Dem. Congressman from Oklahoma takes shots at Obama

[TeamJordan23]

Unpopular in Oklahoma

Rep. Dan Boren, a conservative Democrat in the reddest state in America, Oklahoma, says in the bluntest terms imaginable that President Obama has become a political liability:

“Barack Obama is very unpopular,” said Boren, who represents Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District. “He got 34 percent of the vote statewide, and less in our district. If he were to run for re-election today, I bet it would be even worse.”

Boren points out that he does support some of Obama’s initiatives, like the economic stimulus package. He has voted for Obama-supported bills 81 percent of the time, according to a recent Congressional Quarterly study. But despite this, he said the president is too liberal.

“It would be a lot nicer if we had someone who was in the middle,” he said. “Bill Clinton won our district. A lot of people don’t remember that, but he, in 1996, carried this district. I think if you have someone who governs from the middle, who’s pragmatic, who works with both parties. President Obama talks a lot about bipartisanship. If you look at some of the legislation, he may have one or two Republicans.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0709/Unpopular_in_Oklahoma.html?showall

[vaberella]

1. Why do I care about Oklahoma? Do they have electricity there? n/t

[Cha]

8. You bet..they get limpbaugh types pumped in

24/7.

[rurallib]

2. Well, Mr. Boreen, now is the time to show some political bravery

or some political cowardice. Let me guess which it will be. You will be more than happy to shit on America's future for your own re-election.
Don't look for Dan Boren in the next edition of Profiles in Courage.
PS - hey Dan, think skin color may have something to do with it, along with the 24 hour incessant republican echo chamber.

[LiberalAndProud]

3. With friends like Boren ... -nt

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Yeah, Boren, but your state's 2 Senators are assclowns. . .

so kindly fuck off.

[Arkana]

5. Join the Republicans, Mr. Boren.

Surely your lot will be better with them.

You enormous fuckwad. Shock! Awe! Obama's unpopular in Okla-fucking-homa!

[davidpdx]

25. +1

Maybe this is what he's seating the stage for. If so, let him. Then we can run a true progressive instead of this DINO piece of shit.

[Arkana]

26. In Oklahoma?

I severely doubt that a "true progressive" could be elected in Oklahoma.

[Edith Ann]

30. True Progressive

I consider Rep. Wallace Collins, HD 45?, to be a true progressive. He does however, have a hard time in the state legislature getting heard. The Repugs in our state try hard to drown him out. He has managed a lot of good legislation but has had to hand over authorship to a Repug to get it passed. He's coming up for reelection and the Repugs want to paint him as a do nothing Rep. when in fact they blatently steal his bills and prevent him from being the author of them if he wants them passed. For the good of his district and the people of the state he relinquishes them to these theives. Apparently they make no bones about it, telling him the bills will never be heard unless he gives them authorship. He calls himself the republican IDEA MAN. If he gets beaten, then our legislature may truly be about the next state song or vegetable. God knows there isn't much that comes out of the OK State House that is good for the people. We have a corporate theocracy in our state. Ok. is brainwashed by Fox News and people are taught hate in churches where they should be learning to "Love Thy Neighbor".

[DFW]

6. This kind of statement makes us in the south look like provincial buffoons

Texas isn't Oklahoma, but making statements based on the notion that the sun revolves around your district,
or even your state, is ridiculous posturing. Is Boren up for re-election next week or something? Yes, we all
know that Oklahoma is the reddest state in the union. That my be something to be proud of in some circles, but
most of the country sees things differently. Oklahoma may pride itself on being farthest away from the mainstream
of American thinking, but is that really a thing to be so proud of?

Hey, if Boren is going to parrot talking points from Fox or National Hate Radio, why doesn't he just go all-out
and say Obama is too socialist, too Muslim, and too Indonesian-born for Oklahoma tastes? "Too liberal," my ass.
Boren doesn't even know the meaning of the word. Obama has pursued mostly centrist policies up to this point. In
office, he has tempered, out of unhappy necessity, much of his progressive campaign rhetoric with pragmatism.
Of course, maybe to Boren, pragmatism is equal to liberalism. Seeing as how pragmatism was completely absent
for the last eight year of "their" White House, I can see where Republicans might not exactly be able to recognize
it, or even what it means. If Boren feels he has to run as a Republican next time in order to retain his seat,
let him! We can handle the loss. But let him at least follow his true colors. Don't go voting with Obama 81%
of the time, and then go around calling him "too liberal," when in your part of the country "liberal" just means
Democrat, and nothing else. You don't think so, Dan? Go around your district and ask people what "liberal" means.
See how many answers you get that come anywhere near the correct definition. Jay Leno gets more correct answers
when "Jaywalking," and that's close to zero.

