…beyond making Barack Obama a one-term president? The eyes of the right are fixed on 2012 and nothing else. Why not? Considering the “shellacking” they gave Pres. Obama and the Democrats what reason do Republicans and their Tea Party pals have for cooperating? As Sean Hannity revealed yesterday on his radio show, “phase one” is complete, now it’s on to “phase two,” which is defeating Pres. Obama. They’ve got the Democrats right where they want them, so to not build on the Tea Party energy wave would be silly.
The bookend to that question is whether Pres. Obama will be challenged in 2012 and who it might be? It wouldn’t just be about taking the nomination away from Mr. Obama, which is as close to impossible as it gets, but about Democrats sending a message to the establishment, channeling their own version of Tea Party anger at where the lack of messaging, Democratic policy clarity has gotten the party. The main thing stopping a challenge is the dred, the paralyzing flop sweat that accompanies any conversation about a challenge for fear of alienating the African American vote forever.
As for the biggest winner on the political scene after the elections, Sarah Palin, she is where she only once dreamed of being after the midterms. Who you callin’ “quitter,” sucker, she seems to be saying in the video below. A woman primarily responsible for the energy wave that had at its foundation a message to which so many people related. In her new video taking credit for what she did, because she knows nobody else will give it to her, Palin once again teases her 2012 plans yet to be announced. She does it by channeling Ronald Reagan, which she’s done a lot lately. Her TLC/Discovery show about Alaska a way to channel a little of Ronnie’s Hollywood star power, at least that’s how she sees it. From the video below:
“This is our movement, this is our moment. This is our morning in America. …and it may take some renegades going rogue to get us there. It may take shaking it up to get there… We got to do this together.”
Reading the story in Politico about the supposed “failure” of Republicans to win the Senate, blaming it on the Tea Party, while looking at the rout across the country that blew Democrats out in the industrial midwest to the old Confederacy states, it reads like it came out of an alternate universe. The energy the Tea Party wave pushed voters to act out against Congress and is the emotion on which Republicans took power in the House.
It’s also what continues to take the Democratic Party to the right, along with our politics.
Call it preemptive political rationalizing, but it sounds to me like the Republican establishment is setting up their reasoning for why they won’t take up some of the wackier notions of the Tea Party crowd that will make them unpopular with the larger majority. From Politico:
Long-simmering tensions within the Republican Party spilled into public view Wednesday as the pragmatic and conservative wings of the GOP blamed each other in blunt terms for the party’s failure to capture the Senate. With tea party-backed candidates going down in Delaware, Colorado and Nevada, depriving Republicans of what would have been a 50-50 Senate, a bloc of prominent senators and operatives said party purists like Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) had foolishly pushed nominees too conservative to win in politically competitive states.
The Tea Party energy wave, whether they agree with Palin or her principles or not, brought women to the side of Republicans for the first time in decades. The youth that elected Obama stayed home in numbers exceeding 2006. Hispanics stayed home, too.
The Obama coalition was shattered and scattered to political oblivion and if they ever come back it will never, ever be the same.
Pres. Obama hasn’t shown any political energy or will to stand up to Republicans on policy so far and in his weakened position now who believes he’ll suddenly grow courage? All we’ve got is what he came into office with, hope.
The colossal political, policy and message failures that brought about the midterm wave or tsunami or avalanche or whatever weather metaphor you choose makes Pres. Obama vulnerable to a primary challenge, even if there is no one who can beat him. But the event alone could also be his saving grace, shaking Barack Obama out of his malaise and igniting something that we haven’t seen from him so far. Again, we can only hope.
Good Morning. The Politico story concerning Republicans and the Senate is just post-game anaylsis.
Looking to 2012 – there are 22 Democratic senate seats up; 2 Independents that caucus with the Democrats, and 10 Republicans seats. So, some in the Rebublican party will blame the Tea Party right now. Later they might come to realize that for 2012, it was probably a good thing that they did not get the Senate and also that it was probably a good thing that Harry Reid won. Gotta have a boogeyman.
Politico appears a right wing rag. Consider the source and the stench of Republicanism.
I did not see a glimmer of fight yesterday. I just don’t think Obama is tempermentality suited for the blood sport that is politics in America.
