Where Obama Went Wrong

[bedstuy]

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.

That's where Democrats go wrong, they expect the media, Republicans and the public to be fair.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The way that you win is to make every winning argument you can and pull no punches.  Obama has never used the media or his office to argue for his policies because the administration seems convinced that would be over-exposing him or denigrating the office.  The sad truth today is that politics is a zero-sum game, there's is nothing gained by trying to be fair or even-handed.  As Herm Edwards once said, "You play to win the game! Hello!  You play to win the game!"

[bedstuy]

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.

I don't really see your point, politics is about power.  

Your arguments should be right because you approach the world in a thoughtful way.  Your rhetoric shouldn't necessarily be even-handed or fair.  If the other side isn't going to play fair, it's ridiculous to obey some code of chivalry when the winner gets to dictate policy for everyone.

What I mean by honest is just standing up for what we believe.  Not telling people we're Republican light, not telling people Obamacare isn't that bad, instead saying Obamacare is good and using every weapon in our rhetorical arsenal to win people over.  But, it's fine to use every cheap rhetorical trick you can.

[bedstuy]

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.

That's nonsense. 

What objective process of debate is there?  None.  We're just supposed to kill them with kindness and people will know that Democrats are right because they're so meek and scrupulously objective?  You don't win people over by leaving them to an objective assessment, you give them a sales pitch.  Is there a car company that doesn't advertise or claim their car is better because they trust the public to test drive them and listen to the objective opinions of car experts?  Of course not, they would go out of business.  And, there is something to having a brand based on honesty and trustworthiness.  But, this shame about making a sales pitch is just timid and dumb. 

And, how do we get the advantage?  We're right, we have smarter people on our side and we have no other choice besides try to win in the political arena.  It's like my favorite Paul Wellstone quote,

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That's what politics is about, passion and the willingness to make that sales pitch to the public.  Obama has been too timid to make that sales pitch.

[bedstuy]

In my biased opinion, the key failure of the Obama administration was that he never left campaign mode to become a leader. Republicans are also to blame for pressuring him to do that, but I think this is the legacy he is leaving. A great campaigner, a poor leader...a mediocre President.

What would "being a leader" entail exactly?

[bedstuy]

Accommodating the GOP is not the same as working with the GOP.

Bill Clinton knew how to work with politicians of all stripes to forge bipartisan coalitions. Obama works "at" the GOP: He gives them what they want without actually doing any of the maneuvering. From the outside looking in, it feels a lot like Obama has been in Washington for six years without ever having made even one useful relationship. Maybe that has more to do with his failure to control the message, but that's still a significant failure if true.

This is the best you guys can do, huh?  Just a bunch of vague nonsense?  What do you want him to do, specifically?

And, Bill Clinton also had a GOP with actual moderates and passed his budget with zero Republican votes.  Now, there are basically zero GOP moderates in Congress, only 2-3 max.  Yep, just one heaping pile of nonsense from you.