Unilateral Disarmament Has Destroyed the Democrats

[Joanne98]

For OpEdNews: Cenk Uygur - Writer

President Obama spent the first two years of his administration practicing political unilateral disarmament. He laid down his arms to reach out to Republicans, and they ripped his arms off and clubbed him over the head with them.

This idea of playing patty-cakes with the Republicans is enormously naïve. When is this administration going to get it through their thick skulls that they will never work with you?!

Now, if attempts at bipartisanship had no downside, then of course I'd be in favor of it. As a theoretical matter, trying to reach out to the other side and reach consensus sounds lovely. But it does have a downside. You don't get to make your own case as you're playing nice with the other side. They're hammering you day in and day out, and you keep your powder dry. You know what that ends up in -- a massacre.

And that's exactly where we are now as the Democrats are looking to get slaughtered in 2010. Gallup says the Republicans have a historically large 10-point lead in generic Congressional matchups. The president has gone from a 68% approval rating to the low 40's. He's lost nearly 25% of the country in his approval rating. That's a disaster.

So, the president has fallen and he can't get up. But more importantly, he can't figure out why he fell. It's because you let the Republicans push you down and you never even fought back. You only have two months left -- take the f'in gloves off, Queensberry.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Unilateral-Disarmament-Has-by-Cenk-Uygur-100902-824.html

[T Wolf]

1. Unless the Democrats, including Obama, start to show a spine in the next two months, there

will be a massacre in November.

For many of us, we are aching for them to show anything that indicates that they are fighting for us instead of against us.

We will give them every opportunity, and then some more chances, to earn our support.

Our vote is there - it is up to them whether they keep it or throw it away.

[ihavenobias]

2. K & R. This was the top rated diary at Daily Kos yesterday, for good reason. n/t

[theFrankFactor]

3. One Small Area of Disagreement...

Obama knows EXACTLY what he's doing. Look at who he surrounds himself with! At the highest levels the Democratic party is a fraud.

[unblock]

5. if he were a fraud (or a good fraud, anyway), he'd be out making a huge sales pitch for the dems

yes, he's going from state to state campaiging for selected dems, making the standard (yawn) presidential appearance/endorsement.

if he were a any good at being a fraud, he'd be on prime time television like he was campaigining for re-election touting his record and the major accomplishments from the democratic party and how the republicans suck.

frauds LOUDLY tend to their image and quietly do otherwise.

in this case obama seems content to let his image slide. he HAS accumulated a lot of good material for a barnstorming stump tour, but he hasn't done this.

[Name removed]

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[Turborama]

4. Preferably... Take the f'in gloves off, Muay Thai. n/t

[chill_wind]

6. "He laid down his arms to reach out to Republicans,

and they ripped his arms off and clubbed him over the head with them."

Yep. Who could have ever expected that?

:-/

[20score]

7. K&R!

[maxsolomon]

8. I'd imagine there's a big roll-out planned for next Tuesday

and i pray that "we tried to cross the aisle and look what we got" is the centerpiece.

[Recursion]

9. What gloves have been on?

The "reaching out" I've seen from Obama has mostly been to more conservative Democrats. Other than some cabinet appointments I haven't seen him reach out much to any Republicans. What did Cenk have in mind?

[ShamelessHussy]

14. the republicans he has kept on, the ones he has offered new jobs to

as well as every legislation initiative, which he carry's on with, even after having his arms ripped off, and being beaten bloody with.

not to mention the conservative dems.

thats what Cenk, and the rest of the folks who are upset, have in mind.

[Recursion]

16. "Every legislative initiative"

But look back: the actual legislative compromises he's made have been with other Democrats, not with Republicans.

[ShamelessHussy]

19. Oh

It must be all in our heads then :eyes:

[Recursion]

20. Well, in a sense, yes

Common wisdom is just factually wrong, a whole lot, and I think this is a case of that. Obama's negotiations that I know of have been with important moderate/conservative Democratic senators like Baucus, not with Republicans. Do you know of any examples of Obama trying to come to a deal with a Republican?

[pleah]

11. K&R Yep

[depakid]

12. The sheer amount of this dysfunctional behavior during the past 20 months has been astonishing

[wuvuj]

13. He and it (the demo party) are....

...responding to an electorate that is at least 50% FASCIST...for lack of a better word. Many of those who vote see nothing wrong with the behavior of the US in recent years...in fact they would like to see even more ugly...as with the good Germans and their idea of "restoring honor"?

The guiding principle seems to be...get elected? So how do you do this without kowtowing to the ignorant and ethically challenged?

[ShamelessHussy]

15. disagree, he would never had been elected, if that were the case - n/t

Where's the Change!?

[bherrera]

17. it's the economy, that is all

The people tend to be impatient. Because the US economy is not in such good shape, they are blaming those in power. I also see a very strong propaganda machine with Fox news and the right wing media. The problem in the USA is caused by the way these guys are lying to the people. Eventually they'll realize Fox News is garbage.

[Recursion]

21. Well, no, probably not

The thing about propaganda and public narratives is they perpetuate themselves.

eg, if you ask most people they probably think Columbus was trying to prove the earth was round to a bunch of people who thought it was flat. That will probably be with us for centuries. People don't care enough to un-learn falsehoods.

[Paladin]

18. My Sentiments EXACTLY. K&R.

Historians a hundred years from now will still be discussing the way the Obama administration naively ceded the field to a bunch of no-nothing, newly-empowered Republicans and Tea Baggers, with hardly a whimper of protest.....

[Tutankhamun]

22. Historians will then lament that essentially nothing was done to stop global warming.

That is, if the planet is still inhabited by humans in 100 years. Civilization as we know it will be gone; that seems clear.

[yurbud]

23. Dems have serious conflict of interest: their voter base and the donors they want

They want the Wall Street bucks, but Wall Street does NOT want progressive policies (ie, a business community subject to the rule of law and a strong middle class). Progressive voters (any Democrat who isn't independently wealthy and even a lot who are independently wealthy) do want to see business interests subordinated to our national interests and want to preserve and expand the middle class.

If Democrats spoke clearly and boldly to their voter base (and more importantly ACTED boldly) they would spook their corporate donors and hoped for donors.

Instead, they sound like a judge trying to come up with a ruling that would make both a rape victim AND her rapist happy. So it's either going to be vague much or not make any sense at all, and in either case, won't make anyone happy.

[IndianaGreen]

24. This idea of playing patty-cakes with the Republicans is enormously naïve.

And they are still playing patty-cakes with the GOP when they blame Social Security for the deficit.

[mike r]

25. You don't win by being a political masochist

time after time after time

[ihavenobias]

26. Kick n/t