"Republicans broke it, Democrats fixed it"

[PhilosopherKing]

This should be our slogan for the midterm elections. It is simple and true. I figure that if independents go into the voting booth with this thought, we will win the midterms.

The economy is coming around, we passed healthcare, most of the tarp money has been paid back, GM is doing well and hopefully financial reform will be passed.

Now is not the time to be cynical. Do you want to see Republicans control the House and Senate? I don't.

[kentuck]

1. I agree that is part of the frame we need to use...

Also, we need to ask the voters, Tea Partiers included, do they think we can survive 4 or 8 more years of someone like George W Bush? Bush and the Republicans created a huge mess and it is going to take a while to clean it up.

[MadHound]

2. Democrats fixed what?

The economy? Despite the numbers, which are shaky at best, for the vast majority of people in the real world there is still a recession going on.

Fixed the financial sector? Yeah, with our money, so they paid no penalty while we got the shaft. Oh, and most of the tarp money is still out there, like 130 billion. All this talk that we're going to make a profit is very premature.

GM, ummm, they dropped another four billion last year.

Education? :rofl:

Health care? Yeah, a mandated monopoly handing us all to the insurance industry on a silver platter is a real fix all right.

Sorry, but the Obama presidency has been a real disappointment, enough so that a great number of liberals and left leaning folks are either going to go third party or stay home. This is going to hurt the Dems this fall. Perhaps they'll learn the lesson, but I doubt it.

[MadMaddie]

3. 40 years it has taken to get to this point

your expectations are unrealistic.

Most if not all economist agree that the steps that were taken by the government stopped a catastrophic crash. This country was on the precipice......

Everything he has done hasn't been perfect.....

The list of "things to fix" is extensive.....

I am not giving him a pass but I will acknowledge that 40 years of destruction by the Repug party will not resolved overnight.

[MadHound]

6. I'm not looking for miracles here,

At best I'm hoping for no further destruction, some stability, and perhaps a few crumbs thrown the left's way.

Instead he is following policies that are detrimental to me, my friends and family. The pumping up of the war is going to ruin us financially. The destruction of public education means that these past four years of college that I got are looking more and more worthless. My LGBT friends are thrown under the bus. And now that I've finally achieved a stable place in the middle class, it looks like it is going to be eroded away because of the mandated monopoly that was handed over to the insurance industry.

It has been forty years of destruction, but it hasn't all been done by 'Pugs. After all, it was Clinton who massively deregulated the financial sector, helping land us in our current mess.

I'm not expecting miracles, however I was hoping that things wouldn't get worse. I guess that I hope in vain.

[laughingliberal]

11. Hey, that poster isn't the one who suggested we start claiming we 'fixed' it

I think that slogan would look a little ridiculous to those whose lives are still down the toilet right now. "Fixed what?" would be the response, I think.

[treestar]

14. They are only the same people who are always miserable no matter what

And can't handle any adversity at all.

Playing right into the conservatives' hands, blaming the President for their personal circumstances.

[MadHound]

18. Can't handle adversity, is that what you think of me?

You have absolutely no clue as to the adversity that I've faced in my life. You have no right to even make that statement.

[laughingliberal]

22. Well, after 27 years working as an RN, I'm no stranger to adversity

but I think running a campaign of we 'fixed' it is going to piss off a lot of people who don't see anything in their lives fixed. Hey, I didn't create humans. I'm just making an observation about their likely reaction to a claim that it's all 'fixed' now.

And if there are those who think it's all 'fixed' that's good. Cause I think we've got some bridges over swamp land we could interest them in.

[PhilosopherKing]

21. Like I said

Now is not the time to be cynical. If we continue to add jobs, we can point to that as being "fixed".

[MadHound]

24. Big if, a mighty big if

Right now the real unemployment rate is running at twenty percent or over. Sure, we added 162,000 jobs last month, but it takes the addition of 125,000 jobs/month just to keep up with growth. A forty thousand net gain is nothing in the face of the millions who are unemployed.

