I'd very much like to hear people's thoughts on Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: you create

[patrice]

that which you promote, e.g. President Obama is "nightmare", a traitor to the people, therefore we should not support him in any regard, resulting in, in order to prevent things from falling apart completely, driving the President to the support that IS available to him, i.e. center-right to right (since those positions are already so well represented and easily available to him), thusly justifying your position and resulting in a further rightward drift.

I'd like to know how people think all of this is going to play out to accomplish whatever it is that you think should be accomplished.

[patrice]

1. Please start by stating what you wish to accomplish and how your assumptions about the processes

by which you expect to accomplish that serve your goals.

[zipplewrath]

2. What the heck are you talking about?

You have a single reference you can point to that demonstrates what you are talking about? 'Cause right now it's one big strawman.

[patrice]

5. You do know what google is? Don't take my word for it.

[zipplewrath]

7. I tried

But I googled Patrice and "got a clue" and nothing came back.

Really, if you have a point make it, I'm not going to google around trying to figure out if you have a point to make.

[Catherina]

6. Mr Fish's latest cartoon didn't go over too well

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8620537

[county worker]

3. deleted by poster

[county worker]

4. Lincoln thought he would not be re-elected.

About the reelection and second term of President Abraham Lincoln in the United States, his defeat of General McClellan.
PRESIDENCY


Reelection: As the election of 1864 approached, Lincoln, like most other political experts, considered his chances for reelection to be slim indeed. The North was weary of the bloodiest war in American history, and Radicals in Lincoln's own party were impatient with the President's moderate approach to the abolition of slavery. For several months, Radical leaders talked of dumping Lincoln from the ticket and replacing him with Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, but using his control of Federal patronage, Lincoln moved swiftly and ruthlessly to crush the threatened revolt. Nevertheless, a number of antislavery activists left the Republican ranks to nominate Gen. John C. Fremont as a 3rd party candidate. As the election approached, Lincoln's agents met with Fremont and his supporters and an agreement was reached: The President would support a constitutional amendment ending slavery in all States forever (a position that Lincoln seemed willing to take anyway), if Fremont would withdraw from the race.

This still left the Democrats to deal with in the final elections in the fall. In nominating Gen. George B. McClellan (a former commander of the Union armies who had been removed by Lincoln) the Democrats achieved the best of both worlds: a war hero as presidential candidate along with a peace-at-any-price platform. The key factor in the contest was the shifting tide of war. By November, 1864, the Confederacy was already in its death throes and the Union forces scored impressive victories. Nevertheless, Lincoln wasn't going to take any chances. He personally coined that redoubtable political slogan "Don't swap horses while crossing a stream" and issued orders to his generals to send major detachments of troops home to vote, thereby protecting slim Republican margins in several key States.


Lincoln swamped McClellan in the Electoral College 212 to 21, but the popular vote was much closer with 2,206,938 for Lincoln and 1,803,787 for McClellan.

http://www.trivia-library.com/a/president-abraham-lincoln-reelection-and-second-term.htm

[Radical Activist]

8. When progressive actions are widely celebrated it makes them seem more popular.

That makes it more likely that Obama and other Democrats will keep taking the kind of progressive action that receives public praise.

When positive progressive actions are almost completely ignored by the left... I don't see how that helps anything. Left pundits should keep calling out Obama when he's wrong but many liberals are making a big mistake by ignoring his progressive accomplishments.