2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumEven If He's Re-Elected, the Right Will Do Everything They Can to Destroy Barack Obama & His Dream
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For the past year, I've described the current political environment by commenting on the sad notion that there is a significant number of people in this country who truly hate President Obama more than they love America. Maybe it's not that simple. Maybe it's not just that they hate Obama, but that they hate America, too. At least, they hate the America that Obama represents.
It's an America where the land of diversity thrives. It's the America of equal opportunity where all, not just a select few, can dream big dreams and have a shot at a future regardless of what they believe, whom they love, what they look like, how much money they have, or who their parents are. In other words, it's everything they fight against in their policies and everything they find suspicious, vulgar, and undesirable. It's everything they hate.
For the people intent on reverting to a pre-1960s America, "the good ole days when everything was right," their greatest threat isn't just a liberal Democratic president.
Their greatest threat comes from a skinny black kid with a funny name, born to biracial parents, raised in a cluster of cultures, exposed to the Bible, the Quran, and the Bhagavad-Gita alike, who, through hard work and determination, rose to become the most powerful man in the world.
That's not supposed to happen. Such positions are supposed to be reserved for the next in line, the carefully groomed offspring of the rich, the powerful, and the privileged. It's supposed to be held for the social elite, the ones who, by virtue of birth and parentage, deserve it. Someone like Mitt Romney, someone like George W. Bush. Even someone like John Kennedy. But the idea that a biracial child with a funny name should rise to usurp that role is anathema to the carefully established social order that was supposed to endure even the hollow, noblesse oblige puffery for the notion of the "American Dream."
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http://www.deepsouthprogressive.com/2012/10/even-if-hes-re-elected-right-will-do.html
SubgeniusHasSlack
(276 posts)due to its obvious sociopathetic motives.
It is impossible to see this in the deep south where the last bastions of unabashed bigotry will linger, but it is happening, and the momentum to marginalize teabagibans is building.
Zen Democrat
(5,901 posts)The Republican Party or the GOP or whatever it once was, is GONE. When even the Eisenhower family has left the party en masse, various Reagan administration officials, et al., they have imploded. It's done, win or lose, and it will be lose.
Mojo2
(332 posts)but as long as we control the Supreme Court appointments all will be well.
Texin
(2,584 posts)That's been their MO for the past four years. It was their game plan set forth by McConnell and his cabal on the eve of Obama's swearing in as POTUS.
I used to see more enlightened repugs in the past learn from their overreaching agenda. Gingrich got kicked in the ass during Clinton's term and the rest of the rethugs were a little chastened following the government standstill in '93 that had significant blowback for them because the people were, apparently, a little smarter back then and realized that it was the rethugs that were putting up all the obstacles and letting the federal government grind to a complete standstill. This group of racist, wingnut, religious fanatics has all but lost their mind,s never mind their common sense. I don't see them stopping until they turn this entire country into a bunch of whitebread numbskulls just like themselves. They're will to throw this country under the bus just to promote their hateful agenda.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Might make the court more interesting to have justices rotating in and out every few months.
Hell, even Dennis could have a shot for awhile!
Maximumnegro
(1,134 posts)and they blew it. The GOP will now shift back to the center. Chris Christie is the canary. Watch how he behaves - this is what you will be seeing. They will crush the wingnuts out and move to moderate. The GOP establishment is NOT the tea party, the tea part is just a tool. Just as they did with Akin, the GOP are going to show who's boss.
liberalmuse
(18,670 posts)They love money, so I think that liberals ought to make a mass transfer of wealth away from Republican-owned businesses to Democratic/liberal-owned businesses. Why feed this hate machine? The only thing they really have is wealth which they use to try and buy office so they can pass laws that will enable them to make more wealth for themselves at the expense and on the backs of most Americans.
Texin
(2,584 posts)I also predict that the rethugs will continue their obstructionist agenda. That will happen unless they see blowback from the electorate to a number of the teabaggers that have been promoting this agenda the loudest and holding the party captive for the last two years. If there is some turnover in the down ticket races of negative consequence to the teabaggers, then they rethugs might rethink their agenda. But I'm not hopeful about that. I think they'll continue with this because they want to make things so terrible that they believe the electorate will drum out every last Democrat up for election over the next four years because "nothing is being done" - even though it's caused by rethug-teabagger obstructionism.
Divine Discontent
(21,056 posts)and we just need to keep reminding them, if he wins (hopefully!), that McCain and Romney aren't the president. But, it's going to take some down ballot action to really make a dent. hopefully we'll get 15 or more seats to help.
Get it here -> http://www.zazzle.com/youre_not_in_the_1_why_vote_like_you_are_bumpe_bumper_sticker-128479630785214922?rf=238107662556833486
Floyd_Gondolli
(1,277 posts)The goal right now is to be in a position to have that battle.
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)TheZug
(966 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,201 posts)MightyAfrodite
(157 posts)Do the people look like we're scared of their broke asses? Please.
BlueDemKev
(3,003 posts)...we'll have to destroy THEM first. Which is what we failed to do in 2009 when Obama kept holding out his hand to those assholes when they had made it 100% clear they would NOT work with him come hell or high water. The only way to beat bullies is to STAND UP TO THEM and it's time we stopped being so damn nice to our adversaries. You can't work with folks who call you a communist parasite. We need to expose them for the lying, uneducated hateful pieces of shit they are!
Maximumnegro
(1,134 posts)They have no choice. The GOP is NOT the tea party. The GOP has the real power and they have already made it clear w/ Akin that they will leave the TPs hung out to dry. The GOP is not stupid. They will follow Chris Christie and lurch to the center. Watch for Rubio to become more prominent as well. Bush/Rubio 2016 is something to fear and that will most certainly be a center-right ticket.
You guys just love to worry. Goddamn.
Paladin
(28,173 posts)krawhitham
(4,634 posts)WI_DEM
(33,497 posts)ashtonelijah
(340 posts)Or just the headline?
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)For starters, four more years of Obama means that the Affordable Care Act will be fully implemented (with non-profit, government regulated plans as part of the insurance exchanges), and it will never go away. Once people realize what a good deal it is, ACA will become the new "third rail" of politics.
There's also going to be "hell to pay" in the Republican Party. I don't know how it will shake out -- nobody does -- but it's likely to create a schism that will take more than one election cycle to resolve. If the Republican Establishment is successful in taking back the steering wheel, you can looke for a host of Tea Partiers to spend at least one election cycle voting Libertarian, which is good news for whoever the 2016 Democratic nominee might be.
After 2016, history and demographics are decidedly not in favor of the Old Guard. I'm fifty years old, and I'm completely confident that a woman will be President in my lifetime. There's also going to be a hispanic President. Middle aged white guys like me are no longer the Masters of the Universe, and the end of that particular era couldn't come soon enough.
treestar
(82,383 posts)As far as the House goes, we need to take it back, but if we do not, they still can't get their vile bills signed.
Also having a second term gives them some backlash - if the People spoke that way, they can hardly argue. Maybe that's why they "worry" about all the things they think Obama can do in a second term where you go like if he didn't do it in his first, why wait for the second one?