If Obama’s press conference is any indication of what’s to come, the Reps will be even more encouraged.
Hi Taylor, is there still a moderation function? I am trying to post a comment but for some reason I cannot submit it.
Sarah Palin queen of tea party reminds me of the famous quote attributed to the French revolutionary Alexandre Ledru-Rollin who upon seeing an angry crowd marching reportedly said “here are my people, let me find out where they are going so that I can lead them”. Arguably it worked very well for both the tea party and her, but since the movement – brewing under Bush II, fomented and publicized by FOX and funded by billionaires brothers – was already there, it doesn’t really tell us much about her leadership ability and her real influence in the outcome of the mid-terms (which looking at the success of her endorsements is a mixed bag). But hey let her go ahead and take credit….Ledru-Rollin was very successful by the way. I personally would give more credit to Roger Ailes and his organization. In the battle between Fox and Obama, the winner is uncontested, Obama was left KO, especially that he decided not to put much of a fight in the first place.
Lord knows Palin’s politics aren’t mine, but I absolutely disagree with your notion that Palin doesn’t know where she wants to go. She took on Murkowski in AL on corruption and took him down and has been taking on the establishment ever since.
You can argue that she’s not intellectually curious and is driven by ideology, not studied knowledge on issues and policies, especially on foreign policy. But that applies to Liz Cheney, too.
What’s next for me is this. I live in North Carolina. Our state just voted Republicans in control of the State Legislature for the first time ever. I know exactly what they are going to do, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one their first acts, passing a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. They will do this for two reasons. First, they are hateful, but second, it will drive their Christianist base to the polls in 2012.
I want to organize people to fight this now, so we aren’t trying to catch up after it’s too late. We are putting together a site right now. I will post the link when we are ready to launch. I hope I get can your co-operation. We need both straight people as well as LGBT. If any of you are in NC too, we really need you.
Almost everywhere the right wing tries this, it works. I’d love to be able to say that we went up against the right-wing hate machine and won. We have the time to do it, if we act now.
Good for you, and the group of people with whom you are working. I don’t know how helpful anyone not in NC can be, but I’ll be watching for the link.
Thanks Joyce.
At some point we will need money.
The first thing you should do, Mawm, is email all the gay & lesbian blogs, because I bet you anything there is already a network going. Find out what’s going on and join it. Don’t reinvent the wheel, because you don’t have to.
I hear you. I think the most powerful org in NC is Equality NC, and I have met some great people there. However, “reinventing the wheel” is sort of what I think needs to be done. I am a software designer and am working on an app that I believe will revolutionize political organizing. It is partly from my experience dealing with LGBT and other organizations that I’m creating it. When some religious groups protested against gay marriage in 2009, a few of us signed up to volunteer with Equality NC through their site. None of us were contacted. We also called them, but were told that they didn’t have a counter protest planned, but if we wanted to do it to please tell them about it.
I still have never been contacted by Equality NC, and the experience dealing with them has left me with the impression that they are very well meaning, but lack the people-power and money to do much. I believe cutting-edge tools could really help with organizing, and if we could get a critical mass of people the people-power and money problem could suddenly vanish.
I’m hoping to finish(enough to start using it) my application by Christmas, and will definitely try to enroll as many people who are currently fighting the good fight here as possible.
I’ll keep you informed about our progress.
I think the GOP fully understands that they have been given a chance, and that’s all. They convinced me, anyway, that they definitely heard people, understand the ideas, and will immediately start to work on the implementation.
There will be huge opportunities for the GOP in 2012, even more than this year. But, it rests upon implementing real change. They do not have the luxury of playing political head games.
I’m genuinely curious–what did they convince you that they will do? I know they want Obama to fail, and they want the Bush tax cuts continued, especially for the rich. But what else? I really haven’t heard what their plan (and I have been paying attention) is to address the unemployment situation or foreclosures. What do you think that you voted them in to do?
Well unfortunately political head games is what you are going to get. This is the game: they are going to put up whacky legislation, Obama is going to veto it and they can come back crying that they tried. Then you will vote for them for President in 2012 and they will continue to do the bidding of their masters once again when they control the purse strings: more bailouts, no accountability, even higher unemployment. You see the GOP sees high unemployment as a favorable thing because it drives wages down. It matters not one iota to them that people will starve or die because of it.
