Did Obama Get Massachusetts’ Message? (Updated x3)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Asked how the White House can interpret the Massachusetts defeat as anything other than a “total rejection” of the President’s health-care reform, White House senior adviser David Axelrod said:
“I think that there were a lot of elements to the message yesterday. Health care was part of it,” Axelrod said. “I would note that Sen. Brown didn’t run one ad on health care in the entire campaign. I’m sure you know that.
“And he supported a health care reform similar to the one that the president was and is committed to in Massachusetts, and said during the campaign that he wouldn’t repeal it,” he said.
“I mean, there are messages here,” he said. “We hear those messages, but there is a tendency in this town — not that you guys would do it — but to overblow things, even beyond their importance. And I don’t think it’s about that one particular issue. I think there’s a general sense of discontent about the economy and there’s a general sense of discontent about this town. That’s why we were elected. We are committed to doing something about it.”
So Obama is using Scott Brown’s win as support for more of the change we’ve seen in the past year? Apparently so, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explains why:
“I would say this too, building off of what David said, there are things that the president has accomplished, whether it’s a credit card bill of rights, whether it’s a recovery plan that’s led to the first quarter of economic growth in more than a year, that same sort of anger and frustration that the President saw when he traveled in Iowa, and throughout this country for more than two years is still very pervasive today,” Gibb [sic] said.”
Does Obama really understand why people are angry and frustrated? It doesn’t sound like it. This sounds like an updated version of Obama’s San Francisco comments about Americans who are bitter and clingy.
If so, then either the Obama Administration believes people are too stupid to know what’s good for them, or the Administration doesn’t want to hear Massachusetts’ message.
— DRJ
UPDATE BY PATTERICO: At least he and Reid are ruling out doing something in the Senate before Brown is seated.
UPDATE 2 by DRJ — Everyone is on board with the new talking points:
“Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,” the president said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
H/T A.W.
UPDATE x3 BY PATTERICO: That really takes the cake, doesn’t it? This guy goes out and campaigns against Scott Brown, saying Brown will help block everything he’s trying to do. And then, when Brown wins, Obama says Brown won for the same reason he did.
That takes some real nerve, that does.
If he’s right, then the voters no longer see Obama as the agent of the change they are seeking, do they?
Hmmmmmm, I seem to remember SENATOR S. Brown saying that he would be the 41st vote against their stoopid health care plan.
peedoffamerican (ab0cf4) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:16 pmi read this thing on obama’s reaction and at first, i thought it was a sign he got it.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/president-obama-scott-brown-massachusetts-victory/story?id=9611222
then i read this part:
> “Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,” the president said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
mmm, yeah, Barry, that is it. the impulse that brought you to power is the same that brought Brown to power. Riiight.
But on a positive note, he told the democrats to knock it off with this talk of delaying his seating while they ram healthcare reform through. So there is that.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:23 pmI vote “C”: all of the above.
PatriotRider (1729de) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:27 pm*channels Obama with fingers in the ear* “La, la, la, la! I can’t hear you!
AW, they blame Bush because they know Bush won’t come out and attack back. He’s the statesman and a super easy target. Everyone hates Bush.
So they say Brown is elected because of all these problems Bush left us with.
You’re right, that’s why we know they didn’t get the message. No one expects the country to be perfect, but backroom deals, lies, a health care disaster, shifts in terror approach to a criminal law mess? Blaming that on Bush is part of why people think Obama is not up to the job of fixing the problems.
Obama said he could fix everything magically, and shock: ain’t happening. He blames the democrats in congress for attempting to keep Brown unseated because he can’t blame Bush for that, and that should be a huge red flag for the left… The democrats are going to have to blame eachother or get on with solving problems, and Obama is taking the easy road. He can and will trade freshmen in the House for a point in the polls.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:32 pmDisdain for the average citizen’s thoughts on any given important subject has been a consistent and all-pervasive feature of “progressive” thought for a century. They’ve always felt they were smarter than us proles, despite vast amounts of evidence to the contrary.
greginsocal (2aee56) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:36 pmI saw a snippet of George Steph’s interview with Obama on the occasion of his 1 year anniversary. (It will be aired on ABC this evening.)
