POLL: Which Hurt Dems More: How They Actually Governed, or How They Were Perceived to Have Governed?

[snot]

Poll question: POLL: Which Hurt Dems More: How They Actually Governed, or How They Were Perceived to Have Governed?

Hopefully, this info could be helpful.

[niceypoo]

1. It isn't an either or thing

It is a little of both

[T Wolf]

3. But a lot more of selling out the few benefits to the pukes in futile quest for bipartisanship.

The population is generally stupid and ignorant.

In this case, they are correctly angry - only too stupid and brainwashed to recognize who the real enemy is.

They cannot be educated under the present circumstances. So it was up to the Dems to do enough blatant good to blast through the media bias. Our party failed to do that, so we suffer the consequences.

The losers will move smoothly into the corporate world. The winners will continue to sell us out, this time under the greater cover of "having to work with the GOP."

[Kennah]

7. The Law of Conservation of Intelligence

There is finite quantity of energy in the universe, so it stands to reason there is a finite quantity of intelligence in the universe. With a rising population, compute the ratio.

[niceypoo]

15. Nobody remembers the politics

They remember the end result. Obama took a political approach to solving problems. He got neither. No political gain and compromised 'solutions' that dont fix the problems.

It is OK to make mistakes if you LEARN from them. If Obama continues his futile 'bipartisanship', the end result will be a ruined country and an obsolete Democratic party.

[snot]

19. Agreed. But I'm wondering which factor DU'er's think made the greater difference.

[onehandle]

2. Both. nt

[emulatorloo]

4. a liitle of both, the media thing is really bad though. They are dead set on promoting Republicans n

[niceypoo]

18. The Democrats fortunes will rise and fall on what they accomplish

Not on what the punditry thinks

[emulatorloo]

22. I think around 40 to 50% believe "death panels" are in HCR. Only 8% know dems l

lowered taxes for 95% of Americans. There is something fucked up with the media .

[niceypoo]

25. Irrelevant

Clinton passed a viable economic plan with zero republican votes. He lost the midterm, but once his plan kicked in his ratings went through the roof. During his second term he was in a very strong position because of the success of the plan. He did not compromise with the republicans on his economic plan so it passed with EVERYTHING he wanted in it. The whole time the republicans were screaming that Clintons economic plan would collapse the US economy within a year. Clinton, knowing better, ignored their whining and did what was right.

The general public doesn't remember the process, only the end result. Hopefully this is a lesson learned with Obama, play footsie's with the GOP and you will get BURNED EVERY TIME.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Both. n/t

[vi5]

6. Little from column a, little from column b

They governed in a fairly mediocre fashion which would have been bad, but not as bad as it was because the media made it worse and shaped perceptions horribly.

[TwilightGardener]

8. Mostly perception.

[TwilightGardener]

9. To expand, it's hard to run on modest improvements and "could have been worse".

These are tough times.

[Ganja Ninja]

12. And that's why it's how they governed and not the perception.

They should have been in attack mode from day 1. They should have brought the troops home in 1 year. They should have gone after the Bush cabal. They should have done a lot of things not just because it was right to do them but to show the people real change.

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. It is both, but mostly the latter.

Those who were alienated by the way they actually governed stayed home.

Those who voted for teapartiers did so entirely for reasons of emotion and perception.

[EFerrari]

11. Richard Wolff the economist says 1 in 3 Americans are affected by

unemployment or foreclosure. That's pretty damn real.

[DevonRex]

13. Well, we all know the MSM has been pushing anti-Dem narratives 24/7.

And we all know they're all about their own bottom line, from corporate taxes to viewership. So, I think perception has the most to do with it.

Sure, we didn't get all we wanted in health care, for example. But the media narrative didn't talk about the Pukes being obstructionists, did it? And that goes for every single bit of legislation that was passed.

[CommonSensePLZ]

14. Perceived

I think people actually have let it slip their minds of what he did accomplish, but I think his trying to work with the right was mostly a waste and it aggravated people. The dems have no choice now but to be more aggressive.

[pscot]

16. Putting Health Insurance Reform

ahead of economic recovery was a huge mistake. Letting the banksters off scott free was another. It was the economy, stupid.

[Quixote1818]

17. Mostly Perception. nt

[snot]

20. Personally, I thought Dems shd have done more to help their base; but

I think the perceptions hurt them more.

I.e., even if you think the Dems should have done much more than they did, I don't see how people could have correctly understood what Dems DID do, and still prefer Repubs. Rather, it seems people did NOT correctly understand what the HC reform law will really do, or that the stimulus was separate from the bank bailout, etc.

[FloriTexan]

21. Perhaps it was also because

Republicans made it difficult for dems to pass anything with teeth; perhaps because the Republican Teabaggers somehow managed to get every stupid idiotic *!*)$)$ to vote.

[yurbud]

23. both should be an option

[subterranean]

24. Out of those two choices, I'd say perception.

The Republicants didn't lift a finger to solve the mess they created, but they were able to shape people's perceptions, with help from their friends in the media. That was enough to give them a big win yesterday. I know it's a lot more complicated in reality, but maybe the Democrats can learn something from this.

They need the kind of simple, easy-to-digest message that works so well for the Republicans. For the rest of his term, Obama should focus on doing what's in the best interests of the country and ALL its people, not just the wealthiest. And, perhaps more important, he and the Democrats need to make sure people know that. When the Republicans send him legislation that doesn't meet that standard, I expect him to veto it. Realistically, that's about all he'll be able to accomplish in the next two years.

Most Americans don't pay much attention to policy details. They just want to believe that their representatives have their best interests in mind. If Obama can overcome the right-wing attacks and convince people that he does, he'll win re-election.

[Lyric]

26. A lot of the first, and also some of the second.

But mostly the first.

[Radical Activist]

27. Which Democrats?

What hurt the most was the US Senate blocking and watering down much of the agenda that people voted for in '08. That's what hurt the most.

[rucky]

28. I have a theory that's sure to be unpopular:

TARP + Stimulus stabilized the economy too quickly. People forgot what we were on the brink of in 2008.

The timing of events may have been the best formula to stabilize the economy, but it demonstrated some fucked up priorities in terms of helping regular people who were suffering.

Main Street, then Wall Street
Jobs, then Healthcare

That's how it should've happened, but we backed off at the whisper of "socialism", then got the shouting anyways. And don't give me that trailing indicator bullshit, that's just more trickle-down that never worked, as corporations continue to sit on mounds of cash, offshore production and pass out fat bonuses.