Disappeared News: Democrats greasing their own skids to the bottom?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Democrats greasing their own skids to the bottom?

by Larry Geller

“There's a real populist anger out there.”

The Massachusetts loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat has brought forth some strong criticism of Barack Obama and the Democrats in power.

The Obama Brand Implodes (TaylorMarsh.com, 1/20/2010):

In the special election to replace Edward M. Kennedy, Barack Obama and the Democratic Party leadership were handed their heads in the most stunning, avoidable repudiation of ineptitude in recent political memory.

I’m going to skip a big chunk (please read the complete article) and pick up here:

All of this manifesting after the welcome relief of voters finally getting rid of the Bush-Cheney regime, which had sullied the doorstep of our democracy on every front, the people eager and ready for the change and hope promised from Barack Obama. Who walked into Washington with the wind at his back, the press at his feet, and the world waiting for him to begin delivering on all that his candidacy promised. Certainly expectations were high, way too high, but it wouldn’t have taken much to appease the anxiousness everyone felt at what we all knew was possible, because Democratic policies were just what the voters had ordered.

Instead, Barack Obama reached across the aisle and let the Republicans stymie the Democratic agenda on the altar of Let’s Make A Deal, which they had no intention of doing. For one full year Pres. Obama has laid back, waited, and let things spin completely out of control until even Ted Kennedy’s old seat has been squandered on the altar of bipartisanship.

The President pretending he wasn’t a Democrat so much as some mediator in a policy dispute, making sure not to pick his own side over the other.

A Moveon.org poll indicates that Obama voters essentially stayed home in Massachusetts:

A poll was conducted immediately after the election last night of 1000 registered Massachusetts voters who voted for Obama in 2008. Half of the respondents voted in the MA special election for Republican candidate Scott Brown; half of the respondents did not vote at all. The poll definitively shows that voters who stayed home and voters who switched party allegiance share very common frustration and anger at an economy that continues to work better for Wall Street than Main Street.

There's a real populist anger out there. Voters worry that Democrats in power have not done enough to combat the policies of the Bush era. Both sets of voters wanted stronger, more progressive action on health care reform, as well. In summary, the poll shows that the party who fights corporate interests—especially on making the economy work for most Americans—will win the confidence of the voters. [moveon.org, Research 2000 Poll Results, January 19, 2010, 1/19/2010]