Obama needs to ask himself why even his supporters are growing impatient

[DonViejo]

By E.J. Dionne Jr., Published: May 5

President Obama got roughed up by the pundit class last week. The question is what lessons he draws from the going-over. Here’s one he should take: The nation’s political conversation has grown stale, and many Americans have lost the sense of what he is doing to improve their lives.

You can argue that this perception isn’t fair. The Affordable Care Act, if it’s implemented well, will improve a lot of lives. The economy is adding jobs, not shedding them. The deficit is coming down. Two front-burner initiatives, immigration reform and broader background checks for guns — yes, they’ll be voted on again — really do matter.

But the fact is that the talk in Washington has been dominated by the same stuff we obsessed over in 2010, 2011 and 2012: a monotonous, uninspiring, insider clash over budgets. Even in that context, we barely discuss what government can do that would be helpful (except to air travelers).

Obama’s defenders say that D.C. dysfunction should be laid at the feet of Republicans in Congress who are so invested in his failure that they even vote against things they are for. That’s what Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) says happened on background checks.

full column
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-obama-needs-to-ask-himself-why-even-his-supporters-are-growing-impatient/2013/05/05/25cf3c4a-b450-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story.html?wprss=rss_todays-opeds&wpisrc=nl_wonk_b

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. The pundits all seem to have the same basic (largely correct) analysis

but not really any solutions to speak of. If I were President Obama, I'm not sure what I would do other than make sure that the Republicans can't undo what I have already done. Why does it seem that, at least since Clinton, Democrats have only had about a 2-year window to get stuff done and then having to spend most of the rest of their terms having the rest of their agendas obstructed while Republicans get long stretches of time to get their legislative agendas passed- like during 3/4 of the Bush (P)residency?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

3. It's called "The Political Cycle"...

Step one: Republicans run for office promising to reduce the influence of government, uphold family values, cut the deficit, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Step two: Americans who have fallen for this anti-government/Christian values nonsense all of our lives vote Republican. They believe that Republicans will make good on their promises.

Step three: Republicans come into government and their #1 priority is to destroy it from within, so they do as much damage as they can: charging debt, running up the deficit, starting wars, engaging in corporate malfeasence, defunding or abolishing government programs.

Step four: American voters realize that Republicans made a mess, so they hire Democrats to come and clean up. Now, the Democrats have little to do with the excesses of the Republicans, but STILL Americans expect Democrats to GOVERN. They don't want to have prosecutions or go after the Republicans who made the mess; they want results!! And they want results FAST!!!

Step five: When Americans feel that Democrats haven't cleaned up Republican excrement quickly enough--largely because the size and scope of the shit is unlike what Democrats had expected--voters then decide to put Republicans back in office, again swayed by all the anti-government messaging. (The Republicans destroy government from within by making it dysfunctional; people become impatient and blame the Democrats for the dysfunction.)

Repeat the cycle.

The problem lies with US--the American people. Until voters start holding Republicans to the SAME standards as they do with Democrats, nothing will change. Republicans are still not being punished for all they did over the last 8 years. They have successfully crafted a message that Obama's policies are at fault for the economy. The media--owned and operated by corporate interests--peddle the Republican message, over and over again. Don't believe me? Turn on the Sunday morning political commentary shows. Media Matters tell us that Republicans dominate. Even when they got creamed in 2006, 2008 and again in 2012, the Sunday morning punditry acts as if Republicans were victorious.

Americans expect Barack Obama to compromise with Republicans. They expect it from ALL Democratic politicians. Americans do not expect Republicans to compromise with Barack Obama or ANY Democrat for that matter. We wonder why Democrats are always compromising and co-opting Republican-lite talking points? Blame the American voter!

As long as this double standard persists, we'll never get anything done.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. That's pretty much exactly what I've observed since Clinton

It sucks but it's pretty much true. There does seem to be a horrendous double standard. It also helps explains why somebody like Anthony Weiner is toast, politically, and HAS to resign after he stupidly tweets a bunch of suggestive/inappropriate pics but somebody like Mark Sanford literally abandons his post and goes away with a mistress leaving nobody a clue as to his whereabouts and he seems to be headed towards election to a House seat. Realize it's a Republican district but still..........