[laughingliberal]

25. It is guaranteed to look arrogant and out of touch to go around claiming we 'fixed' it

I'm sorry. I know I saw improved job numbers but the fact is the numbers in my state and many others have not budged. And there are some states where the numbers are worse. I think all you need to do to guarantee we become the party of out of touch is start telling people who still don't have a job or who are working for 35% less than they were that we 'fixed' it. Then, when it doesn't go over we can tell them as the other poster here suggests that they're just a bunch of whiny lightweights who don't know how to weather adversity. I'm sure that will get them to the polls. But it won't be to vote for our guys.

[PhilosopherKing]

29. If not "fixed", then what word would you suggest?

I understand your argument against using the word "fixed." What would be more appropriate?

[laughingliberal]

35. I think it would be wise to convey the message we understand the challenges facing

people who have been devastated in this financial crisis and plan to keep working towards solutions to get them back on their feet. FDR, during the depression, never claimed to have all the answers but what he did do was promise the people he was going to keep working to find the answers and he was able to convince them he was on their side. Empathy goes a long way if people believe it's sincere. Sincerity in conveying a sense of caring about the people is difficult if you still have the taint of the Goldman Sachs team hanging on you. I think it's wise the administration has kept Geithner and Summers largely under wraps lately. We're in a difficult position with the teabaggers having co-opted the populist anger and the only anecdote to that would be some populist programs ala FDR. I don't think we're going to see that but that is what it will take to get the electorate excited about voting for Democrats in November.

[PhilosopherKing]

36. perhaps but

can you put it in a slogan people can remember?

[Greyhound]

32. And Democrats helped it along each and every year, so what?

There has been no fix, as in repair, to correct the malfunction.

Obama has done the same thing Raygun did, took every dollar we could borrow and gave it to the parasites. Sure, anybody that pours a trillion or so dollars into the stock market will make it go up, but the stock market is not the economy, it is simply the recipient of a trillion dollars.

Give another trillion dollars to the only institutions with a literal license to print money and guess what? They can leverage that into 91 trillion dollars and make the numbers go up, that isn't the economy either. In fact the real economy is the only entity in this Kabuki that didn't get anything except a greater burden dumped on it.

[monmouth]

It seems you post your OP with hope and glee...Sad....n/t

[MadHound]

10. No, I post our of despair and frustration

Nothing like sacrificing four years of your life and fortune to become a teacher only to find that your government is going to put the screws to public education even harder.

[treestar]

12. You have to be tougher

Especially if you are going to be a teacher. Are you going to give up on students as easily?

[MadHound]

16. No, I don't have to be tougher, I have to find a fucking job, that's what I have to do

There simply aren't any teaching jobs in my area, and part of the reason for that is because the government is handing out money only with charter school strings attached.

[laughingliberal]

19. +1 nt

[Greyhound]

33. I feel for you. These ass****s are just infuriating in their derision.

Good luck to us all.

[Marr]

42. You left out the "bootstraps" part.

Democrats are sounding more and more like Reaganites.

[laughingliberal]

43. There's a reason for that

It appears when the Reagan Democrats 'came home,' they brought Reagan with them.

[kentuck]

5. I do think it will require a little more time.

We were not left in the best of shape by the Bush Administration. It is moving very, very slow but we should wait and see what happens with financial reform before we jump the ship, in my opinion. He has only been in office 1 yr and 4 months.

[MadHound]

8. I recognize that, but in my own personal world he is making things worse

His ongoing destruction of education effects me personally. Health care "reform" is going to take an ever increasing amount of my money. Meanwhile the war has been doubled down on twice, the economy is getting ready for another plunge (commercial real estate) and I'm frankly seeing little to be optimistic about.

It would be nice to have some of that much touted hope enter my life, but I haven't seen it yet.

[kentuck]

15. Where do you think you would be today if McCain had won?

Do you think you would be in a better situation? It may not be going according to plan but there would have been no plan with McCain and the Repubs. I have similar concerns as you about the economy and commercial real estate, unemployment, healthcare, etc. But do you seriously think it would have been better if Obama had not won the election?