There seemed to be ample understanding that the country is angry, but BO appeared to believe it was all because the moron citizenry still misunderstands all the wonderful things which are being done for them. Obama in essence took sober responsibility for not ‘splaining well enough to teach, but there was zero recognition that he has an obligation -but hasn’t- listened well enough to learn. Very troubling.
elissa (3bc841) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:37 pmAlso, Obama has told us wht he is: a blank slate that he lets people paint in whatever way they want.
This is what the left thinks Obama’s response is.
And this is what the right is supposed to think Obama’s response is.
He’s going to attempt to tell the left that it’s not his fault… he is doing all he can and needs more help to win the fight tomorrow. He’s going to attempt to tell the right that he’s not fighting at all, and just asking congress to do the people’s business fairly.
Only problem is, he’s no longer a blank slate, and people are not painting him with their personal preferences. Both comment threads I linked are full of skeptics. Vague promises of Hope and Change are overridden by Obama’s actual product. This will be the first term he’s ever finished, and the first time he’s had anything to be graded on.
I predict he will play more golf and let the strategists give him prepared commentary. When he’s kicked out, it will drive him to loathe this country for half a century of Carter style speeches. It would probably be a really good time for the GOP to attempt to get some health care reforms though anyway.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:46 pmI was going to point out the quote that A.W. in #2: “the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office”.
Here is the question- is Obama simply lieing through his teeth because he thinks most people are that stupid, or does he really believe what he said?
I think one has to work really, really hard, or be totally oblivious to the world surrounding, to not see the simple reasoning that people liked what Obama promised, but hate what he has done that is opposite, like “Live on C-Span, live on C-Span, live on C-Span…”
Perhaps Katie Couric needs to ask the one what he reads.
You can’t argue or work with someone who is deliberately deceitful, and it’s not much better with someone who is delusional. There is a reason why there is no civil, rational discourse over issues in this country, you need people in positions of power who are civil and rational. I really think Obama may be one or the other at most. Certainly not both, maybe neither.
MD in Philly (d4668b) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:49 pm“Perhaps Katie Couric needs to ask the one what he reads.”
Yeah, I think it would be interesting to know if he’s only watching MSNBC and reading the WAPO and NYT. They seem really defensive and combative of Fox News and other “not real journalism”, defined precisely as whoever is critical of Obama.
It’s easy to prove that Fox News is not traditional media. But the real question is: where in the hell is Obama getting his news? If Bush or Palin or Romney said he only listens to Limbaugh and only watches Beck he’s look like an idiot. But is that exactly what Obama’s doing?
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 2:00 pmmd
well, to some extent people don’t like that he has done what was promised, too. and for that matter on alot of subjects people didn’t even really understand where he stood–often because he wouldn’t tell them.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 1/20/2010 @ 2:01 pmHa ha ha ha ha!! That Obama fellow is smart. Nice going Mr President! Instead of attacking Brown’s victory he does the smart thing, he takes credit for it and compares it to his own victory. Wow. Never thought of that. That guy is smart.
The Emperor (633f27) — 1/20/2010 @ 2:38 pmSounds like it’s about time for President Bush II to be statesmanlike and say “”Brownie, you’ve done a heck of a job !” “ …
Alasdair (e7cb73) — 1/20/2010 @ 2:42 pmNot just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.
There’s an element of truth to that. But just because the GOP frequently behaved like out of touch elitists does not mean it’s OK for the Democrats to do it. And they’ve been busy making the Republicans look like humble servants of the people.
Subotai (d10d57) — 1/20/2010 @ 2:50 pmHere’s how some enlightened MA libs are coping with the news:
“Towns that voted for Brown closely correlate to towns that NetFlixed Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”
http://yfrog.com/33n2twj
http://yfrog.com/1egilaj
Dave (in MA) (037445) — 1/20/2010 @ 2:51 pm“Wow. Never thought of that. That guy is smart.
Comment by The Emperor ”
You have a point. This is a very clever way to handle bad news. It’s not hostile at all, while presenting a narrative that works on low information voters. We’re all opposed to incumbency is the Journ-o-list/propaganda line of the day.