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. ...and it was the Democrats that jumped on Weiner even before the Republicans did. The Republican

response? "They're doing our job for us!"

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. I was dumbfounded at the Dems' response to Weiner

I'm guessing that they wanted to push him out as soon as possible to avoid a major embarrassment but, frankly, David "Diapers/Prostitution" Vitter is STILL a freakin' US Senator! I'd be embarrassed to belong to a party that has no shame about somebody like HIM.

[bvar22]

8. I have a problem with Step 4.

The beginning is correct where you say,
"American voters realize that Republicans made a mess, so they hire Democrats to come and clean up."

...but after that, to be historically accurate, you would have to include something like this:

Step Four: "American voters realize that Republicans made a mess, so they hire Democrats to come and clean up," but then voters are shocked and dismayed to find the Democratic Party leadership working with Republicans to make things FAR worse
by doing the heavy Lifting for things like:
*deregulating International Trade and destroying the American Manufacturing Sector,

*establishing Most favored Trade Status with the largest Slave Labor Industrial nation in the World,

*deregulating the Telecoms clearing the way for Megamedia for the RICH like Fox News and Clear Channel

*Reinforcing the Republican myth of Welfare Cadillacs and Ending Welfare as We Know It...beginning the dismantling of the Safety nets, something the Republican party could have NEVER accomplished

*deregulating Wall Street Banks and setting up Too Big to Fail...getting regulation off the backs of the Banks!!!
(something the Republicans could have NEVER accomplished)


...THAT is the problem.

Bill did some good things,
most notably with his Tax Policies, but the Working Class suffered terribly under his administration.

After all was said and done,
after the Clinton Administration,
was The Ball advanced toward the Traditional Democratic Party values of The New Deal,
or
toward the Republican Goals of Deregulation, Privatization, and Concentration of Wealth & Power?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

9. I have to be honest and say that I agree with you. Even FDR in his last term began to move

down the austerity path. Again, we are IMPATIENT. The economy takes years to fix, and good-paying jobs are typically the last economic condition to rebound. FDR started listening to Republicans about reducing deficits and cutting spending. Well, what happened? The country fell back into a recession.

Any time we as Democrats co-opt Republican ideals because we wrongly believe they are good ideas, we suffer. Clinton going along with the repeal of Glass-Stegall, deregulating the telecommunications industry, outsourcing manufacturing jobs, that outsourcing continues to this day; Obama going along with putting the Big Three on the table, his love affair with tax cuts? All have come back to haunt us. I agree with you.

But again, the fault lies somewhat with us as Americans. We have allowed the political right to demonize government to the point that the average American has bought into the propaganda. It's hard to run progressives and liberals to office when even reasonably informed Democrats have been affected by the anti-government propaganda. And still, we hold Democratic politicians to a different standard. As long as that persists, nothing will change.

[bvar22]

10. The insane and maddening thing about our situation...

...is that when polled on the individual ISSUES, the American people overwhelmingly agree with Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich.

In recent polls by the Pew Research Group (2005!!!), the Opinion Research Corporation, the Wall Street Journal, and CBS News, the American majority has made clear how it feels. Look at how the majority feels about some of the issues that you'd think would be gospel to a real Democratic Party:

1. 65 percent (of ALL Americans, Democrats AND Republicans) say the government should guarantee health insurance for everyone -- even if it means raising taxes.

2. 86 percent favor raising the minimum wage (including 79 percent of selfdescribed "social conservatives&quot .

4. 66 percent would reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

5. 77 percent believe the country should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment.

6. 87 percent think big oil corporations are gouging consumers, and 80 percent (including 76 percent of Republicans) would support a windfall profits tax on the oil giants if the revenues went for more research on alternative fuels.

7. 69 percent agree that corporate offshoring of jobs is bad for the U.S. economy (78 percent of "disaffected" voters think this), and only 22% believe offshoring is good because "it keeps costs down."

http://alternet.org/story/29788/

9. 92% of ALL Americans support TRANSPARENT, VERIFIABLE elections!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x446445

10. Over 90% of the American people support basic Gun Control measures.

11. Over 70% of the American people opposed the Mandate without a Public Option.

12. When asked specifically, an overwhelming majority of Americans state they would like to be able to buy MediCare instead of For Profit health Insurance.

