Election 2014: The GOP's war on Obama works, or: sabotage and proclaim: "Look he can't get it done!"

[Bill USA]

Last edited Wed Nov 19, 2014, 07:24 PM - Edit history (12)

The GOP said they were going to make this election about Obama. That's hardly a surprise to anyone. They didn't have any accomplishments or positive policy positions to propose and everyone knows that their campaign against Obama started on the President's day of inauguration, Jan 20, 2009. They decided then that, lacking any policy ground to stand on (Trickle Down Deregulation disaster was the culmination of thirty years of Republican policies of wealth concentration (e.g. tax reform) and the undermining of civic responsibility (i.e. Deregulation), their only course of action was - rather than admit they were clueless as to how to run the country - obstruct and attack Obama (i.e. sabotage everything the President and the Democrats tried to do - to prevent them from expeditiously repairing the economy and then blame President Obama for any lack of results.)

To that end, while President Obama was working to keep our ship from sinking, the Republicans were down below drilling new holes in the hull. Then, later they criticized President Obama because he hadn't returned the ship 'to trim'. This is like the guy who complains: "How DARE you strike my fist with your face!".

Now this vaudeville inspired campaign tactic would not fool anyone - except those not capable of thinking for themselves or those profoundly misinformed. But this being an 'off-year' election that would be of no concern as Republicans would be out 'in numbers' relative to Democrats. And the Corporate media could be counted on to take care of the misinformation part.

So, the result was Republicans gained several Senate seats and as the faithful M$M would pronounce hourly - Obama was drag on the Democratic candidates - WHILE the exit polls showed the voters prioritized concerns matched closely with what Obama and the Democrats have been focused on accomplishing but were obstructed and undermined at every step by the destructively partisan Republicans. ('destructively partisan' in that they worked to prevent the President from succeeding at everything he tried to do - and hurt the American people in the consequence)

Here is what the voters indicated were their greatest concerns...

Analysis: Shaking things up ... and making them and making them worse

Six years after the financial meltdown that led to the Great Recession, Americans continue to worry about the economy. It was the top issue cited by voters, well ahead of health care and immigration. Nearly eight in 10 say they are worried about the economy. Seven in 10 assess the economy as being "not good" or poor. Nearly as many say the economy is getting worse as those who say it's getting better.

What's more, there is a growing perception that the U.S. economic system is unfair. Two-thirds of voters say the system generally favors the wealthy; just a third say it is fair to most people. That has contributed to an erosion in faith in the traditional American dream: Now just one in five say the next generation will be better off than the current one. Half say it will be worse off.

So, there it is, among the voters...

The Economy is the top issue. Nearly 8 in 10 voters said they feel it's the TOP issue.

Nearly as many feel the economy is getting WORSE - as who feel it's getting better!

There is a pervasive feeling that the economic system is UNFAIR.

Two thirds of the voters feel the system generally favors the wealthy

Only a third say the economic system is fair to most people.

Just 1 in 5 say the next generation will be better off than the current one!

Half say the next generation will be worse off than the current generation!


So I guess if they voted in many Republicans - and, as the M$M tells us, this was a GOP "wave" election and that the vote "sends a message" to President Obama - then I guess the President's actions and policy priorities ran counter to the expressed concerns of the voters ...right? ......WRONG!

President Obama's and the Democratic Party's Priorities were those of 'everyday' Americans--
and they were opposed consistently and cynically by the GOP

The President acted to repair the economy from the Republican's Trickle Down Deregulation disaster. And he was fought by the Republicans every step of the way. The GOP attempted to filibuster the original stimulus bill (ARRA) even after he gave them what they said they wanted - a reduction of the spending (economic stimulus) in the bill by converting one third of the bill to tax cuts (hardly stimulating in a recession when people are worried they may not have a job in six months). In the end, three Republican Senators decided to vote FOR their country than WITH their party and the ARRA was passed into law.

President Obama has said several times that concentration of wealth in too few hands isn't good for our economy or our democracy. He tried to terminate the BUSH tax cuts only for the middle and low income people (feeling that the highest income groups really didn't need a permanent tax cut). But the GOP threatened to filibuster such a bill which would mean tax increases for everybody and a threat to the continuing recovery. Eventually, the President won a tax cut permanent extension only for those with incomes BELOW $400,000 ($450,000 filing jointly).

In president Obama's second term one of his top priorities was raising the Federal Minimum wage, but when the Democrats tried to introduce such a bill in Congress, the Republicans filibustered that too.

President Obama/Democrats have introduced several jobs/stimulus bills to provide further needed economic stimulus but the GOP successfully filibustered every one of these bills.

The GOP threatened and eventually shutdown the Government and threatened to cause a default on U.S. Debt. For the first time in history Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating. downgraded the credit rating of the United States.

The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.

The GOP's brand of 'War on Obama' politics lead businesses to be very wary of hiring back full-time permanent people. Businesses hired many more part-time workers than historically was the case. The reason was businesses weren't sure just what the GOP was capable of in terms of killing the recovery to hurt President Obama. Businesses over the last few years have been holding unprecedented cash hoards larger than at any time in the last half century. Not being sure what the Republicans were capable of doing to sabotage the recovery they have been wary of committing to investments, expansions or hiring back full-time workers. The result was to slow down and diminish the recovery.

So there you have it. The voters priorities have been President Obama's priorities. The Republicans have been undermining every effort to build an economic recovery. Yet the electorate voted in Republicans. The obvious reason for this result was that the GOP gambit of sabotaging everything President Obama has tried to do for the country and then attacking and demonizing the President for any lack of success - worked. The voters bought (well the Republicans and some Independents anyway) the campaign tactic (strait from the 'Marx brothers' repertoire) of sabotaging the ship and blaming the President for being a lousy 'skipper'.

But the Corporate Media don't want to talk about this - first of all, because it contradicts the GOP's narrative that this election result was a "wave election" for the Republicans and that therefore it means the American public supported GOP policies (now what were their expressed policies in this election? - oh yeah, "GET OBAMA!&quot and REJECTED PRESIDENT OBAMA. And to pull off this con on the electorate, Corporate media played an essential part.

During the runup to the election, M$M reliably repeated that the President was "toxic". But for the last six years, that same media did a thorough job of NOT informing people of the Republican Party's unremitting efforts to obstruct and sabotage everything the President tried to do - especially in terms of rebuilding the economy. Throughout President Obama's administrations the GOP set records for filibustering legislation and presidential appointments. But over this time period the M$M has held the word 'filibuster' verboten. And if 'filibuster' is verboten, you're going to have a hard time reporting the record setting GOP campaign of filibustering everything the president tried to do for the country. Nowhere in M$M television was this ever a subject of conversation. Thus, the preproduction work for the conning of the American electorate producing the GOP "wave" election was being done for several years in advance by the GOP with essential help provided by the Corporate television media.

[samsingh]

1. remember the first debate?

was the President acting like he understood how high the stakes were? how many progressives and liberals were counting on him?

why would he possibly say that there was no plan to deal with ISIS only a month ago? Right or wrong, that type of action causes elections to be lost.

[Bill USA]

3. I couldn't believe someone who is supposed to be smart would say:"my policies will be on the ballot"

he should have known he was delivering a line ripe for out-of-context abuse. He SHOULD have said: "Now Republicans will say my policies are on the ballot, but I never got to fully implement my policies due to record setting filibusters by the GOP"!!

[samsingh]

4. exactly - he has to know how vicious the repugs are

the first debate was highly important. He approached it so nonchalantly.

I have always been a major Obama fan. Unfortunately, I can't just ignore what seems to be reality.

[gmb92]

2. Obstructionism works

and it works best when the party obstructing has a low approval rating, as they have less to lose and more to gain.

It also works to disenfranchise voters, which tends to favor Republicans. Some Democratic voters will stay home, blaming their leaders for "weakness" that is perceived.

Make no mistake, though, midterm turnout is always low for Democrats, and that trend preceded Obama, driven by youth who don't believe elections are important beyond the presidential one. The under-30 crowd consistently makes up 17-19% of voters in presidential years (Gore/Kerry/Obama) and 12-13% during midterms (2002-2014).