What’s Next?
Rep. Barton (R-TX) is holding hearings on “the global warming hoax” early on.
He is the one who apologized to BP when the White House leaned on BP to help Deepwater Horizon victims.
“What’s next?”, as you indicate at your blog, just might be SS. Hyperbole will rule for the next couple of years. Well, it always does in DC, but this might be a high energy hyperbole.
Oh well. A dose of reality has now come to the Democratic party. No more, “this isn’t going to be a referendum on Øbama”, or “this is not a mandate”. Ha! It’s exactly that! Now I can only hope that sanity returns to the party that I once supported, too. I have now voted a straight Republican ticket for two election cycles after voting straight Democrat for all other previos elections prior to 2008. They’ve lost me since they screwed Hillary Clinton in 2008. I’ll also be watching the Republicans closely, and will vote against them in the future if they turn out to be anything similar to Obama. Yet, the Democratic party will not be able to count on any votes from me, as my next step will be third party votes as protest votes against the major parties.
Again, I wonder, what did you vote for the Republicans to do? I’m as frustrated as anyone with Obama, but my frustration is that he focused too much on Wall Street and the banks instead of the needs of the working people. I certainly can’t imagine that the Republicans are going to do better. They are the ones that got us here, and throughout the campaign, the only thing I heard them tlak about was the deficit (which didn’t matter when they were in charge) and more tax cuts for the rich. How are those things going to help?
hey yall- this is a must read. it sums it all up perfectly doesnt it? ask a unemployed voter to vote for u and offer no plan to get him a job and guess what? he wont vote for u.
http://progressive.org/wx110310.html
What exactly is corporate liberalism?
oh mandates to buy private insurance, bailouts for banks and not mainstreet, deals with drug companies. i think the phrase corporate liberalsim is a pun- cuz u cant both now really!
Sorry your guy lost Texan. My county went from one of the few in MO that was totally blue to totally red,it was a complete wipe out.
I suspect it has a lot to do with the Crystler plant laying everybody off and packing up their plant and moving it to Mexico. Those union guys were the worker bees for the Dems..can’t imagine how they all must feel now with no future.
It’s just one reason Obama’s coalition deserted Dems & didn’t vote this year.
Thanks Texan…very good read. I linked to his article on Jon Stewart’s deal on the mall. I pretty much agree with him on that too.
found this at the teaparty patriots site:
Tea Party Patriots is launching a Perpetual Legislative Watch/Congressional Accountability Project. We have already been watching the legislators for the past 20 months. We have no intention of letting up now. On the weekend of November 12 – 14, local coordinators from around the country will meet with the incoming Congressional freshmen for an orientation. We will have legislative experts who will guide the freshmen on how to first defund and ultimately repeal government controlled health care. We will have economic experts to help them understand the things they will need to do to reduce the federal deficit and restore fiscal sanity to the country. We will have experts who can provide guidance on how to restore Constitutional governance to the country. We will help them to bond together to restore the Constitution in the upcoming legislative session. Finally, we want them to know that if they do the right thing, they will have the support of the people…
at least someone is trying to get organized…
During the primaries I used to visit this site daily. After Taylor supported Obama I left. Well, well, how is your messiah now? He ruined your party like the PUMAS you belittled so much said he would. And yet you still worship his decieving ass. Pathetic fools.
I hardly think Taylor worships him anymore.
Anyway, if it makes you feel better facebook is full of Obots who now have huge regrets that we didn’t nominate Hillary.
I hardly think Taylor EVER worshipped him!
The ironic thing is that if you’re calling me a “pathetic fool(s)” you have to apply it to Hillary, too.
Because if Hillary hadn’t endorsed, supported and campaigned for Obama he couldn’t have gotten elected.
At the most difficult moment in her career, Hillary needed me, but most importantly her 18 million supporters, to stand beside her. I made that pledge and stood by it. Only a minisclue few were so self-involved they put themselves before Hillary, but also the country.
