No, We are NOT Going to Blame Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ProudLib72]

Jeesus people, we just got finished raking Pelosi over the coals, and now we are starting in on Obama? Don't you get it? This is exactly the reaction the Orange Shitgibbon wanted when he let fly his idiotic tweet. Are you seriously going to let go of the best eight years of presidency because you suddenly side with tRump? Yeah, that's right; if you blame Obama in any way, then you have taken tRump's side. You have given him even more power.

DON'T LET THEM FRAME THE FUCKING NARRATIVE!!!!!!

[HipChick]

1. DON'T LET THEM FRAME THE FUCKING NARRATIVE!!!!! they want Dems to be turning in on themselves

45 is illegitimate..and corrupt...

[iluvtennis]

36. I totally agree wth you. We need to stop fighting with each other and band together against rethugs

[we can do it]

2. Don't let them divide us.

[sheshe2]

3. DivisionDefeat

Full Stop!

[still_one]

4. Thank you ProudLib. This, "it's all the Democrats fault is bullshit"

[FreepFryer]

5. I thought we had a "don't bash Democrats" policy. Where are our mods?

[murielm99]

10. What mods?

We have the jury system now.

[ProfessorGAC]

71. As A Fellow Cub Fan...

...I get called to jury duty 15 times a week
You know me Muriel, I'm never going to let Obama bashing pass, and I'm not alone!

[FreepFryer]

88. Way too many trolly posts survive. Enough sockpuppets and jury doesn't work. Need mods. (n/t)

[murielm99]

89. You are talking to the wrong person.

Ask the administrators. Maybe they will answer.

I understand what you are saying. Many of us gripe privately about the jury system.

[ProudLib72]

90. Part of my point in making this thread

was to make people aware of Obama bashing so it would be flagged and we could prevent a trend from developing. The jury system is flawed in many respects; however, if we are all on the same page as regards something big like this, then we can stop it in its tracks.

[malchickiwick]

6. I LOVE Obama. I also wish he had been more aggressive vs. the hacking. I don't see a conflict there.

Can we not have open eyes here? Lincoln, our greatest president, had warts (Corruption, racism, etc.). Roosevelt, our second greatest, and greatest Dem Prez, had myriad faults. Obama should have been more aggressive. Plain and simple. That doesn't diminish his status as the greatest president of my lifetime (I was born in 1968, and rate Carter #2 (Nixon had already been elected when I was born in December, but LBJ was still president, and I love his progressive-ism but loathe how he escalated Vietnam, so I am tremendously conflicted over him and how to rate him as a Prez.)) He could have done more. Period.

[pirateshipdude]

11. If you want to ignore everything that was happening in the election, then sure.

But, if Obama had gotten more aggressive in pushing it, it would have been another Lynch on the tarmac with Bill Clinton, right before the vote.

How brilliant would that have been?

[malchickiwick]

13. I respectfully disagree. He could have shared concrete evidence with the electorate.

Backed up by non-partisan agency testimony. The voting public is actually not as stupid as they sometimes appear. Voters would have understood.

And I GUARAN-DAMM-TEE if Mr. Obama had a chance to do it over he WOULD have been more aggressive.

[pirateshipdude]

18. Seriesly!!! Today, months later, the "concrete evidence" has just been trickling out.

Obama didn't have nearly what we have today. They knew Russia was responsible for the hack and APPEARED that they were pulling for Trump. That is all they had at the time.

"Backed up by non-partisan agency testimony." Again, we can't get that today with overwhelming evidence pulled. Yet, you suggest voters would have understood. We were reading about it, Clinton talked about it, Lewis talked about it, Franklin talked about it. Media and no one else was interested.

[Alice11111]

39. I love him too, but he dropped the ball on a few things...

the biggest one you mentioned. Even Comey wanted to release part of it, and Obama overruled. However, he knows more than we know, and there may be other reasons, beyond the WaPo and RMaddow's reporting that he can't say. Maybe or maybe not.
He was afraid to throw the election, but inadvertently, he may have thrown it by keeping mum. Someday, he will tell us why, I think. I have a hard time accepting that he would cower to MM's bullying. There must have been more going on.
He is human. We don't have to be 100pc black or white on every issue. That's not reality.
It's not like GW said, you're either for me or against me...and with us or against us.