[MarjorieG]

7. So if the GOP hadn't left us with needing liberal solutions, Obama would be okay?

If not the stimulus, which he agress with, what is he/the voters objecting to, I wonder? A liability is pretty harsh language to go viral, without explaining what exactly is so liberal about attending to people's problems.

Tired of our Congress not explaining to constituents what Obama is doing, policy merits, or even trying to bridge the racial gap somehow.

[Cha]

9. So he's covering his

ass for the next election in his fact challenged district.

Does Pres Obama go with a dan boren or what the majority of the people want?

[Still Sensible]

10. I wished his dad had passed on some of his

balls to his son. BTW David Boren, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been President at the University of Oklahoma since he left the Senate in 1994 and was a vocal supporter of President Obama's campaign last year. Of the democratic politicians in this state, Dan Boren has been the lease supportive of Obama and the most wishy washy, appease the right wing congressman I have seen.

Dan Boren is not wrong about the polls in his (our) district, but IMO he should be standing up and showing some backbone instead of simply reading the polls and trashing the President. His father did that as governor and senator... sometimes if you lead enough will follow to overcome those polls.

I don't think any state bought into the Reagan dogma with quite the verve of Oklahoma. "Government bad, all taxes bad, wave the flag, democrats are immoral, and praise God (and Rush)" have been stronger here than anywhere else I have lived.

[Cha]

12. I was thinking he should be

standing up too..instead he comes off like a weinie thinking about his next election.

[Still Sensible]

19. Absolutely.

Unfortunately in places that are hotbeds for right wingers, they are also hotbeds of RW hypocrisy. It almost doesn't matter what you do so long as you provide ongoing evidence that you have drank the kool-aid of God, Guns, Rush and Reagan.

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. David Boren supported OK's "Right to Work" law:

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/R/RI007.html

I guess that showed he had balls, right?

[Still Sensible]

20. No. I didn't say he was perfect.

But he was a hell of a lot more "democratic" than his son has been.

[Thrill]

11. Too liberal or Too black for your district??

Just sayin

[Cha]

22. Code word

alert~!

[WI_DEM]

13. the only reason Bill Clinton won his district in '96 was because of Ross Perot.

[Perky]

14. THis is what you call Local Domestic political consumption.

He votes party line... He is sure to lose, He has no choice but to distance himself for survival.

If he is with the President Half the time I am fine with him.

[Hippo_Tron]

23. True, but he could be less of an annoying shit about it

How about, "I respect the President but we fundamentally disagree on many issues that are important to my constituents" rather than "The President is too liberal and is a liability for me, wah!! wah!!".

BTW, Boren doesn't hasn't had a serious challenge for his seat in a while and he probably won't anytime soon. He wants to run statewide IMO and that's why he feels the need to trash the President in a high profile way.

[Politicalboi]

15. Oklahoma

Haven't they seceded yet? As Oklahoma goes so goes the country I guess. :rofl:

[TrogL]

16. it would have been nice to put "(figuratively)" in the title

Don't scare me like that.

[4lbs]

17. A Conservative House Democrat.

Interesting how the House passed a more ambitious health care plan than Congress ($1 trillion versus $500-600 billion).

There's more House Democratic support for the President's issues than in the Senate.

I won't really give much thought to this guy who still yammers about bipartisianship when it's been shown time and again that the GOP just won't play ball. Even on a bill laden with Republican Amendments, the GOP members still vote "Nay" on it.

[jberryhill]

21. "Even worse"? In Oklahoma?

Mr. Obama did not win a single county in Oklahoma. Is OK planning to get larger or something?

[ibegurpard]

24. LoL...He thinks Obama's a liberal

shows how far-right the Democratic party has moved.

[MadBadger]

27. If you think the Democratic Party is far-right, your on the wrong site.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

28. David Boren was an intelligent, Senator who enhanced the chamber by his presence there

He may have been on the conservative side (which is to be expected if you're from Oklahoma) but he actually engaged in making intelligent, rational and thougthful contributions to Senate debates and legislation over the sixteen years that he served in the institution.

His son, by contrast, doesn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed -probably another one of those "I got ahead in life because of Daddy's name recognition" children that seem to come from some of the prominent political dynasties. Instead of making an intelligent and coherent case for his point of view, he gains publicity by scapegoating the leader of his party and hanging him out to dry.

You stay classy Dan. And by the way what have YOU done to help Democratic presidential candidates in your district, Dan? Oh, that's right. You were trashing Obama to your own constituents even before the Democratic National Convention last year. Yeah, way to go in helping us to win votes there :eyes:

[PVnRT]

29. More to the center? What planet does this guy live on?

Oklahoma politicians make Texas politicians look like geniuses.