I keep thinking about that famous Ralph Waldo Emerson quote in relation to President Obama. For all the positive things he has accomplished, he has also worked relentlessly to undermine Democratic enthusiasm. The way things are going, I worry about his ability to accomplish anything great.
Who is this “President Obama” person you write about?
Raich nails it brutally. Obama and Harry Reid took their shot to fix the economy, and flubbed it. You just can’t politick your way around a 10% unemployment rate.
Obviously Obama is better than any Republican, but that is a pretty slim value proposition.
Apparently, there isn’t much enthusiasm here for even talking about it. But at least you brought it up. Obama has become the elephant in the room.
Actually, his policies have become the elephant. They, not he, are the reason for the lack of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, his handlers (and perhaps he himself) think the enthusiasm was about him rather than his policies. People thought they were making a clear choice for Democratic Party policies, not Republican Lite — aka DLC — policies. Hey, it worked for Clinton, right?
How do you separate Obama from his policies?
You’re serious? “Hope” is a policy? “Change you can believe in” is a policy? Let’s not play naive, shall we?
“Hope and change” aren’t policies; I never said that they were. They were hollow rhetoric.
Obama and his polices are one and the same. Trying to separate one from the other by implying that Dems are enthusiastic about him even if they are not enthusiastic about his policies is a non-starter.
It’s not supposed to be a “starter.” It’s descriptive of the enthusiasm gap. People liked him before the election, when they projected their desires onto him. They like him less now because his policies turn out to be Clintonism without Clinton.
We all know how much you hate him now. Indeed, you have little else to add to any discussion. That’s the non-starter.
his policies turn out to be Clintonism without Clinton.
I think the reverse is true, “Clinton without the Clintonism.”
Clinton passed his economic plan in his first year and it began working immediately.
Somebody has to document the atrocities here. Other than delacrat, anon, and me, nobody else seems to want to step up much.
They didn’t project “their desires onto him.” They simply believed that he might be telling the truth. Now you’re sounding like Gibbs.
Anyway, I don’t hate Obama like I hated Bush. I still hope he changes.
The sustained and pointless attack on the Democratic base. Atrocity documented. Carry on.
“Nothing Great Was Ever Achieved Without Enthusiasm”
The inverse is also true: “Mediocrity cannot inspire enthusiasm. Except in the clinically insane.”
Which is cause and which is effect? Doesn’t something have to be great before you can be enthusiastic about it?
Dem Senate candidate in Missouri is running on extending Bush tax cuts for the rich. This party is FUCKED UP! It is as if Democrats don’t give a shit about ever winning another election. The DC bubble has morphed into a reinforced cement dome.
The new Missouri senator won’t be in the Senate soon enough to vote on tax cuts. They expire in January. If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s the Senate’s ability to do nothing.
Dem Senate candidate in Missouri is running on extending Bush tax cuts for the rich.
Oh great! How soon can Obama get down there and campaign for her?
The new Missouri senator won’t be in the Senate soon enough to vote on tax cuts.
True, but that’s not the point.
Is she enthusiastic?