I watched Obama last night on the Daily Show. John Stewart gave a very fine interview. He didn't smooch Obama and lick him like Hannity/Faux FOX would have done to Bush. I am someone who HAS not been impacted much by the near depression nor has my partner. We are college professors in health education professions and those are still booming. But we agree there has been some lackluster taken off "The Promise of Change." My soft critique below because we still believe......
Our chief issue with Obama and the DEMS is a failure to communicate. These teabaggers are so repugnant it is startling the party in power AND the media have not exposed MORE their idiocy, bizarre positions, and downright un-American approaches to running an election: 1) thuggery (Ayn Rand Paul thugs, police thugs for Cantor, an elder thug trying to take down a Murray supporter), 2) avoiding all press, including LOCAL PRESS FOR GOD'S SAKE except FOX (Angle, Rand, O'Donnell, Miller etc), and 3) EXTREME positions....I thought older folks vote in the highest proportions so why are they voting for candidates against Medicare and Social Security?
Obama and the DEMS should stop apologizing for the 9.6 unemployment rate. Their courage saved us from a second depression. Their courage saved the auto industry. Their courage with the second stimulus didn't do as much as was needed, but it did enough (8 months of slow but improving private job growth)and there were simply NO votes with the Senate filibuster to get any more out of the Republicans or weasly conservative DEMS in the Senate. They had the courage to fix Wall Street SOME (maybe not enough but again there was Republican obstructionism). They had the courage to know that if we don't fix health care any longterm job growth will be stiffled by astronomical rising health care costs. THIS IS WHERE WE FAULT OBAMA AND THE DEMS. YOU PASSED THIS DAMN BILL (THIS MONUMENTAL BILL!!),
WHY DOESN'T THE WHOLE F....USA KNOW ABOUT WHAT'S IN IT???
It is politically naive and maybe fatal that Obama and the DEMS passed something of the magnitude of Medicare or Social Security and yet they can't even get ON MESSAGE and sell it. I also hate the near 99% of media commentators who repeat "most Americans are against the HC bill" without going to the cross-tabs (that would be hard) to find a significant number of those against it are because it didn't go far enough!
Maybe that is the failure (so far) of the Obama administration and the DEMS; you passed great policies, but YOU FAILED TO SELL THEM. I agree with Obama last night that the Promises of Change cannot all be delivered in 20 months. True. But there is no purpose in passing all this legislation if they can't PROPERLY COMMUNICATE WHAT THEY HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. It's like a new great book. Well, it may be great, but if no one knows about it and thus few people ultimately read it......what's the point?
Last item....Obama is going to need his 2008 voters to come out in 2012. If he doesn't get better about throwing his base some red meat, and get tougher with the Republican obsructionism, then I do see a third party vote out there and I predict a 1992 type election that he may or may not win.
He is a brilliant man and I think he is mostly doing the right thing under the most challenging of circumstances. I agree with Andew Sullivan who still says "he is the ONLY grown up in the room, still!", but his failure to properly communicate his message and the failure of the DEMS who run both houses to stay on ONE message about their accomplishments means a possible return of those idiot Republicans/Teabaggers to power.
Obama wins the intellectual argument - YES - he is losing the debate, however. Just rationalizing that it's all because of the 9.6 unemployment rate is false and bad politics and as long as HE believes that......his presidency is vulnerable.
THINGS ARE SLOWLY IMPROVING FROM THE BRINK OF A DEPRESSION, I BELIEVE THIS IS ABOUT AS GOOD AS IT CAN BE AS WE EVOLVE SLOWLY TO A 'NEW NORMAL.' President Obama, can you communcate this more?