If you are getting a little down and out about the November election don't be

[NNN0LHI]

First reason is the Clinton factor. The Clinton's know that if they can get Obama elected to another term Hillary will be a shoe in for 2016. Probably her last chance to run for president. That is pretty important. We are going to see a lot of Bill Clinton this summer.

Second reason is Romney is who President Obama wanted to run against. How lucky could we have gotten to have a true 1%er, Plutocrat, whatever you want to call Romney as the person running against Obama at this time? That kind of thing usually only happens in dreams.

Third reason is the Obama campaign has been planning on running against Romney since before the last election. They had to because they didn't know McCain would win the nomination. The Obama campaign knows things about Romney he doesn't even know about himself yet.

Fourth reason is President Obama is one smartest people I have ever known of in my entire life. Here is an example:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/7498310-452/hold-the-fork-obama-may-not-be-toast-yet.html

<snip>I keep thinking about a moment during the 2008 presidential debates. John McCain was trying to score a cheap political point by sinking his teeth into Obama’s efforts to get federal support for a new mechanism to project stars at the Adler Planetarium, replacing one that was 40 years old and crumbling.

McCain called it a “$3 million overhead projector” as if it were office supply surplus.

He brought it up three times, and I settled back, eager for Obama to dice him apart for being deceptive and taking a stand against teaching schoolchildren about the heavens.

Obama didn’t. He demurred. He let McCain have his little victory. I couldn’t understand it, not until the debates were over and Obama had beat McCain, who seemed mean, vindictive, almost unhinged. It began to dawn on me that perhaps Obama knew what he was doing, perhaps he declined to arm-wrestle McCain over his Adler canard because he was going for victory on more substantive matters, like a wrestler who doesn’t need to rack up easy points because he’s going to pin the guy.

I’m not saying that Obama is looking weak intentionally — that letting the Republicans knock his books out of his hands and kick them down the hall is part of some master plan to draw Republicans out and lure them into nominating the most fanatical among them to face him. Nobody is that smart.

But we should remember that restraint and deliberation is what got Obama this far.

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Now think about what you just read and realize that Obama could have easily made McCain look like a stupid old man during that exchange. It would have been a victory for Obama too. But, a very short victory. Imagine how it would have looked to people if a young guy like Obama had made McCain looking like a doddering old fool. McCain, being a war veteran and cancer survivor. Lets just say it wouldn't have played well in Peoria. One screw up right there could have cost us the election. And Obama didn't bite.

I can think of about a hundred reasons just like these why President Obama will win in November but this two finger typist is getting tired.

See if you can think of some more.

Don

[monmouth]

1. I also give kudos to Axelrod and Plouffe. POTUS is lucky to have them. n/t

[jberryhill]

2. "Hillary will be a shoe in for 2016"

She's made it pretty clear that she intends to retire and will likely pursue other things. I seriously doubt she's interested in tying the record for oldest president.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. All good points

but I'm still not taking anything for granted. I can probably come up with a hundred dirty tricks the goopers could employ, but I don't want to give them any ideas.

[madokie]

4. I agree with you

President Obama is no ones fool, nor is he a tool

[vi5]

5. I'll always be worried....

I'm voting for him. I'll probably even swallow my pride and maybe even donate.

But I've been told too many times since he was sworn in that "Relax. He's got this. He's smarter than all of us. He has the best advisers. He's several steps ahead of all of us. He's playing the right for fools." only to have the results be exactly as many of us had predicted they would be.

And admittedly a lot of those times it was as much an over optimism about the intelligence of the American public and a too eager belief that they would either see the truth as to how good some of the stuff that was being done was (the ACA), or give Obama much more credit than they have for his "bipartisan" efforts.

Ultimately when I watch him campaign, and speak about the issues, and do some of the full court media press like he has been doing (that Fallon appearance, etc.) I'm confident he'll pull it off. The same way Clinton did. The fact is that much in the same way it was with Clinton, people like Obama despite the way he's portrayed by the mouth breathing neanderthals in the Republican party.

But if one thing makes me worry it's when people tell me not to worry.

[UTUSN]

6. While I was a Hillary supporter in the primaries, she has paid heavy dues

and deserves a long, sweet retirement. I saw her in person at a rally back then, about this time/April, and she was TIRED. Four years from now, what will that be like? On Edit: This does not preclude the O.P.'s premise of CLINTON support for OBAMA; why wouldn't they support him?

We need to develop a stable of new talent.


On Edit: While any win or loss is always possible, I have fairly strong hope for a win in November. I shudder if Mittens picks Jeb Crow Shrub as a mate. Despite many here claiming that Shrub damaged the B.F.E.E. brand so much that it's impossible, Jeb Crow Shrub is a powerful a-hole, and no other Rethug speaks perfect Spanish like him and really can attract non-Cuban Hispanic (besides Cuban) voters.

[Lionessa]

7. The reason I'm down is because

having had such high hopes last round, and such faith in the concept that we were finally going to get change... I find I'm faced with two status quo-ers, one worse than the other, but neither living up to the candidate who has so not been the president he said he'd be.

[n2doc]

9. +1 n/t

[WilliamPitt]

8. Not down

Definitely worried.

[n2doc]

10. Unfortunately Obama has had to campaign with one arm behind his back, so to speak

Because if he is too aggresive, he'll come across as too "up...." to some voters. In 2008 he really had to walk a fine line to avoid that tag.

I am still convinced many evangelicals will stay home rather than vote for an infidel like Romney.

[applegrove]

11. There is this too at the link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125132899

[Ineeda]

12. Your McCain example...

Candidate Obama could have taken advantage of the situation (and others as well) but it could, and undoubtedly would have been perceived as bullying the doddering old fool. One thing our president is not, is a bully. Smart in so many ways. Plus he's cool.

[0rganism]

13. the thing that worries me the most is the "superPAC" money

Romney will be lucky to raise as much for his campaign fund as Obama. But a lot of the big GOP spenders are writing big checks to the superPACs instead. From there, they'll be able to launch a continuous, unaccountable, and unanswerable barrage of lies and distortions that will have an effect. Look at how much the swift boat liars attack set Kerry back, and multiply that negative publicity by a thousand post-Citizens United.

The next thing on the conservative side of the balance is the new wave of voter suppression laws in many states. I doubt they'll have much more than a 2-3% overall impact, but most of that is going to be in key Obama support demographics: college students, minorities, elderly on medicare. That 2-3% is coming almost entirely out of the Democratic base.

And we still have those shitty touch screen voting machines trashing votes throughout the nation. The worst ones somehow seem to show up in understaffed urban precincts, too. Funny how that works.

Paperless voting aside, a 2% red shift from voter suppression plus a 5% shift from a propaganda bomb like we've never seen before will totally negate the President's current polling advantage. We needed a big win with coat tails so we could take back the house, but this one will be very close.