People should be deliriously happy for just the simple fact that Biden isn't Trump

[Silent3]

I don't understand the low poll numbers for Biden. Or perhaps I do understand, in a way, but that just makes me angrier.

We collectively dodged a fucking bullet when Trump lost, but the stupid, ignorant masses don't on the whole realize this. They don't care how so many of the problems we currently face, including inflation and ongoing COVID strife, are the aftermath of the mess Trump created, and that Biden has done very well given the hand he was dealt. They further ignore all the good news in the economy.

Instead of appreciating what Biden has accomplished with the slimmest of margins in Congress, and seeing that the answer to getting more out of Congress is adding MORE Democrats, they're quite willing to blindly hand control right back to Republicans again, no matter how much they've lied about the last election, no matter how unprincipled Republicans have proven themselves to be, no matter how cravenly they've debased themselves to curry favor from their ignorant, sniveling narcissist king, no matter how brazenly they work to rig the next election in their favor.

The public certainly doesn't appreciate enough the basic decency of Biden, even when held up against the so-recent example of the childish, petulant, empathy-lacking, constantly-gaslighting inhumanity of Trump.

How is it that we even have to use the expression "memory hole" to describe what happens all the time in our politics, when voters either literally forget things that happened mere months ago, or at least forget they might have cared, and then vote as if a dull, uninformed, and probably distorted impression of current circumstances, all credited or blamed on the party of the current President, is all that matters.

I fully understand what Churchill meant when he said democracy is the worst possible system of government... except compared to all of the others we've tried.

I'd never make it in politics or punditry because I have very little respect for voters in general. At best they are a notch above dictators, not a leap above, and sometimes they're so stupid they'll gladly vote to put dictators in power, giving their own power and freedom away.

Messaging? Democrats aren't good enough at messaging? Do you know what messaging is?

It's the process of treating voters like stupid, ignorant children while praising their non-existent wisdom at the same time. It's fighting to turn complex, nuanced policy into bumper-sticker slogans digestible by tiny, distracted minds. It's sometime sacrificing good policy for mediocre policy because the mediocre policy is easier to package and sell.

I'm sick of it. I want to live in a country, or on a planet, where we can expect and demand more out of the voters themselves instead of constantly blaming politicians for not meeting voters on their simplistic, ignorant, short-sighted level.

[Hoyt]

1. Am significantly less anxious, angry, etc., since Biden took office.

I get Biden can’t turn things around quickly. But I’m becoming somewhat tired of the current situation. Don’t have a solution other than beat GOPers at polls, at least the rabid/toxic ones.

[PortTack]

2. President Obama had several times when his approval rating was in the low 40s

Last edited Thu Jan 13, 2022, 03:03 AM - Edit history (1)

Quinnipac has been dragging his numbers down consistently being the outlier compared to others

I pay little or no attention to the polls any more, they have proved their inaccuracy rather dramatically over the last 3 election cycles. Until they change their broken methodology they will not be any more accurate than in the recent past

[Silent3]

3. That just shows the voting public is consistently dim

Many of the reasons Obama wasn’t even more popular could be squarely attributed to Republican obstructionism. Making Obama look bad was the primary motive of McConnell’s “just say no” strategy, and way too many Americans rewarded this vile strategy by falling for it hook, line, and sinker.

Even with large margins of error in polling, a smarter public would reward both Obama and Biden with higher numbers well outside of those margins.

It might be true that we get the government we deserve, but I’m not a fan of collective punishment. Those of us who know better can’t escape the idiots who are dragging us all down.

[Emile]

4. It's the pandemic that has people upset.

[Silent3]

5. Yes (and inflation), but if the people weren't idiots...

...they'd blame Trump for having politicized COVID, not Biden for doing a very good job of protecting all of the people who aren't raving anti-vax idiots, and for pushing through the stimulus that got the economy going after a huge slump.

What bothers me is the entire idea that we totally have to expect people to have shallow, surface-level reactions to everything. Things are bad now -> blame whoever is President now. Our news media and the pundits seldom blame the voters for being this shallow and stupid, they blame politicians for not somehow working around this stupidity.