Obama is a very smart guy in this way. If he were not so cunning, he would have had to take decades to work his way to lofty political office, and he’d understand that this cleverness only takes you so far, but he’s using his limited skill set masterfully.
Hillary and Mccain are better leaders, wiser leaders, with better circles of advisers and experience with compromises and actual results. Both have completed things. Obama’s so good at self promotion that he’s never finished a job before being promoted to a bigger one.
So while Obama cleverly handles the Brown problem from a ‘lose face’ POV, he’s not even dealing with the problem his party and cause faces. He’s not building a coalition to reform health care, he’s losing one he was handed.
Like it or not, Obama couldn’t get it done with a congressional advantage Bush never dreamed of having. This is what they mean when they said he wasn’t ready.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 2:57 pmWhat if you were same kind of savant at Standardized Tests. Like, any time you take one, you get a perfect score.
A perfect LSAT, MCAT, SAT, GED. It would be super easy to get into a very good school before you were actually ready for it. And once you got there, you would have terrible results except the occasions you came across a CLEP test or other standardized test in class.
It’s possible to be so good at one thing that you find yourself out of your depth in other things. Obama is really good at bullshitting, not so good at leadership. Really good at vague promises of ‘hope and change’ that convince John Mccain and Rev Wright simultaneously that he’s a good man.
When a few said they wanted him to fail, some interpreted that as wanting their own version of Obama, the nice post partisan transparent house cleaning leader to fail to make America perfect. Now, a lot of people want Obama to fail, even if they find a better way of expressing that.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:07 pmthe ironic humor is that Barney Fife just stated that Bush was doing okay until 2002, when he said “but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
2010 – 8 = 2002.
Ear Leader is *not* a math whiz either. %-)
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:20 pmI was thinking the same thing.
Yeah, because no one was angry or frustrated during Bush’s first year in office…
carlitos (da4642) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:33 pmWell, House liberals have allegedly told Pelosi that the Senate bill is a nonstarter with them, so looks like Dems are going to have to fold their tents and start over.
JVW (48cbba) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:34 pmThere is a solution here, Obama should invite Scott Brown over to the white house for a beer. That ought to do it.
The Emperor (633f27) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:46 pmI think the libs in power get it, to a certain extent, though I think they credit the GOP with too much.
They don’t care. It looks like many are willing to kamikaze to achieve their agenda, but maybe not enough.
Why not blame Bush again? They think we’re stupid enough to believe they are that stupid. What have they got to lose now? They are not interested in the knuckle-dragging homophobe teabagger vote.
jodetoad (059c35) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:48 pmI like how Axelrod dismissed healthcare as an issue because he states Brown did not run any ads on that topic. In their world, if a candidate does not run an ad, well that is that. Screw those voters and what they might want. The only issues that they will focus on are political ads. We fuck you Axelrod. We are tired of your perpetual campaign, your lies, and your “we know what is best for you” mentality.
JD (5acd54) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:52 pmToo bad you, Barack Obama, campaigned explicitly on the idea that the Bush presidency was the result of malevolent incompetence and stupidity, and you, being a benevolent genius, were going to straighten it all out. You’ve shown yourself to be a liar and a failure.
chaos (9c54c6) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:54 pmBrown was elected because people are mad at Bush?!
JD (5acd54) — 1/20/2010 @ 3:54 pmI got filtrated for saying “well f*ck you Axelrod”
JD (5acd54) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:03 pms Obama simply lieing through his teeth because he thinks most people are that stupid, or does he really believe what he said?
I think one has to work really, really hard, or be totally oblivious to the world surrounding
Yes, he thinks people are stupid and he believes what he said. He is also oblivious.
I did a post today on the lefty mindset. Exhibit A
2. Voters like likeable candidates. Some voters care more about policy and substance than which candidate they most want to have a beer with, but these voters tend to be outnumbered.
We’ve all seen races in which the thoughtful, hard-working, experienced candidate who emphasizes substantive issues loses out to the fun, likable opponent (see 2000, presidential election of).
The only trouble was that the candidate who emphasized issues was also the likable one.
