Where Obama Went Wrong

[Beet]

More likely than not, after Tuesday night, the Republicans will take the Senate. They also will control the House, most Governorships, most state houses, and SCOTUS. The Democrats will still have the White House and the Federal Reserve (thanks to Obama). Still, with most Democrats still hesitant to attach themselves to him, Obama will be pretty lonely with his 41% approval rating. So where did he go wrong?

First of all, I feel that he failed by not trying hard enough to reach out to the GOP and achieve bipartisan compromises, such as a "grand bargain" on deficit reduction; failing to approve the Keystone pipeline, and threatening to take unilateral action on immigration. Whether the Republicans would ever have agreed to work with him is not the point; the main thing is that he should have looked willing to work with them, rather than as a man who has given up on Washington.

Secondly, I feel that the Democrats are allowing too many distractions from core economic issues. Let's face it, the "War on Women" is a niche Democratic issue, similar to how certain scandals like Benghazi are for the GOP. They will kick up our base, but they don't appeal to a broad swath of voters, who care more about things like health care, taxes, and spending.

Thirdly, I believe Obama has misread public opinion when it comes to foreign policy. As many as 45 percent of Americans now want to send in ground troops against ISIS, up significantly over the past month. Most no longer think an air campaign only will work. The past decade has been defined by backlash over the Iraq War, but regardless of what Americans tell pollsters, they still want a strong president who stands up for U.S. interests abroad and can deliver quick, clear victories.

Thoughts?

[Beet]

lol @ the idea there was any opportunity to compromise. The Teabaggers and McConnell's master plan made it impossible.

The War on Women won the 2012 election. Midterm turnout just isn't right for it.

Obama swung into unpopularity because of Edward Snowden, wasting time with gun control legislation, and he never recovered.

Yeah, typical concern trolling based on a fantastical apologetic David Brooksian fantasy.
 
Obama tried way too hard to accommodate Republicans.  Politics isn't based on reality anyway, it's about manipulating reality and using your rhetoric to sway people to your version of reality.  So, the solution is just to be far more steadfast and just try to make honest arguments for our worldview.  There is no compromise either with scoundrels like Boehner or radicals like Ted Cruz, the only solution is to defeat them.
...
As Herm Edwards once said, "You play to win the game! Hello!  You play to win the game!"

Isn't this a little contradictory? If you guys are so cynical, why do you even care about politics anyway? Got a personal stake in it? Or are you just like Eraserhead who claims to follow it for the goofs? If you guys have honest views then argue for them for sure, but they should be able to prevail in a fair and even handed debate.

[Beet]

The problem is if both sides are using cheap rhetorical tricks, what gives you the advantage? It can only be if you have the better argument. And that can only emerge through some sort of objective process of debate. The idea that progressives are somehow going to out-demagogue, out-cheap trick the right wing, with its control over its vast media apparatus, is absurd.

[Beet]

First of all, I feel that he failed by not trying hard enough to reach out to the GOP and achieve bipartisan compromises, such as a "grand bargain" on deficit reduction; failing to approve the Keystone pipeline, and threatening to take unilateral action on immigration. Whether the Republicans would ever have agreed to work with him is not the point; the main thing is that he should have looked willing to work with them, rather than as a man who has given up on Washington.

WTF?!  He bent over backwards to accommodate Republicans when he was trying to push the Affordable Care Act through Congress, and (perhaps frightened by the growing Tea Party movement) they still voted against it.  And to add insult to injury, they then claimed that he was the one who was being overly partisan about it.  

It's a pity you are now accepting their narrative....  

I mean his second term only. In his first term, he did try and accommodate the Republicans, but the economic meltdown resulted in an extremely vicious political climate that called for the opposite of what he was "built for" as a politician. The irony is that if the Obama of 2007-2009 was sworn in in January 2013, would be in a better position.

Basically I feel MaxQue is correct. The Democrats should have just hammered the minimum wage, (and perhaps defend the ACA more strongly).

[Beet]

What's wrong? The strategy.

2014 should have been:

MINIMUM WAGE
MINIMUM WAGE
MINIMUM WAGE

and

Hitting very strongly Republicans for being against raising it.

That and defending ACA through a huge media campaign that would let people see what it actually does instead of watching as conservative media attacked it without substance.

Democrats don't know how to defend policies. The media talk shows are dominated by right-wingers and "Democrats" who couldn't argue that 1 + 1 = 2.

Well it took Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell over 300 pages.