[Blue Owl]

6. I still don't know how we got through 4 years of the former fuck

How did that happen???

[SYFROYH]

7. Pelosi

Pelosi protected us from the worst of his legislative ideas and kept the pressure on with inpeqchments.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Deliriously happy? C'mon now.

We collectively dodged a fucking bullet when Trump lost, but the stupid, ignorant masses don't on the whole realize this. They don't care how so many of the problems we currently face, including inflation and ongoing COVID strife, are the aftermath of the mess Trump created, and that Biden has done very well given the hand he was dealt.

I mean, that is the thing about problems you can't directly solve. You tend not to care who started it, and you care only that it gets solved, and if it doesn't, it's annoying.

They further ignore all the good news in the economy.

There's some good news. There's also the fact that hospitals keep getting slammed over and over again, that services in other industries are scaled way back, and that we're closing in on a million people dead from covid, a collective loss that's barely been acknowledged.

Instead of appreciating what Biden has accomplished with the slimmest of margins in Congress, and seeing that the answer to getting more out of Congress is adding MORE Democrats,

Gonna stop you right there, tiger, and remind you that "vote harder" is not a great campaign slogan after 2016 and 2020.

they're quite willing to blindly hand control right back to Republicans again, no matter how much they've lied about the last election, no matter how unprincipled Republicans have proven themselves to be, no matter how cravenly they've debased themselves to curry favor from their ignorant, sniveling narcissist king, no matter how brazenly they work to rig the next election in their favor.

Yeah it's not blind; they don't care about hypocrisy. They just don't.

The public certainly doesn't appreciate enough the basic decency of Biden, even when held up against the so-recent example of the childish, petulant, empathy-lacking, constantly-gaslighting inhumanity of Trump.

How would you like people to appreciate Biden's basic decency? What would that look like? And at what point is it okay for them to say, you really need to be doing better.

I'd never make it in politics or punditry because I have very little respect for voters in general.

You've made that very clear.

It's sometime sacrificing good policy for mediocre policy because the mediocre policy is easier to package and sell.

I'm sick of it. I want to live in a country, or on a planet, where we can expect and demand more out of the voters themselves instead of constantly blaming politicians for not meeting voters on their simplistic, ignorant, short-sighted level.

I'm confused here, what are you sick of? Voters, or settling for shit so more voters that you don't like might possibly vote for basic decency?

[Silent3]

9. Your response almost seems to be sort of agreeing with some of the things I said, but not caring

I mean, that is the thing about problems you can't directly solve. You tend not to care who started it, and you care only that it gets solved, and if it doesn't, it's annoying.

This might be a very common way of thinking, but it's a stupid way of thinking. There are many common but faulty patterns of thought that we should be using education to address. A well-functioning democracy requires an educated public with mature thought processes. Without that, as we've clearly seen, the voting public is far too susceptible propaganda, demagoguery, and short-term thinking.

Gonna stop you right there, tiger, and remind you that "vote harder" is not a great campaign slogan after 2016 and 2020.

I never said that was a great slogan, and Republicans are currently doing all they can to make sure voting harder makes no difference anyway. But even without Republican voter subversion, there's a good chance our voting public will stupidly hand control of the House back to Republicans anyway. I consider a public who would willingly return control back over to Trump and his ilk a stupid public.

At any rate, you yourself probably wouldn't be a member of DU if you didn't think Democrats, regardless of what they may or may not manage to accomplish during Biden's first two years, will do a far better job of running the country now and in the future than Republicans will, especially given the autocratic, conspiracy-driven Republican party that has developed over the past few years.

If you agree with that, then why don't you expect more intelligence and foresight from your fellow citizens?

I'm confused here, what are you sick of? Voters, or settling for shit so more voters that you don't like might possibly vote for basic decency?

I'm sick of voters not understanding nuanced policy, often forcing politicians to abandon important nuances when crafting policy in order to win the votes of a shallow-thinking public.