THEY DON”T GET IT!
This is so common on the left (See Thomas Frank and “What’s the Matter With Kansas ?”) that it is a rule. If someone isn’t arrogant, thinks he knows more than anybody else and has never made a living on his own, he’s a lefty.
MIke K (2cf494) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:04 pmThat should be “is arrogant…”
MIke K (2cf494) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:05 pmJD I think it’s the other way round. Brown won because people forgot they were angry with Bush. He’s just trying to remind people who they ought to be angry with. Smart that.
The Emperor (633f27) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:06 pmIf Obama believes the people of the Bay State elected a Republican to the Senate for the first time in years because they are angry about something Bush did. He needs to get a refund on the cost of his education cause it didn’t take. You just cannot educate the stupid out of some people.
Zelsdorf Ragshaft III (a4871e) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:07 pmLovie – You should be embarassed that you are the target of the meme. He knows you are just dumb enough to run with it.
JD (5acd54) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:08 pmBrown won because people forgot they were angry with Bush. He’s just trying to remind people who they ought to be angry with. Smart that.
I agree wholeheartedly and I think Obama should keep on htinking and, most importantly, acting as though everything is Bush’s fault. I will even send him money to buy TV spots saying that. ~_-
nk (df76d4) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:27 pmThere are two factors at play: what Obama wants to do and how Obama goes about trying to implement that agenda. Nothing has or will change the former, no matter what he says, he is not centrist, he remains firmly committed to his agenda. At best, yesterday’s results will force Obama to find another path, a path the public will be less able to block.
It’s akin to how the Democrats turned to the courts to accomplish what they couldn’t do legislatively. Perhaps an encore performance? How long before a judge rules that the Constitution’s equal protection provision precludes insurance companies from excluding pre-existing conditions or from charging different rates?
steve sturm (7629b0) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:30 pmRemember, Obama lived in Massachusetts for years. This is a place he knows and probably loves.
Only, the place he lived went 6:4 for Coakley and really hated Bush.
It reminds me of the Waterboy Bobby Boucher’s mother blaming everything on the devil. Yeah, they elected a Republican because they are mad at incumbents like Bush who have been gone for a year already.
Maybe I give Obama too much credit, but I don’t think he’s serious. Being mad at Bush for problems that are obviously much worse now that he’s gone, and only remedied by Obama trying to get back to Bush’s ideas doesn’t make any sense.
The GOP stopped having control in 2006. Their period of total control wasn’t perfect for America, and few think it was, but it was so much better than the democrat spending era of 2007-2010.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:30 pmWho wants a good laugh (or needs to vomit) right now? Check out the Boston Globe’s editorial which manages to (1) refer to both the House and Senate competing legislation as “credible bills,” (2) suggest that the House ought to just pass the Senate bill, and (3) blame some backstage manuvering by Mitch McConnell as the reason Senate Dems couldn’t pass their bill earlier (Ben Nelson, Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman might beg to differ). Isn’t this what we used to call “stuck on stupid”? The sooner those clowns on the editorial board lose their jobs the better we will all be.
JVW (48cbba) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:32 pmGo back two months and ask — Who thinks Scott Brown will win Kennedy’s Mass Senate seat?
Scott who??
bill-tb (541ea9) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:51 pmZero will pay lip service to “getting the message”, and continue on saying he tried. IOW, same lefty bullsh!t.
People's Front of Judea (44bf37) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:57 pmDifferent day, same story:
“It’s all Bush’s fault!”
Dr. K (adb7ba) — 1/20/2010 @ 4:57 pm‘I got filtrated for saying “well f*ck you Axelrod”’
No need to take the common, low road…
GeneralMalaise (4e6eee) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:04 pmNo, of course they don’t get it. At least in public. Behind closed doors, they are in a panic and wondering what can be salvaged before the November storm.
GeneralMalaise (4e6eee) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:07 pmActually, I AM still angry about some of the stuff that Bush did, like TARP and the Auto Bail Out and the general expansion of government. I am still really not happy with Bush over those things.