13. Over 80% of the American people oppose ANY cuts to Social Security or Medicare.

(#10 through #13 are off the top of my head, but I'm reasonably sure I can find the polls)



...so we have several MAJOR problems with our "Democracy" in the USA,
and the Democratic Party has a terrible problem with Marketing, Labeling, and Selling
ideas and policies that already resonate WITH the People.

For Instance:
Instead of "Comprehensive Health Care Reform", which was easy to label as "Big Gubment Take Over,
if the Democratic Party had simply offered every American family the opportunity to buy Medicare, the idea would have sold itself and left the Republicans OUT in the Cold.


...but stuff like the above plays to my cynicism earned over the last 30 years.
Lately, I am seeing our situation more and more as "Failure by Design".
To think otherwise, I would have to believe that the people running our Party are stupid,
and I don't believe that. I believe they are very, very smart, and have a 20 year plan.

Now excuse me while I go dig my Survival Bunker a little deeper.


/deep, toxic cynicism

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

11. I am a political scientist by trade. I have a doctorate. One thing that has baffled us over time

Last edited Tue May 7, 2013, 11:53 AM - Edit history (1)

is how much the average American agrees with liberals on economic issues (and some social ones, too!) when asked specific questions. The trick is to ask these questions in a way that doesn't lead to biased answers.

For instance, if you ask average Americans if they believe that everyone deserves basic health care services, most, as you rightly point out, say yes!! In fact, even you asked whether they would be willing to pay a bit more in taxes if they are GUARANTEED those basic needs. They'd declare an emphatic YES!! However, if the question read: Do you think *government* should guarantee basic health care needs? The answer would be NO! And why is that? The American political right has done a superb job demonizing government, government employees (I am one), and government services and programs. The American people don't see themselves as government; they think government is some kind of tangible thing ready to take all their freedoms and give stuff to people who don't deserve it. You have to credit the right wing for how they successfully dumbed down Americans. It's changing on the social side, but regressing on economic policy. We are moving backwards, not forwards. And now Democrats behaving like Republicans? There are very good reasons why Bill Clinton is commonly referred to as "The Greatest Republican President" we ever have. Now Obama is following suit, but I can't comprehend why. Even when he touts Republican ideas, they thwart him. They obstruct him.

[JoePhilly]

16. Agree to a large extent ... and ... there is a key thing to add to point 4.

While the Dems want to GOVERN, the GOP does not. The GOP is HAPPY to have the government do absolutely nothing, particularly when they are OUT OF POWER. When they are in power, they do exactly what you said ... intentionally wreck as much of the functioning government as possible, at as great a cost as possible.

What this means is that for Dems, who want to govern, to get anything done, anything at all, there will have to be some poison pill included in the legislation.

For anything good that Dems try to do, the GOP will try to ensure something nasty is included. And in their preferred case, so nasty that nothing gets done.

So that's the real problem. The Dems can either (a) govern, doing some good, and some bad at times (swallow a poison pill), or (b) do nothing at all.

To your point of the American people demanding results NOW, Dems simply CAN'T do "b". Choice "b" leads to no action and no results of any kind. So if the Dems are going to govern at all, try to do anything good, they end up with path "a". Do as much good as they can, knowing that there will be some down side in the deal.

This is why Obama can't simply walk away. That would be to "do nothing". Which is exactly what the GOP wants.

Take the stimulus ... we needed it to be fast ... and very large ... the GOP would have been fine to block it ALL. In the end, it was fast, but smaller than the Dems really wanted. So the choices were ... (a) fast, but smaller, or (b) no stimulus at all.

Take the ACA ... same thing happened. We got lots of good things, but no PO and a mandate.

On DU, its easy to demand that the Dems get a better deal. The reality is that every deal will have something we dislike in it. And its that, or nothing. And "nothing" is not a realistic option.

