Lambert posted on a post from Peter Daou about how Obama’s base is deserting him and will determine his fate in 2012. By the way, Obama’s base is not necessarily the whole Democratic base, much of which was jettisoned in 2008 for Obama. So, a lot of the Democratic base left Obama years ago, mostly because the DNC chose to exile us from the decision making process. The Obama base is just now catching up to us. Says Peter:
Recent polls (including Gallup, which shows a double-digit decline among liberals) indicate significant erosion of support for Obama among groups who propelled him to victory in 2008, reinforcing the idea that reality is catching up with netroots criticism. This crumbling of support is typically attributed by pundits to the poor economy, but the problem is more complicated: it’s the poor economy coupled with the sense (fair or unfair) that Barack Obama has no convictions, no moral center, nothing for which he will take an unwavering stand.
That perception of a lack of convictions can’t be attributed solely to attacks from the right, since they can be discounted as partisan. It’s when the left makes that argument that conventional wisdom congeals.
The impact of these critics on the left will continue to resonate into the 2012 election and despite dashed hopes and demoralization among progressive activists, they, more than any other group, hold the president’s political fate in their hands.
I’ve bolded the part that represents how we, the Democrats in Exile since 2008 always saw Obama. He was reluctant to refer to himself as a Democrat and the congressional candidates who ran with him that year also tried hard to obscure their party affiliation. He was ethereal. You could never pin him down on what principles he would defend. The biggest clue of all was the way he ran in the primaries. There wasn’t one envelope he wasn’t willing to push and he got away with it because the DNC turned on its own voters in order to secure his installation as nominee. We are not surprised at the way things turned out. Doubts arose almost immediately after his election and Obama’s true self was revealed not too long after that when he failed to put a plan to stimulate the economy based on Democratic party principles and policies.
So, now that the rest of the left is catching up with us, and have all become racists now, what can the Democrats do to keep the White House? It must offer voters a choice. It doesn’t matter what party voters belong to these days, they all want one thing- choice. They don’t want Obama anymore. They don’t feel that he’s entitled to a second term. But they’re not thrilled with the Republican choices either. What the country really wanted in 2008 was a Democrat. That’s not what they got.
I keep saying that what voters really want is a larger than life, unibrowed, red meat eating, Atila the Hun style Democrat who will stand up to the monied interests and fight for the middle class. Or they want someone they have shared a history with who they feel they can trust to do the right thing. Whoever that person is, he/she has to have titanium balls and drive to do whatever it takes to turn things around even if that means they will only be a one term wonder. By continuing to offer Obama, the Democrats are not giving voters the President they want or need. The Democrats have turned learned helplessness into an art form. What difference will it make if voters choose Romney or Obama if the resulting policies are indistinguishable? Voters will have little incentive to turn out for Obama and the other downticket Democrats may suffer.
So, make Obama and offer he can’t refuse, get him out of the White House and get someone else to run. If Hillary won’t run, get someone like Ed Rendell. Give voters a real choice and make sure that there’s no funny business with the electoral process in 2012. Look like you give a f^*), Democrats, and you can win this thing. Give people no choice and you’re looking at soviet style stagnation.
Filed under: General | 45 Comments »
The Confluence 