Obama analysed Reagan's campaign perfectly

[Joe the Revelator]

Reagan did tap into what people werre feeling. They wanted clarity and optimism and he gave it to them. He sold them a "New Morning in America" and they went with it and supported him.

So why are Hillary's supporters making all this noise? What did he say that that is so amazing daming?

You people are getting desperate, because you know that Obama is surging, and you're grasping at straws.

[Maven]

1. I think you need a

:hug:

It's been a rough day for you.

[Joe the Revelator]

2. I just need certain people to drop the self righteous anger they're throwing around.

[Maven]

5. There, there.

[tishaLA]

3. Ron Reagan Jr understands...

"They both came along at times when society was on the cusp of change and they are both agents of change," Ron Reagan Jr, told the Huffington Post. "As far as Barack Obama being a similar agent of change, that remains to be seen. But what I do see him saying is that we are in a historical moment right now like the 60s and 80s. And I think he's right. We are overdue for a cultural shift."

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. what else are they going to do

they backed a plow horse in a race with Secretariat, they have to throw mud to try to slow him down. :)

[Thrill]

6. They're shallow like Republicans

They hear what they want to hear. They hear a small clip and their influenced by it. Without listening to the whole story. Much like Bush supporters

[Barack_America]

7. IMO, many people here are in a race to out-liberal one another...n/t

[robbedvoter]

8. he tapped hatred and nationalism- this was his strategery coup

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4093463&mesg_id=4094269
"optimism" was the MSM code for bigotry and jingoism. It's how reflon is fabricated - only Obama doesn't own media and the raygun followers do not like Democrats

[Joe the Revelator]

14. What his alterer motives were are not a part of this conversation. The reason he won so handedly...

was because people bought the optimistic part of his vision.

[angie_love]

9. Yep

agreed

[Bluerthanblue]

10. good analysis-

having lived through the time I agree with you. That is in no way approval of the policies of the Reagan administration.

There is an actual difference.

Thanks for your voice of reason.

:hi:

[suston96]

11. Reagan tapped into what his rich friends wanted - tax cuts, and they got them....

Reagan's trajectory led to a doubling of the national debt, Iran-Contra, Grenada, and so much more.

And Bill Clinton halted that trajectory with balanced budgets, surpluses, payments on the national debt, and left office with a projected 5.8 trillion dollar surplus -

- which Bush snatched up and blew in a matter of months with tax cuts and a war.

Yeah, trajectory..... there a space ship in that trajectory?

[jefferson_dem]

12. They are making so much noise because they know he's right.

And it hurts.

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. My problem isn't with the "agent of change" aspect

I know that "change" is a political value nuetral term, not always a progressive one (despite all the hoopla about Democrats being for "change" this year - with Obama positioning himself at the head of that pack). Once the dismantling of the social safety net got packaged as a series of "reforms", I knew enough to stop expecting words like that to convey any specific ideology.

Reagan did bring about a sea change in American politics, and to do so he needed to find some means to connect with deeply felt emotions in a lot of people. I have no problem with Obama pointing that out either.

But this sentance contains the seeds of my unease:

"I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating."

I lived through the white backlash. I lived through the religious right backlash. I lived through the Right wing blaming Benjamine Spock for mentoring a generation of "permissive parents" who were to blame for the loss of respect felt for traditional convbentions in America, like "States Rights" and "Male bread winners" and "chastity" and "subservance" to church leaders. I remember when the Supreme Court ordering police to respect the constitutional rights of those being arrested was called "coddling criminals". I remember the backlash against affirmative action. I remember when O.S.H.A. and E.P.A. regulations to protect workers and the environment all got trashed as "unecessary government red tape". I remember when Unions were attacked for exploiting workers and taking away their freedom, and I watched good paying jobs get lost as Unions got broken. I rmember the bitterness being fanned about how anti-war peacenics hobbled America's proud military and caused us to lose a war for the first time in American history.

All of those charges were made by the Right to undermine progress made by the left in America. Those were the "excesses" that got attacked. The same type of progress that ended slavery, ended child labor, gave workers the right to organize and women the right to vote. It was a counter revolution. That was when Liberal was redefined to be a curse word. The right attacks everything positive done to promote social equity as "Big government", "socialism", and class warfare, and that is exactly what they did in the late 70's about what was accomplished in the 60's and early 70's, and Ronald Reagan rode that to power.

Obama did not challenge the Reagan framing of the 60's and 70's being predominantly a time of excesses, he reenforced it. That is my problem, not the fact that Obama correctly saw the role Reagan played in creating wide ranging changes in America, or Reagan's ability in winning support for them. Yes Obama may be right that many Americans bought into the backlash by the 80's. Many Americans bought into the endless war on terror last election also. That doesn't mean it can't be challenged.

[mzmolly]

15. Obama analyzed how he needs to reach out to independents

perfectly. ;)

[Catherine Vincent]

16. "So why are Hillary's supporters making all this noise?"

To drown all your hysterical posts out.