And as you correctly note, the media will lay it all at Obama's feet. David Gregory the other day said (basically) that Obama is the "face of Washington" and so the GOP obstructionism falls at his feet. He has to "lead" the GOP. As if that makes any sense at all.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

19. Well put!

and that is why ideological purity and perfection are completely unattainable/unrealistic goals when it comes to governance.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

20. You leave me speechless every time! Thank you so much. And again...

If Americans didn't hold Democrats to a "governing" standard while not demanding the same of Republicans, I think that would be half the battle. But, what do you do when the governing philosophies of the two major parties actually mean that nothing could possibly get done?

Obama's mantra of not allowing the "perfect be the enemy of the good" is what we have to rely on as a strategy right now because the Republicans don't want us to do anything. And not doing anything means that we are held responsible as the "governing" party. Americans will hold us accountable. They have not held the Republicans responsible for their intransience. (Note: I understand that Democrats received 1 million more votes than Republicans in 2012, but that's obviously not nearly enough. I still hold Americans responsible for the 2010 electoral outcomes.)

We also have a lazy, but complicit corporate media that peddle lies and Republican talking points rather than provide Amerians with the truth. There are many examples: "government takeover of health care," "killing grandma," and the most recent "background checks with lead to a national registry". But there are also age-old ones: "tax and spend liberals," "tough on crime," etc.

[whistler162]

13. You forgot to put IN at the beginning of the word correct!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

17. They're basically correct in that Congress is the one blocking most of President Obama's initiatives

They are totally off base IMHO when they start blaming President Obama for not doing..........*something* to get Republicans to cooperate.

[Frustratedlady]

2. I think a lot of Obama's problem is that he doesn't/can't toot his own horn.

He finally gets something done and moves on to the next. They need to spend more time refuting the RW charges against his policies. The Republicans know what buttons to push to keep their members angry and they've sure been pushing them since Obama came into office. That's about all they gotten done.

I realize that if Obama toots his own horn, he'll be called uppity and pushy. Well, it beats letting them run all over him. The poor guy can't do anything right, so he might as well do it his way and wave a few flags..."Hey, folks! Look what we've accomplished!"

In all my years, I've never seen our government is such dysfunction. I don't think we can wait until 2014 to get things straightened out.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

4. It happened with Osama bin Laden. I expected Faux to try and give all the credit to Bush.

Last edited Mon May 6, 2013, 12:06 PM - Edit history (1)

I didn't expect the mainstream, corporate media to do the same. Obama *couldn't* bask in the glory of having brought OBL to justice. The media wouldn't let him. And sadly, there were some on the left who questioned why OBL was killed; he should've been given a trial. HUH?? Come again?

This president gets it from ALL sides--left, middle and right. He has ZERO friends in the media, and he is constantly on the defense, having to beat off the left and the right. I think it's sad. No other president has been treated this way. None.

[Frustratedlady]

7. I agree. It breaks my heart to see them both work so hard to do everything right...

then get kicked in the teeth. Just imagine going through 8 years of that crap. I think it is getting to Michelle and I can certainly see why.

The Democrats could do the touting. Darn it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

21. George "Dumbya" Bush would be on Mt. Rushmore if he had caught bin Laden.

Hell, people would be begging him to run for a third term. I see that his library is chock full of lies, distortions of history, and propanda. Do you think Clinton or Obama could get away with that? Methinks not.

[Cha]

12. "Even his own supporters".. not the Supporters I know and respect.

But, of course, this is red meat to those who live to complain "without the burden of Office".

[LiberalFighter]

15. Especially those that don't even run for any political office.

[LiberalFighter]

14. The media help the Republicans do the hack jobs on Democrats.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

22. ...and some Democrats willingly participate in that. Gov. Rendell comes quickly to mind...

It's easy to talk a lot of shit, whine and complain, when one doesn't isn't put into a position where they have to attempt to GOVERN with these idiots. Once you're out of office or you've never occupied it (Paul Krugman), you can talk a lot of shit about what should've been done and why he hasn't. You can bloviate about how bad a president is because he didn't do this or do that. It's easy when you aren't in a governing position and when you're not confronted with the reality of having to govern.