But I am LIVID over the continuation of the awful Bush policies and over the expansion of those policies into the socializing of America. I’m nuclear hot over the way Obama and the moronic liberals have pushed this travesty of health tyranny on us and made deals that amount to black mail and pay offs to get the deed done.
So, yeah, I’m still mad at Bush. But that anger pales into nothingness in comparison with what I’m feeling about what Obama has done.
Vivian Louise (643333) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:10 pmGeraghty has an instance of a Democratic candidate running against the Democrat health care legislation.
Its hilarious.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:11 pmhow about the uncommon low road: “Axelrod, f*ck you well.”?
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:29 pmGeraghty has an instance of a Democratic candidate running against the Democrat health care legislation.
Does anyone recall any Republican candidate successfully running against the Iraq War (from a “we never should have been there” standpoint, not a “we aren’t doing enough” one) in 2006? Aside from Ron Paul, that is.
JVW (48cbba) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:30 pmDa Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt.
AD - RtR/OS! (6c3ec3) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:37 pmhow about the uncommon low road: “Axelrod, f*ck you well.”?
That’ll work…
GeneralMalaise (4e6eee) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:44 pmWaiting for Dick Cheney to emerge from the secure, undisclosed location to give Obama and Co. another media wedgie.
“People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
Good’ol GWB, coming out of retirement to help get Republicans elected.
furious (71af32) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:47 pmAnother classic case of projection by that noted Harvard legal scholar. Lots of book smarts, but not the sharpest tool in the woodshed for real life.
Dmac (539341) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:05 pmBTW, Howard Dean just said on TV that the reason why Coakley lost was that she wasn’t far enough to the left on the healthcare plan. I’m not kidding, go watch Chrissy Matthew’s reaction, it’s priceless.
Dmac (539341) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:07 pmPatterico:
Logically, yes, but I honestly believe Obama thinks Americans are so stupid or gullible that they will believe anyone who speaks persuasively. In other words, Obama believes personality and charisma trumps message.
DRJ (84a0c3) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:14 pmDRJ, is Coakley a sign that Obama is right?
I think he’s cynical about the peasants too, but I’m cynical about the peasants. There’s got to be a reason Obama beat every other politician in the country for the big prize, after all. And it’s not his message of … hope and we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:18 pmDRJ, Obama has always clearly signaled that he thinks his B.S. trumps everything, including his own actions.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:18 pmSpeaking of which, comedy gold from the clown Krugman in NYT. Freakin’ comedy gold.
Can Krugman feed himself unassisted?
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:27 pmDustin,
I think personality and charisma matter but I don’t think they trump the message.
IMO Obama won because the media’s kid glove treatment enabled him to be all things to all people so voters thought he was a win-win: The message they wanted in attractive packaging. However, Obama’s actions in the past year have convinced many Americans that he isn’t selling the message they thought he was selling.
DRJ (84a0c3) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:37 pmAnd now that I’ve read SPQR’s link, it seems to prove my point. It isn’t just independents and conservatives who believe they’ve been hoodwinked.
DRJ (84a0c3) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:39 pmWell, if you employ the “winds of change” metaphor, you can strain it by saying winds can push a ship to a safe harbor, or they can blow a lot of crap up off the beach onto the porch that you now have to spend all Sunday cleaning up…
Let’s just say that the same mechanism could be in effect, with results that differ in acceptability.
JSinAZ (ae2d5e) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:41 pmDRJ, I was talking to a local GLBT activist on campus today, and they are furious as they noticed that Obama’s promise to repeal DOMA has disappeared from Obama’s websites. I mean literally spittle-flecked fury.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:45 pmHe promised a chicken in every pot. Not only are there no chickens, he’s taxing the pots.
DRJ (84a0c3) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:47 pmObama thinks that everybody who voted for Scott Brown are idiots
Neo (7830e6) — 1/20/2010 @ 6:59 pmObama acts like the kid who puts a bag of dog poop on your porch and sets it abaze, then blames you for stumping on it to try to put out the fire.
Neo (7830e6) — 1/20/2010 @ 7:02 pmI like the pithy pot tax.
I wonder how proud Michelle Obama is of America, or at least Mass.
Anyway, it’s not Obama whose career depends on getting the message, at least not this year. It’s all those democrats in tough races. They will pay the price first. Of course, I don’t expect them to start sending Obama constrained budgets and intelligent reforms that don’t include tons of ridiculous crap. If they did, they wouldn’t be democrats.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 7:09 pmObama clearly has jumped the shark
Neo (7830e6) — 1/20/2010 @ 7:14 pmObama’s latest donation request:
All I notice is that it’s ridiculously vague. The road to real change that isn’t easy and stirs up controversy. The problem is the pace with which we travel this long and windy bleeaaaaaaaaaaagh
DRJ says the media let Obama be all things to all people, and it’s not clear what the hell this letter is about. You could sign it with “Michael Steele” or “Osama Bin Laden” or “Steve Jobs” and it would make as much sense.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 7:21 pmIt is textbook intellectual dishonesty. A core principal of progressivism, leftism, liberalism, democrat partyism, journalism, and a good portion of academics.
PR (74c0fd) — 1/20/2010 @ 7:26 pmI would imagine, Dustin, that zero people from OFA came out yesterday in Mass and hence the vague thank yous.
And yes, Obama does think we are stupid. You have to understand, as I do working in higher ed, that liberals indeed think conservatives/moderates are stupid. That’s why they send their political emails to everyone they know; they assume if they like you and you are smart, you are liberal!
Patricia (b05e7f) — 1/20/2010 @ 7:48 pmA few thoughts:
– 17.“but what’s happened over the last eight years.” 2010 – 8 = 2002. Comment by redc1c4
18.I was thinking the same thing.
People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years
This is being on brain-dead automaton mode. It worked when he was campaigning, so he’s trying it again- fits well with the “they voted Scott Brown in for the same reasons they voted me in”, only totally misses a gap in time of one year. Did he do this one because he thinks we are stupid enough to buy it, or was he so “narcissisticly” absorbed in contemplating his own smooth political maneuvering that he, um, lost all objective awareness of what he was saying.
– Thanks Mike K. and Patricia for responding to my question, so we agree that he: does think we all are that stupid, he is that oblivious, and he is delusional all at the same time.
– I believe I noticed that she did best in the Harvard area. The academic elite unable to see the plain truth when it bites them in the nose.
I don’t know whether to be more saddened or frightened that we as a nation elected this person as president.
MD in Philly (d4668b) — 1/20/2010 @ 8:21 pmYou know, Brown is a very nice and moderate republican. He’s socially liberal and has supported health care reforms in the past. If the Harvard elites can’t stomach him, I can’t see the reason other than the scarlet (R).
Patricia notes they think I’m stupid. The feeling is mutual, though. That group of academics that refuses to analyze and vote for the GOP under any circumstance, and thinks conservatism means “never changing the status quo”… those folks are stupid.
Coakley was uncompelling in ethics, on politics, or on the willingness to represent her people. Brown isn’t all that far from her on politics, except to say he was more informed on foreign policy and objects to the deficit. It’s the perfect storm for a reasonable democrat to vote Republican, and yet most people in Boston, and most academics I am sure, rejected Brown.
I have no problem with their partisanship… but I don’t see any reason why people who refuse to think are considered thinkers.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 8:36 pmObama interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos:
“People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
—Actually, President Waste of Sperm, we’re frustrated with just the last 3 years of a Democratic Congress. This Congress has proven beyond all doubt that it is the most corrupt, out of touch, self-serving and destructive Congress in U.S. history.
“Here’s one thing I know and I just want to make sure that this is off the table: The Senate certainly shouldn’t try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated,” he said. “People in Massachusetts spoke. He’s got to be part of that process.”
–Right. Jam it down our throats AFTER Scott Brown is seated.
“If there’s one thing that I regret this year is that we were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values,” he said.
–We’ve been so busy turning a small recession into a major depression, we forgot about you. Instead of speaking WITH you, (we know you’re so damn dumb, that we have to speak TO you).
“That I do think is a mistake of mine,” said Obama. “I think the assumption was if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on this provision or that law or if we’re making a good rational decision here, then people will get it.”
–Well, us idiots just don’t GET IT, do we ? How the hell can we be trusted to even walk out the front door without tripping over the dog ? And President Pantywaist – we get it alright. And our kids will be “getting it”, and their kids will be “getting it” too. You stupid communist asswipe.
DaveinPhoenix (2bd6c3) — 1/20/2010 @ 9:03 pmBarcky need the message expressed in terms he can understand – Obamacare is a man caused disaster – yet another misstep by an unqualified administration ignoring the will of the people to expand the government at the expense of the rights of the people.
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/20/2010 @ 9:15 pmDoes Obama really understand why people are angry and frustrated?
He understands why someone like, for example, Jeremiah Wright is angry and frustrated. As for the sentiments of anyone who isn’t an ultra-liberal? Less so to, actually, zip, nada.
If current trends continue at the voting booth, Obama soon will be saying, in the immortal words of his former pastor and close advisor, “Goddamn America!”
Mark (411533) — 1/20/2010 @ 9:34 pmIt takes more than nerve. I’d say it takes a conviction that such lies are effective.
Where do these idiots gain the belief that they can just casually lie to me? As if I won’t know better?
I suppose it’s because they know who keeps voting them into office time and time again.
People who can’t put down the crack pipe, who have no brain cells.
Steve (728a14) — 1/20/2010 @ 9:47 pmI think Obama is correct.
Ken in Camarillo (aa2192) — 1/20/2010 @ 9:57 pmBoth Obama and Brown campaigned against an incumbent President who was not on the ballot with them, and enough people were angry and frustrated enough with the incumbent President that the strategy worked.
So the same thing swept them into office.
(Maybe Obama is sleazy enough that this was actually what he was thinking when he made his statement. He is an attorney, you know.)
Oops. Present company excepted!
Ken in Camarillo (aa2192) — 1/20/2010 @ 9:57 pmQuote Axlerod…”Thats why We were elected”
I got news for him. Axlerod was not on the ballot and I did not vote for Obama either. The Voters just got tired of watching things being meddled with by people who do not listen and could not run a lemonade stand and break even. They have no grasp of the economy and do not realize that there are Constitutional Limits to Government.
The message sent was clearly stop meddling, start listening and recognize the fact that the Campaign is over and the Voters expect something of substance instead of experimentation and theory. The deficit scares the public and rightfully so. Tax money is a precious asset that they were entrusted to steward. They failed to do that. Lies about job creation does not create confidence. Borrowing, taxing and spending never brought any nation prosperity and catering to Unions, ACORN and other special interest groups is a betrayal of public trust. The lack of transparency and back room dealings do not inspire trust either.
I’m all for regime change at this point before there is nothing left to salvage.
Old Trooper (51ca29) — 1/21/2010 @ 2:52 am[…] Riehl World View: Democrats Underestimated America’s Anger Patterico’s Pontifications: Did Obama Get Massachusetts’ Message? (Updated x3) Scared Monkeys: “MASS”acre … Obamacare Soundly Defeated in Massachusetts as Republican Scott […]
On Scott Brown’s Win… Are They Listening Now? New Strategy for Democrats: “Jump Ship, Obama Can’t Help You” « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 1/21/2010 @ 2:55 am“People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
Obama is right, and yet he still doesn’t get it. We are angry because Obama is a big spending liberal. George Bush was a big spending conservative. There are a lot of us who weren’t happy with Bush’s big spending ways, and we’re really pissed off that Obama TRIPLED the deficit and wants to add more through the healthcare reform bill.
Mike S (d3f5fd) — 1/21/2010 @ 5:23 amI can’t find a link to the ad right now, but I believe that, contrary to Axelrod, Scott Brown did have one ad about health care.
Joshua (9ede0e) — 1/21/2010 @ 10:12 am#67 DaveinPhoenix: Actually, the Senate really can’t jam the health care bill through after Brown is seated. (At least not the bills they have in play now.) There were 40 Republicans against the bill before, and now there will be 41, which is enough to stop the bill under the filibuster rules. So if the Democrats don’t force the bill through before Brown is seated, they won’t be able to do so after he is seated.
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