obama ...

... that's quite obvious ...

... the people opposed to fascism were too busy vomiting from their weak, weak, almost non-existent "representation" from their
oligarch-paid-for, so-called "Democrat" political hacks ...

... and, then, there's gerrymandering and out-and-out vote stealing/tampering ...

... has anyone noticed that neither side has made any kind of real effort to secure our votes? ...

... if they were, we'd be hearing a hell of a lot about it now for certain ...

... but ... ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh ...

... they're almost all crooks now ...

[flying-skeleton]

58. AGREED 1000 %

[PatrynXX]

59. I'd suggest stay closer to Obama than someone else

Especially in local races. Thats the current mood on the streets don't mention the other person.

[Rex]

62. lulz

[mcar]

63. They were

Lost us many congressional seats.