[MadHound]

17. Would it have been better? No,

The question really becomes would it have been worse? About the only thing that I can say is that Obama slowed down our progress, but we're still going off that proverbial cliff.

[laughingliberal]

20. Regardless, I think using a campaign slogan saying we 'fixed' it is premature. nt

[treestar]

9. That much cynicism has got to be a downer

What an awful outlook on life.

[MadHound]

13. That's why long ago I developed a deep appreciation of nature, intellectual life,

And a wonderful social life. I learned during the Reagan years that political reality in this country sucked and in the end there was very little I could do to effect it.

[yodoobo]

26. Most everything we have tackled.

Healthcare

Financial industry

And yes the economy is doing very well lately. Not as good a we had hoped but its going in the right direction and most have benefited and will continue to do so.

Education still needs attention but we've had a pretty full plate. We did fix the education loan system though on the back of the healthcare fix.

Dems will do just fine this fall. In fact we'll proably add a few seats and retake the Senate.

[opihimoimoi]

4. I Love It....and the gall, the Nerve....them Republicans wanna break it again?`

Pub Brand Com'p by self inflicted wounds....Dems will benefit gain in House and Senate

Pubs Stymied

Resorting to name calling and brown shirt intimidation...

GOP = FAIL

[treestar]

7. Good idea!

:yourock:

[laughingliberal]

23. Yeah, great. I think we can count on about 13.2% of the voters in my state to vote against Democrats

if they start claiming things are 'fixed.'

[PhilosopherKing]

27. If jobs start to come back

then we can say things are being "fixed", right?

[laughingliberal]

34. You can say whatever you like

The issue is how many you can convince. I think a much better approach would be to show we are in touch with the real life problems real live people are having. I predict saying things are 'fixed' is setting us up for a George the 1st moment of being astounded by the scanners at the grocery store and not knowing the price of a gallon of milk. Another parallel is John McCain's, "the fundamentals of the economy are strong," as average Americans were watching their lives collapse around them. Whatever Clinton's faults may have been he had the ability to convey empathy and the people believed he understood their problems. This "we 'fixed' it meme" is tone deaf as hell.

[pleah]

28. ROTFLMAO!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[NJmaverick]

30. This is an excellent idea!

:applause:

[Duke Newcombe]

31. Repeated. All day, every day.

[laughingliberal]

37. There are 2 parallels I see to using a slogan this tone deaf when so many are still in pain

1) George the 1st at the supermarket unable to answer what a gallon of milk cost
2) John 'the fundamentals of the economy are sound' McCain.

These races are going to be decided by very narrow margins. You can bet not one person who remains unemployed or who is working for 35% less than they were 3 years ago is going to vote for anyone who calls our current situation 'fixed.' That is more than enough people to sway the elections way against us. It is the type of tone deaf message I would expect to hear from a Republican. We need to really focus on letting people know we understand they are still struggling and find some way to help them believe it is improving and we are still working for them. Saying we 'fixed' it isn't going to sound good to people still wondering if they will have a place to live or a job or enough to feed their families. And there are still enough of those out here to defeat candidates who convey a message of arrogance at a time when empathy is called for.

[PhilosopherKing]

38. What's your slogan then?

Voters need something simple to remember in the voting booth.

[laughingliberal]

39. I'm not much of a sloganeer but I would think something along the lines of

"We're working to restore America." or "We're moving America forward." or "Meeting the challenges of a new century of hope for all Americans." It might also work to say something more like, "Let's work together to restore America." It's always good for the people to feel as if they are part of it.

These suggest there is still much to be done and we're there to see it through.

[shotten99]

40. Amen

[Marr]

41. "Mission Accomplished"?

Not wise, IMHO.

[4lbs]

44. How about this instead?

"Democrats? HELL YES!"

"Republicans? HELL NO!"

[laughingliberal]

45. Better. nt