How can Obama and the Democrats avoid being blamed for Bush's mess?

[Middle finga]

I was reading an article by Dave Lindorff and he made an interesting point by raising concerns about Obama and the Democratic Congress being blamed for all of the mess that Bush has created. He made the following point concerning an Obama win:

Two terms of the Bush/Cheney administration have pretty much
destroyed the dollar, wrecked the US industrial base, emasculated the
US military, undermined public faith in the legal system, wrecked the
educational system, bankrupted working people, fired up many labor
unions, bankrupted the government and threatened the retirement and
Medicare systems.

Do we really want to now hand this mess over to a Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress?

All that will do is ensure that Democrats will end up having to
confront, and in the end get the blame for the whole looming
catastrophe, allowing the otherwise thoroughly discredited Republicans
and neocons who created this disaster to come back claiming it was the
fault of the liberals and their pinko friends.

I think he raises legitimate concerns, if Obama and the Democrats can not reverse the downward spiral of this economy in his first few years which is highly unlikely, more and more people will be angry and looking for someone to blame. The Republicans and their powerful media machine will blame everything on the Democrats.

If I was Obama, one of the first things I would do upon taking office is to bring back the Fairness Doctrine in Media. If not, he could be sent packing after one term if he can't immediately fix these problems facing us as a nation. JR Mooneyham makes an interesting point concerning this:

If all we accomplish this election is the Democrats getting the blame for the coming pain stemming from massive Republican evils and errors, which then puts Republicans back in charge for another several terms after a single Obama term, the USA is pretty much toast. And that seems to be what Obama's aiming for, as he's said he has no intentions of bringing back the fairness doctrine for media-- and so will continue to allow insane moguls like Murdoch to murder rational thought and discussion in America, even if it ever comes into his power (Obama's) to rectify that.

He furthers goes on to write:

But the true election's not going to be Obama versus McCain: it's going to be the Democratic machine versus the Republican machine. And the Republican machine includes almost every major media outlet in the country. That makes it a very unlevel playing field-- a circumstance Obama himself doesn't seem to comprehend. As you and I well know, using the internet as your main promotional platform comes nowhere near to matching the power of mainstream print, TV, and radio. So Obama could produce a billion clever web sites, and still easily lose the media war.

So do you think the republicans blaming the democrats for the mess that the republicans created is something we should be concerned about? I think it's unlikely that 8 years of Bush's policies will be fixed or reversed under a democratic presidency no matter how intelligent he is. What do you think, am I overreacting by making a mountain out of a molehill?

[BlooInBloo]

1. That's an issue of just how stupid the American public is. Republicans WILL blame Democrats....

It's just a question of whether or not the public will fall for it.

[depakid]

17. Actually, those in the public who've been paying any attention see leading Dems right alongside

Republicans -and in some cases even taking the lead on issues ranging from so called "free" trade, to financial deregulation, the Iraq war and civil liberties.

Kind of hard to draw a bright contrast, when on issue after issue members of the party have worked hard at blurring the distinction.

[BlooInBloo]

21. Thanks for providing an example.

[depakid]

22. That's exactly what a lot of people see

and one of the reasons why many of them don't vote... or are convinced that the both parties are "the same."

[DailyGrind51]

2. Fix one problem as a time, but with major surgery, not band-aids.

[iamjoy]

3. I Don't Care

It is the price we have to pay (so to speak) to save the Supreme Court.

The next president will appoint at least two, possibly three Supreme Court justices. It will most likely be moderate and liberal justices who retire (or pass). If we have a Democrat, we keep the status quo on the nation's highest court. If we have a Republican, we get more Scalia/Thomas/Alito to shape the law in this nation for a generation (or more) to come.

I also remember worrying about this in 2004, that Kerry would inherit a mess from Dubya and get blamed for the consequences. Certainly the Right Wing Spin is to blame the Democrats for our economic mess because things have gotten worse since 2007. People still blame the Republicans, though (and rightly so).

We can't fear losing elections because we will get blamed for the mess the Republicans made. I don't remember clearly, but this was probably the case in 1992 as well and Clinton thrived.

Shortly after taking office, President Obama will need to be honest with the nation. He will need to explain our situation (in terms simple enough for the average voter to understand) and say these problems have been a long time coming (not so subtle swipe at Dubya and Friends). He will need to reassure us that we can solve them, but it will take patience and hard work from every American (and add in a statement that he knows we are capable of it). He will need to lead by example and demonstrate sacrifice on his own part (some small gesture) and ask Congress to do the same (forgoing pay raises, for example).

Of course, I don't think that whole honesty thing worked for Carter, but maybe Obama has the charisma to pull off the message.

[CrispyQ]

4. I think your concern is extremely valid.

People are happy to blame Clinton for 9/11 even though BushCo was on watch nine months prior & was warned about bin Laden. They've all but forgotten the Clinton surplus as the media trumpets the 'tax & spend liberals' meme. I feel certain that in four years, the right wingers & their propaganda machine we call the media, will be spouting how every problematic issue is the dems fault & the masses will swallow it, hook, line & sinker.

[JohnnyLib2]

6. Thus it ever was (or whatever that phrase is).

I agree--valid point.

[bridgit]

5. By sticking their fingers into the chests of republicans and calling them liars in public...

for one, and then proving that they are :patriot:

[DCKit]

7. Sure it's going to be pure Hell...

but the alternative - four more of the same - is unthinkable. Somalia would look like paradise by comparison to the U.S. after twelve straight years of Republinomics. What good is a huge helping of Republic Karma if the rest of us are completely destroyed in the process?