[karynnj]

57. It is hard to believe that that would have led to more people knowing that Russia tried to interfere

I think every comedian had lots of fun with the "you are a puppet" stuff - which included HRC's comment that 17 agencies agreed that the Russians were behind the hacking of the DNC and Podesta. So, if you watched the news, the last debate OR any of the late night comedians - you heard about this.

As the WP points out, the announcement by the intelligence agencies was initially swamped by the coverage of the Trump tape, followed by the dump of some Podesta emails. However, the debate comments insure it became well known on both sides. I looked back yesterday and rewatched the exchange (and many Trump/HRC puppets reenacting it.) I was stunned looking at various accounts that this was one of the clearest examples of both sides seeing it through their partisan lens.

What I had seen last fall was a serious, articulate public servant annoyed that Trump was not accepting what the 17 agencies said and Trump then answering in short bursts. I saw it as HRC taking him down. However, reading one analysis, I could see that Trump's answers were speaking to his base. He claimed that this happened because Obama was perceived as weak by Russia. HRC's response was NOT that this happened because Obama had successfully lobbied Europe to join the US in tough economic sanctions that actually hurt Russia, but to simply say that Putin wanted Trump as his puppet. Obama had been as tough and strong as a President could be - short of military response - which would have been catastrophic. Left hanging was the Trump statement that President Obama was seen as "weak".

Now imagine that Obama himself was the person who spoke of the meddling and advised all the states to harden their voting systems. It is hard to know what would happen - as it was a majority of Republican voters already though the election rigged in favor of Clinton ( McClatchy-Marist Poll. Nov. 1-3, 2016 ). Throw in the very far right claim that if they started to win, Obama would postpone or cancel the election. Tell me, those freaks saying this would not feel vindicated and possibly convince more people that this was all a lie to prevent Trump from being elected. Another impact would be that national security, always a Republican strength even when we had a war hero candidate, would become as dominant as it was in 2004. Look at the CNN/ORC Poll. Oct. 20-23, 2016 poll on candidates on the issues - note that Trump was seen as better on BOTH National security and the economy - even as he was seen as poor on most personal characteristics.

In fall of an election year, no incumbent President would be seen simply as the CoC/President, speaking seriously about national security. He (she) would also be seen as a partisan supporting his/her party. I think there might have been more downside for Obama to have personally put out the information than the non partisan Intelligence community. Even had it been President Obama with them, the coverage would have been swamped by the Trump tape. If you recall, there were times when even MSNBC would switch from President Obama, HRC, Michelle etc to cover a reporter saying a Trump event was almost ready to start and then sticking with that for as much as a half hour. Remember that they even gave Melania nearly a half hour of unfiltered coverage as she spoke at some event. Do you really think our media/entertainment would have stayed long with a deadly serious Obama rather than going with the "grab than by their ..."?

[LiberalLovinLug]

74. Comedians had fun with it but it should have gone beyond that

It should have been framed with the gravitas that it deserved. And that kind of sober concern should have come from the highest office in the land. Obama is a gifted orator. He could have been careful to also frame it as a non-partisan issue. That our very foundations of the democracy were being attacked. Put it in the realm of national security on the same level as being attacked physically by another nation. He would not even have had to say they were working for only the Republican nominee.

If and when Mitch made good on his promise to raise holy hell about Obama only acting politically for partisan reasons, I'm sure Obama had it in him to hold the forte, and he'd have the 17 agencies to back him up.

I really do not think there would be many people that were all set to vote for Hillary, who when they heard Obama more forcefully say that the Russia threat was serious, and he framed it as a threat to the democracy, not Democrats per say....would then suddenly flip their votes to Trump? Or that it would make Republican moderate voters who were leery of Trump to then suddenly be sure of their vote?

"Do you really think our media/entertainment would have stayed long with a deadly serious Obama rather than going with the "grab than by their ..."?

If that is the reason the leadership of the Democratic party, along with Obama, held back on announcing a serious threat to the nation, then I am appalled.
It could have been a one two punch. It all depends on how forcefully Obama raised the issue. It could have been put off until a few days after the ET bus tape release. They had waited that long already anyways. But really should have been done months before. And if Mitch and the GOP started with their whining about this, Obama and the Dems come out strong about how the GOP are not taking the national security seriously. Obama had the backing of the intelligence agencies. I also think that the Dems should snap out of their passive agressive defensiveness approach and could have used the GOPs medicine against them..shout our dramatic statements like "We have traitors in our midst!" Make Mitch look like the partisan fool for wanting to MAKE it into a partisan issue. If every Dem played by this same playbook, at the very least we would have had some political momentum when we lost in the seriousness of the issue and a record of raising the alarm early.

The result of the POTUS remaining mum he gave the impression that it wasn't that serious. Nothing to see here. I know he thought Hillary would win, like everybody, but it was the responsibility of his office to stand up for his country. He should have realized that it would all come out eventually, and he will be judged by history for his silence.

I think it may have been Hillary's camp that pleaded with him as well to shut his mouth. They did not want anything to upset the applecart and give Trump anything. So between Mitch in one ear with the threat to try and twist it into a partisan political fake news story, and Hillary in the other ear nervous and pleading for a blackout, he capitulated his responsibility.

[EffieBlack]

43. Exactly!

[emulatorloo]

12. Folks were flying off the handle over a Trump tweet blaming Obama.

It was a bullshit tweet, as they all are, but a number of folks seemed to buy it.

That's the context of the OP.

[malchickiwick]

14. Fair enough. I appreciate that context. Thank you!!

[emulatorloo]

17. ...

Grabbed the tweet in case yr interested:

Link to tweet

Here's a link to the WAPO article Trump's trying to spin.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/obama-putin-election-hacking/?utm_term=.30b30c2b2c9f

Obama’s secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin’s election assault

The White House debated various options to punish Russia, but facing obstacles and potential risks, it ultimately failed to exact a heavy toll on the Kremlin for its election meddling.
By Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, and Adam Entous
June 23, 2017

Still_One's summary:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9246214

[sheshe2]

24. Yet Donnie and friends

Are trying to suppress all information with the firings of those that are investigating. GOP is stonewalling and refusing to turn over documents. Every time the heat ramps up he bombs another country.

[emulatorloo]

26. And Trump is undoing the actions Obama took against Putin.

Among other things, Obama shut down two Russian "compounds" in the US. Trump is working to let the Russians come back and reopen them.

[Efilroft Sul]

66. Everybody, Trump just set himself up for a world of misery with this Tweet. Here's how.

Zenger, a writer for Electoral Vote.com, came up with a list of questions today that the White House (especially The Donald) will find uncomfortable.

• If you know Russia interfered with the election, is your presidency legitimate?
• Particularly given how close the election was?
• Why did you previously deny or downplay Russian interference?
• What changed your mind? If it was the Post's reporting, how do you know it's not "fake news"?
• How do you distinguish between "real" and "fake" news?
• Do you now see why your associates' interactions with the Russians are problematic?
• Similarly, do you now see how your interactions with James Comey are problematic?
• Similarly, do you now support the sanctions against Russia?
• In fact, doesn't your criticism of Obama imply that we should have harsher sanctions against Russia?
• What steps will the administration be taking to respond to this new realization that you've had?
• How quickly do you expect to move forward with this response?

Instead of falling for Trump's "blame Obama" Jedi mind trick, turn the table on Trump and his Red, White, and Borscht supporters.

[certainot]

78. there are 1000 radio stations blaming obama

trump's just going with the flow

[mdbl]

82. what does anyone expect from right-wing hate talk radio?

They've been doing the same crap for 35 years now.

[certainot]

85. the problem is most of the people rw radio trashes all day

think it's a minor part of the general rw media and don't expect anything from it

[mdbl]

92. It's been slowly changing our government into fascism

it took almost 35 years, but here we are!

[TrishaJ]

56. I don't know what Obama could have done....

if he informed the public, the GOP would have screamed "political!" bloody murder. The GOP would have trumpeted coast to coast on all airwaves that it was a campaign tactic by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. As much as the corporate cable infotainment covered EMAILS! and BENGHAZI ad nauseum, do you really think they would have had a serious discussion about Russian hacking that would have benefited the public? NO!! After all, Clinton DID bring it up in the debates. I personally know of Trump voters who dismissed it because Donald Trump himself denied it. Don't know what Obama could have done to change the narrative.

Obama was in a "damned if he did and now damned that he didn't" scenario.

[luvtheGWN]

60. Absolutely correct, Trisha.

The GOP, led by Trump at every single campaign event, would have said "You lie", "Fake News" etc. In fact, I wonder if the Russian hacking was the catalyst leading Trump to start the whole "fake news" trope. And remember, the Obama administration contacted all the state admins to get them to tighten their voting mechanisms, and none did. And Obama went to the GOP turtleship and was told not to publicize it.

[aikoaiko]

69. You're correct. There isn't a conflict.

There is a sad push for group think among some Democrats and it's never going to happen within this site or the Democratic Party.

[Thinkingabout]

7. I do not see how any one would think to "blame" anyone for the loses, we could not go and redraw the

lines and we could not make more Democrats into the districts.

[DefenseLawyer]

8. If we can't be critical of anything, ever

We will never improve. No politician was ever perfect. I realize constructive criticism has been banned here, but I'm a proud member of the resistance.

[emulatorloo]

16. Folks here were taking a lying Trump tweet at face value.

Link to tweet

That's the context of this thread. Has nothing to do with "we can't be critical" or "constructive criticism has be banned here."

For more context of the >bullshit spin< Trump is shoveling, here's a link to the WAPO article and an excellent summary of the article written by Still One.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/obama-putin-election-hacking/?utm_term=.30b30c2b2c9f

Obama’s secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin’s election assault

The White House debated various options to punish Russia, but facing obstacles and potential risks, it ultimately failed to exact a heavy toll on the Kremlin for its election meddling.
By Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, and Adam Entous
June 23, 2017

Still_One's summary:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9246214

[LiberalLovinLug]

73. That tweet is one reason why Obama SHOULD have spoken up sooner

Just one of many reasons. It sets up a narrative for Trump to take advantage of that the Dems didn't think it was that much of an issue until after they lost the election.

[emulatorloo]

76. OTOH Trump finally admitted there was Russian interference

All the sudden it is no longer "fake news" or "made up by loser Democrats."

MSM is not buying his spin that it is all Obama's fault. Trump's cried wolf about evil Obama too many times.

The wingnut media will run with this spin, but mainstream folks are not going to buy it.

[certainot]

79. it doesn't matter what democrats do or say

major reason obama couldn't speak up sooner is liberals ignore talk radio.

those 1000 radio stations would have screamed bloody murder about obama helping clinton. they already had been anyway. mark levin even has a book - something about the 'deep state' - that might have already charged that, not sure when it came out. they already had that meme going in anticipating losing - hillary cheated with obama etc.

that's the blowback obama etc were expecting altho the source is ignored. it influenced comey's decisions re clinton. but going back before that the whole clinton benghazi email thing was talk radio generated. most of the russian trolling piggybacked months and years of talk radio bullshit.

if limbaugh and sons on 1000 radio stations want to blame obama they will.

again and again. and liberals will play catch up, and some here even will feel the buzz and repeat the bullshit.

[ProudLib72]

22. "Constructive" from whose perspective?

That's the real question. If we let tRump dictate the topic of our conversation, the least that can happen is our continued distraction. The worst is that we divide ourselves.

That is twice this week that Orange Shitgibbon has named a Dem leader and, by the simply mention of their names, caused us to question their leadership.

[Alice11111]

41. What DT says has no effect on how I view Dems. He is

an immoral AH, through and through. What I think, I have thought for months . I strongly support Pelosi and respect Obama. That doesn't mean that Obama didn't ever make a mistake.

[ProudLib72]

75. All I am saying is that it is easy to fall into this trap

100% of the blame for this mess rests with tRump and the GOP. Think of what we could do if we were united behind this message. tRump knows this. His advisors know this. So he throws out a distraction hoping to get us off topic and bickering among ourselves. He's like the little kid who eats all the brownies and then tells his father that it wouldn't have happened if mom hadn't left the tray out where he could reach it. You think the dad is going to say, "Well, he has a point. She has made some mistakes in the past"? No, the dad is going to laugh at the "excuse" and then send the kid to his room. We do not let the little kid dictate our topic of conversation.

[Alice11111]

86. Agree.

[Alice11111]

40. !!!

...a point I have made before, and gotten slammed for.

[ProudLib72]

67. Context and timing is more important

That is my argument here. I know that three months ago there were a few threads on DU discussing this very same matter. The context was the release of some information through the MSM. This time around is completely different because it is in response to the tweet.

[Alice11111]

87. Yeah, DT changes faster than the speed of light. A new contraian view to question universal psyhics

[GusBob]

49. Yep. N/t

[treestar]

61. I think this may be true in daily performance, but

not in politics. We have to be cheerleaders and overlook faults or we won't win. The criticism undermines the GOTV effort. Donald won - albeit only EC - but his supporters continue to support him no matter what he does and he can use that. We never gave Obama the kind of support he needed to get more out of Congress. We were too busy criticizing to try to improve him. As we have seen, this does not work. We have to win, not dwell on faults.

[BannonsLiver]

65. Yeah I mean if there's one criticism of Obama I have

It's that he never faced enough criticism.

[pirateshipdude]

9. For real. I just had a poster insinuate Obama should have gotten all rough and tumble

with McConnell and the Republican congress. Like that would have gone well for us Democrats with the media and Republicans allowed to behave however, and Democrats get rake over the coals for nothing.

Can't win any way we go. And with our own supposed Democrats.

[Cha]

15. They're always looking for blood in the water..

[SCVDem]

19. Unlike Dump,

President Obama needed to wait until the intel was verified. Unfortunately that happened in January.

Rachel kinda teased this blame Obama meme, and my mind immediately went to, 'Don't Go There!!'

She didn't, but I wasn't having it. Don't mess with our Prez!

[EffieBlack]

45. Not to mention

The machinations that probably were probably needed to pull and protect their sources who'd been outed - if it wasn't too late already.

[blue-wave]

20. K&R!!

I said in other posts. They are in full propaganda attack mode against our leadership. Why? Because they are very afraid. Rats are the most vicious when cornered. With the investigations closing in tightly around them with every passing day, they are feeling cornered and will get more vicious. Be mentally prepared my friends and do not let them sell you a load of BS. Even if the negativity is coming from the perceived progressive media, it might have been planted by the right wing.

[mwooldri]

21. IMO, Obama in the House or Senate again...

... would really ignite politics and blow the doors off. Speaker Obama? Senate Majority Leader Obama? You'd beg him to be President again if this happened. However likelihood of this happening... Zero.

[ProudLib72]

23. Now that is an issue we could debate

In what role we'd all like to see Obama return to legislative politics.

[Alice11111]

42. Yeah, I had visions of DT getting the Constitution amended

so he could serve a third term, and Obama coming back and beating him. He needs a break, but he will be back in some form, probably SCOTUS eventually.

[Hekate]

25. What fresh hell is this?! Damn right don't let them frame our narrative!

How many valuable Dems are we going to trash before this is over?

[Lyricalinklines]

27. I see that President Obama was on the recieving end of an attempt to set up by the Cons

Cons distract, sidestep any meetings. Established procedures dictate Cons participation in process of sifting intelligence evidence and plans. Cons knew and resisted participation in process to take action. This is why the Russians accepted sanctions with no counteraction. This is why mcConnell lead obstruction in holding no meetings with/regarding Garland. This is why DonTCON claimed the election was rigged. Obviously, as head CON, he's a fabulous actor as well a liar.

Obama is an intelligent person. It took an entire crooked, corrupt party and hundreds of millions of dollars with which a foreign, corrupt, crooked group schemed to attempt to set up President Obama.

Remember: The President preserved evidence. Integrity. Honor. Love of country.

Remember: 8 years (96 months) President Obama governed with honor. No scandals. Said what he meant, meant what he said.

Remember: President Obama owned up to mistakes he made. Responsibility. Integrity.

Remember: only 5 months and DonTCON has repeatedly lied. And has a demonstrated history of lying, cheating and corruption.

Remember: DonTCON blames everyone, anyone, and never has taken responsibility for anything. Long 5 months or longer history compared you will find the same conclusive evidence: he. Won't. Take. Responsibility. For. Anything. Except anything that he thinks males him look good.


We all want the peaceable nation we once enjoyed. It's going to take time. We must stand united in our actions to attain peaceable, accountable governing in our nation again. We must remember how each of the men has lead. We must consider the actions of each man. Then decide whom to believe had the best interests of our country at heart.

Stand united with President Obama. Not blindly. Based on his record. Based on DonTCON's record.

Do not let the cons divide us.

[happy feet]

63. +1

[Foamfollower]

28. As far as I'm concerned, anybody blaming Obama is a Trump supporter and my enemy.

End of discussion.

[NBachers]

29. Lizard-brains on parade

[lambchopp59]

30. The really weird part, to me:

Is the inadvertent admission that Russia hacked the election packaged in a blame-shifting tweet.
I may be out of the loop just enough to where I've missed something before about this.
I've had to decrease my news intake since ShitGibbon was "elected" to keep my blood pressure under mediocre control.

[ProudLib72]

35. You have correctly identified the part that begs for more scrutiny

Forget the Obama diversion. Everyone needs to focus on the fact that Shitgibbon just admitted there was Russian meddling, something he has hitherto denied. See how the narrative has been altered ever so slightly? The Russia investigation used to be a farce, something the Dems cooked up because they couldn't admit they lost. Now, in the face of incontrovertible proof of Russian meddling, the Dems are to blame for exposing our country to election fraud. Never mind the fact that all blame for not announcing this to the public lies on McConnell. Never mind the fact that Shitgibbon is illegitimate. The fact that he lied the whole time and that he is illegitimate MUST be our only talking points.

[gordianot]

31. After what Obama lived through the last eight years.....

The severe problems he had to deal with, constant obstruction it is unclear what he authorized in response. People need to lay off

[Skittles]

94. Hillary has been dealing with it FOR DECADES

[sharedvalues]

32. Lakoff. This headline is a bad frame

Remember Nixon, "I am NOT a crook". After that everyone thought he was a crook.


Better headline, "NO. The GOP is trying to smear Obama. Obama is a progressive leader."

[C Moon]

33. Trump's trying to look innocent. He has no choice. He's guilty as hell.

Won't work.

[furtheradu]

34. NBC Nightly News did goood tonight

#1) didn't blame President Obama &
#2)In depth asking why trump hasn't done any dang thing *NOW!* to secure & protect our democratic electoral process.
I was impressed with them tonight! & that is saying something!

keep the Faith, Y'all!

[betsuni]

37. K&R

[MadDAsHell]

38. President Obama is a grown man; he doesn't need DUers to rescue him.

You realize President Obama isn't a child that needs protection right? He made mistakes. He admits it. Why are you putting the feelings of one man ahead of the integrity of our entire country?

[emulatorloo]

55. Context: some folks here were taking this Trump Tweet literally

Link to tweet

Trump's lying as usual.

That's the narrative rightwing media is going to push.

Poster is rightly concerned that DU not adopt that narrative.

Yes Obama can take care of himself, but DU can and should push back against Trump's bullshit and the bullshit from right-wing media.

[Akamai]

44. "If you blame Obama in any way, then you have taken"

The client's side.

I have wanted him to take names and kick more butt for a long time.

[Tarheel_Dem]

46. It's only the usuals, most of whom want Nancy Pelosi tossed out of leadership, and who were....

demanding that Hillary "release her speeches". SSDD. If I learned nothing else in 2016, I'm even more convinced that you CANNOT think of these people or treat them as allies.

[delisen]

47. I suggest we stay on the side of facts and proceed from there.

[Squinch]

48. Rachel gives the answer as to why there was not a strong response: there was

a very real worry that Russia could just blow up the whole election if they pushed back hard and exposed what they knew.

Instead of looking around for blame, what we SHOULD be doing is yelling to nationalize paper ballots counted by hand and automatic registration.

[Ilsa]

59. Thanks! NT

[Progressive dog]

50. I'm with you--It is almost like

some people can't stand to have any Democrats with a record of achievement so they will gleefully attack them.
Imagine if Democrats had a Democratic National Committee with members from each state and each state had it's own committee. Imagine if the Democrats in Congress had their own campaign organization, they might even call it the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Then imagine that the Democrats lost some house races in bright red districts.
It would be deplorable to blame those losses on the minority leader of the house.
Well, we don't have to imagine anything. Those who blame Nancy Pelosi tell us that we should get rid of her because Republicans can make up stuff about her, too.
President Roosevelt still has detractors who claim that he enticed, or allowed, or even staged the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor and Roosevelt was white.
President Obama will continue to be second guessed on every decision he has made. If we are really Democrats and we actually supported him then we need to at least step back and think before we rush to judgement.

[mcar]

51. K&R

[Dem2]

52. People who are doing this are not acting like Democrats IMO

Making wild assumptions about what info was available and not accounting for the political and civil consequences of any actions not taken is unfair in the most outrageous interpretation of unfair. Cut the shit people who are saying these things or I'm just going to toss you onto ignore.

[LiberalBrooke]

53. Do not let them define our outrage.

That is just what the republicans are trying to do. Keep the focus on the traitors in office and their corruption. Now is not the time to second guess Obama. We know he had tough choices to make and was thoughtful and cautious. We also know the current rethugs have no cares for us. Do not fall for their attempts to divert our attention back to what Obama did. What we need to focus on right now is what is happening now.

[BumRushDaShow]

54. Yup. ODS back with a vengence.

The "narrative" being that "Obama did nothing" despite the WaPo timeline article yesterday illustrating what WAS being done and a David Corn article I found this morning here -

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/states-rebuffed-federal-help-on-russian-hacking-says-former-dhs-head/

I.e., all sorts of things were going on BEFORE the election. But since the federal government does not control the election infrastructure, the states in the usual places vomited forth "states rights" and refused any help.

[Ilsa]

58. Thank you! nt

[CakeGrrl]

62. This is one reason why the GOP holds all three branches of the government

despite the seemingly 'ridiculous' notion that Bush II could get two terms, then Trump could defeat a large GOP field, then actually become president.

While some scoff at the GOP followers going "lockstep", it has won them elections - or at least made them close enough to steal.

Meanwhile, factions of the Democratic party can be relied on to chase and chew their own tails rather than figuring out there's a bigger enemy. And the GOP knows what what topics can get the circular firing squad moving.

"Oh, we can multitask" doesn't cut it. Where are the results?

At the end of the day, the GOP gets behind whoever they decide needs to win. And as with Heller, they mobilize to bring in the dissenters.

[AllaN01Bear]

64. grr

have been saying this for years . they distract , they sputter sputt sputt ( back pedal) they scream, they hide behind the bible , and the constittution , or they plain just walk away from u .they come out swininging because they cant rule. they dont want to rule or know how to rule . you have been triying and whining about ms pelosi for YEARS and yet you cant get rid of her .FAIL. leave ms pelosi and the O man alone because you cant do your shit.

[m-lekktor]

68. of course we aren't going to here at DU. the rest of the internets, well....nt

[ProudLib72]

70. I continue to hope that some of our efforts at DU

will leak out into other social media formats and catch on. Maybe I'm too optimistic. I don't know.

[annabanana]

72. botskies & trollskies

are everywhere

[onecaliberal]

77. The Russians are doing the same thing now they did during the election. Why don't people see what

Russians are doing? Republicans are busy taking healthcare from 30 million people including the elderly children and veterans. Stop the fucking madness

[lovemydogs]

80. I won't blame Obama because no one knows what they would do

if faced with the same situation.

Obama does not deserve the blame

[samnsara]

81. hell no! Nor Pelosi..this is their plan peeps!!!

[Heartstrings]

83. This....

[mac56]

84. Really very appalled and dismayed by this.

It's like DUers have suddenly bought into Trump's mindset.

With friends like these, etc., etc.

[Awsi Dooger]

91. Obama turned off white males and that changed political math for the foreseeable

For Hillary and everyone else.

I don't think it's a matter of blame as much as sheer fact. The dynamic was obvious leading to the 2014 midterms and devastating heading out of those midterms. There were ominous online articles all the over place pointing to 2016 and how the white working class vote could dictate the outcome.

It's the reason I was not participating on this forum or on other political sites. I don't give a damn about day to day developments as opposed to bottom line foundational factors. Given that white male shift I looked at all the numbers and it equated to a likely narrow defeat for Hillary. Only when they nominated Trump and he had the sustained implosion in late summer/early fall did I perk up and believe Hillary might narrowly escape.

Look at our number of governors, senators, House members, controlled legislatures and everything else, pre-Obama and today. Not a friendly picture. If a party leader on the other side had that type of record there would be absolutely no hesitation in pointing toward him as a principal factor, if not the overwhelming factor.

[AgadorSparticus]

93. +1000!!!! People are so fickle and...