I proudly voted for Barack Obama in ’08 and anyone thinking John McCain was a better choice is wrong.
ack taylor worships obama or any pol? come on. worshipping pols is a dangerous business- look at what happened to avarosis on americablog. his worship of obama blindd him to everything else on the scene in 08. he is now one fo obama’s harshest critics. a shame so many simply couldnt see straight in 08 when u had daily warnings from hillary and others on why putting in obama would be problematic. obama and mcklurkin was a clue. his comparison of hilary to cheney wasnt his best coment, etc.. hillary did a great service by highlighting time and again the issue of campaigning vs governing. the issue of a durable coalition to win election- ie when hillary backer begala went on cnn vs donna brazille. begala argued then hillary had the trad dem coalition which votes since fdr. brazille argued no we needed to dump some of these people for a new age one dependant on the youth vote. sees to me hillary’s warning s have proven true these days on many levels. but-obama is president and for the sake of the country we still must hope he can figure some way very fast to survive before the next gop wave comes in 12. we already have paul, toomey and other rabble going to the senate. in 12 iagine double that and a right wing prez. i literally pray obama can right his course.
John McCain couldn’t have been much worse. If McCain would have won, he could have delt with this crappy Bush economy. Hillary would have been the heavy frontrunner in 12. Obama was always a joke, and 95% of Hillary’s supporters knew it then, and know it now.
What next to do?
Well Republican contributors must sell products to stay in business.
Organize huge militant groups to boycott
Rite Aid Corporation
Wendy’s
General Electric
Brown Forman Corporation
and hold them as economic hostages to a mass organized group of boycotters who will contact them and not buy from them until progressive legislation gets enacted by congress.
Yes progressive legislation enacted by the neanderthal house of representatives.
You will get to the conservatives in congress through their conservative contributors.
If you choose not to, I promise you that you will continue to whine about conservatives at this point in 2012.
All we’ve got is what he came into office with, hope.
You got what you voted for.
Those of us who knew Obama (he was my senator) knew exactly what kind of president he would be.
In the end, despite his amorphic word fogs, I knew that the most prophetic word in Obama’s public record was the word “Present”.
You got that right JoeCHI~
Someone on MJ said this week that research shows that once a person becomes emotionally involved with a choice, facts will not sway them. The Obots were particulary vicious in response to anyone trying to point out things like Obama’s record of voting “present” while a state senator.
agreed and thank you for saying so! i saw that as the biggest red flag in obama’s resume too, and realized exactly what we would get if he were elected, which has all come to pass. i remember reading something valerie jarret (whatever her name is) said to justify the “present” vote, which was along the lines of obama being such a nuanced thinker that he was always processing information on such a higher intellectual level and couldn’t therefore commit to a simple yes or no (i’m assuming like mortals like ourselves do)…..i could only think that was because he had never held a position that required him to make a decision. the real world requires leaders to make decisions and support them with the best information available at the time.
i’ve said it before and will say it again: obama wanted all the trappings of being president, but didn’t want the responsibilities that come with the job. he came into office thinking he would be a community activist of sorts, getting the base worked up to do the hard work on the ground, while delegating the tough decision making to people around him (reid, pelosi, et al) who were willing to take the risk of a yes or no decision.
He dropped his base like a hot potato the minute he was sworn into office.
Texan4Hillary,
Thank you so much for posting that link to Progressive.org in the last thread. That article ROCKED! In fact, I think I shall post the last part of it, below. Again, thank you!
***But basically, he didn’t give people enough tangible benefits to say, OK, I’m with him. He’s helped me. I’ll vote for Democrats again.
You can’t tell an unemployed person that you’d have been twice as unemployed without my help. You need to give that person a job now.
You can’t tell an elderly person you’re closing the donut hole on prescription drugs—by the year 2020. You need to close it now.
You can’t tell an adult with a pre-existing condition that you’ll force insurance companies to cover you—by the year 2014, when you may be dead. You need to cover people now.
You can’t tell families being foreclosed upon that you’re trying hard to keep them in their homes. You need to keep them in their homes now.
But to do any of that, Obama would have had to confront corporate power head on. But he, and Rahm Emanuel, and Larry Summers, and Tim Geithner were unwilling to do so and ideologically unprepared to even consider it.
They lived by corporate liberalism. And Democrats around the country died by it.***