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Should Dems not be smiling?
It is a point of frustration to Democrats that much of the public seems unimpressed by the litany of legislation signed into law in the first two years of President Obama’s term: the $787 billion stimulus package, an anti-age-discrimination law, long-sought tobacco regulation, expanded community service, credit card consumer protection, the landmark health care law, Pentagon contracting changes, Wall Street regulation, tax cuts, credits and more.
Except for a climate change bill, the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats have followed through on the agenda laid out at the beginning of the 111th Congress in January 2009 despite concerted Republican opposition. The victories were wrenching, partisan and procedurally ugly, but they were victories.
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While Republicans consider much of the legislation flawed and even harmful, they grudgingly concede that Democrats compiled a record perhaps unrivaled since the Great Society programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson were passed during the 89th Congress or the New Deal programs were pushed through the 73rd Congress by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. And though they had large majorities, Democrats did not have substantial opposition help or the cushion that Roosevelt had with 313 Democrats in the House from 1933 to 1935, or the 68 Senate seats that Democrats controlled during Johnson’s tenure in 1965.
A little of Chris Dodd’s thinking on Dem’s accomplishments could go a long way in moving public opinion.
“Democrats don’t know how to celebrate,” said Mr. Dodd, suggesting that his colleagues should be reveling in the achievements of what Democrats and Republicans agree is one of the most consequential Congressional sessions in decades. “In the face of unyielding opposition, this president and this Congress stepped up to pass historic legislation for the good of the country.”
President Obama and Democrats have not been perfect but they’ve done good. Spread the word.
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A good reminder. Thanks!
I see that the far left and far right leaning Democrats are the ones that are voicing opposition to the Obama Administration. The middle-of-the-road Democrats are not saying much. The press always noise seeking missiles, are spending all of their energy reporting on the extreme ends of our party.
Our own party apparatuses do not often get out there and tout the accomplishments that you so eloquently described. I went to the DNC Facebook page to see if Tim Kaine established good communication. They were just beginning to build their Facebook presence. I have seen Tim Kaine on TV less than a half dozen times since Obama took office. I could not find a current DNC presence on Twitter – I found a July, 2008 Twitter account for the DNC National Convention.
It is hard to get good press when the press is focussed only on the negatives. Yesterday, Andrea Mitchell, a reporter that has been known to be sympathetic to Republican economics commented that the press has been relentlessly negative towards President Obama, more so than any former president that she has witnessed in her career. The excuse often given for this is that the press is afraid to say anything positive because they do not want to be labelled “liberal”.
I can not believe these polls because, I think that many of them are quick shoddy jobs. Also, there are so many of us that are completely land-phone free, totally cell phones. Cell phones are greatly underrepresented in phone surveys.
I just do not think that people will vote Republicans back in to office after they made such a mess of things with their deregulation and the turning over of our public administration to contractors who destroyed our internal federal stability. I think people are smarter than to go back to the way things were in 2008.
“I think people are smarter than to go back to the way things were in 2008.”
Wanna bet? Explain to me how people were stupid enough to vote Bush in not once but twice. Mencken understood.
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
While Obama is suffering the lowest ratings ever for his handling of the economy, people also are admitting that it’s unreasonable to expect him to fix a Depression-like economy in a year and half. Does this make sense? Of course not! But they are still going to take it out on him in Nov. 2010 with the mid-term elections. Somehow we have to spread the word that Mario brings up. The Dems HAVE been successful. All this grousing is ridiculous and much can be traced back to Bush.
Let’s get going!