And I couldn't agree more about "major surgery". The blanket repeal of every bit of legislation, signing statement and regulation enacted in favor of #43's policies over the past eight years would provide the quickest route - don't think about it, just do it. Then clean out the DOJ, begin investigations and re-vetting and correcting all the other political hires of the maladministration.

Starting from a (relatively) clean slate would be far less arduous than any attempt to apply fixes to the morass of crap the new Administration and Congress are walking into.

[sofa king]

8. Prosecute 'em all, that's how.

Make it so that not one of the crises of the next three years can be mentioned without also mentioning the ongoing trial of the Bush Administration people responsible for them.

[Junkdrawer]

12. Best answer. Not that anyone will follow your advice. n/t

[npk]

9. Obama can't worry about that.

Obama knows that he will be inheriting a mess when he is elected and takes office in January. He knew that was going to be the case when he decided to run for president. Obama is committed to changing the perceived notion by the mainstream people that the government is broken and the economy can't be fixed. No one said that it was going to be easy for Obama. In fact his first year in the white house will involve an almost complete retooling of the failed Bush policies and administration. But it is a job that is going to have to be done. If not Obama, who. If McCain becomes president it will be at least four more years of a giant mess that the next democratic president will have to clean up and by that point the damage could be irreversible.

[movonne]

10. They already have blamed us for oil, economy,so that is just

the way it is..

[Middle finga]

16. Yeah the oil crises is a prime example, Bush and Cheney doesn't

seem to get any blame for the high gas prices, it is amazing to me. Their foreign policy in the middle east or Cheney's secret energy meetings never come into question. Then the Repubs come up with the drill gimick and the american people immediately line up behind them. Another thing how can McCain be running on the Iraq war and still be almost tied in the polls. Under estimate the power of the Republican propoganda machine at your own peril.

[gulliver]

11. By getting pissed off.

You can just see that runty little Daddy's boy McCain seething. Half of his appeal is to anger. People see him as sort of "containing his anger," like a good boy, like Shane. Those dumb Dems...must...keep...patience....don't explode over their unpatriotic, war losing, whiny....must...keep...patience...and the yokels and dummies eat up the act.

But there has never been anything so warped as that moron-boy playing Mr. Patient. Far from being angry, McCain and his fellow dipshit Bush, should be on the receiving end of anger, not the supplying end.

Unfortunately, our side thinks anger is unseemly. Our side thinks blame is gauche. Our side thinks forcing accountability is out of bounds. One requests it politely and returns to ones seat, hands folded if the request isn't granted.

[Peacetrain]

13. Hit them with campagin commericals

that point out everything that they have done to wreck the economy, military, our national standing and a good place to start

http://www.dems.gov/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={D68CD0B2-1442-4804-9F6B-AF67DE7FF585}&DE={FDD09C4F-E958-4E13-A92B-179C2FAC6FEA}

[Middle finga]

19. Are they doing it now? If they aren't doing it now

will they do it later to defend themselves... I kind of doubt it.

[Peacetrain]

20. The need to do it, to remind people where we are starting from

[stillcool]

26. Doesn't anyone have a life anymore?

I guess it's just me. I wouldn't think that people are glued to the tube in August. Maybe it's because I don't watch the cable soap opera shows that I miss all the outrage?

[Orsino]

14. They can't. They CAN minimize the damage, though...

...by actually fixing the shit that's broken. If Democratic leadership can commit to change, it's possible to improve the lives of voters. There is no time, however, for business as usual--if we let up on them, and coast after Obama's Inauguration, we will have earned, once again, their contempt and malice.

Let's make the Democratic Party the party of repair. That is the way that the electorate will see that Republicanism is a luxury we can no longer afford.

[Marr]

15. State it all bluntly at the inauguration and don't pull any punches.

Say flatly that the GOP and the Bush Administration have been working very hard to destroy our economy, because it actually benefited them personally.

[Jack Rabbit]

18. The model of what to do is FDR; the model of what not to do is Jimmy Carter

Contrary to what some people think, Roosevelt has no real plan about how to deal with the Depression when he took office. Moreover, his intellectual capacity was on a par with Ronald Reagan's. However, like Reagan, he knew he wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box and, unlike Bush the Frat Boy, made of habit of listening to people who were smarter than he was. That's why he kept around a brain trust. Unlike both Reagan and the second Bush, FDR was no ideologue. He didn't care if the solution fit any particular doctrine; it was more important that it work.

That's how the New Deal was born.

That is what will have to be done to get out of the various and sundry disasters President Obama will inherit from the usurper Bush. As long as he keeps trying something and progress is made, he'll do fine, no matter what the Republicans say.

[muntrv]

23. The Democratic Party has been cleaning up GOP messes since 1933.

[endthewar]

24. All the polls show that people want Dems to be in charge

No need to worry about this.

[Iggo]

25. Laugh, and then calmly refute the bullshit...

...with facts.

[Gabi Hayes]

27. what do you think happened to Jimmy Carter?

see 'Liberty Under Siege'

[YvonneCa]

28. Give them a copy of this (Doonesbury)...

...from the Sunday paper:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3846312&mesg_id=3846312


And say thank you to Gary Trudeau.:patriot: