I wonder how November would look to Democrats if a few things were different

[ThomWV]

How would we do in the next election if the wars were ended, we had single payer health care in place right now, and torturers were in prison right up to Dick Cheney? Oh, and George Tenet was stripped of his Medal of Freedom?

[Catshrink]

1. Where would we be if Obama didn't have that Rahmsputin whispering in his ear?

Or should we call him that Fucking Rahmsputin?

[Lost4words]

3. correct on so many levels ! ! ! nt

[mopinko]

6. ha! i actually like rahm, but that's funny.

fucking rahmsputin! he'll prolly have that on a t-shirt by tuesday.

[notesdev]

2. Where would we be

if Obama hadn't selected a bunch of Wall Street insiders to run economic policy? That's the real big one.

[Catshrink]

4. Good point...

and there are many others but you've nailed the biggest one IMHO.

[jefferson_dem]

5. "A Pony in Every Barn"?

While these policy outcomes may reflect your "perfect world" scenario, they were never going to happen in the "real world".

Sorry, it's kind of hard to consider what may have been when your premises are so unrealistic.

[blueworld]

9. You can't know that. You can guess that they would be improbable, that's all

I understand & accept that this country must be governed in bipartisanship as best for all concerned, which means regular, ongoing compromise. However each side should set a goal & set out to fight for it before they start making concessions. Even concessions should be made gradually & according to actual demand, not guesses of what the other side "may" accept.

I also believe that the improbability of ever fully achieving a noble ideal doesn't excuse anyone from the responsibility for striving towards it. The only difference between an ideal & reality is choice.

One golden quality nearly all the Dems have (and few of the GOP) is that they learn from mistakes & practice. I'm sure if they can hold their majority, future negotiations will be handled more shrewdly & effectively.

[jefferson_dem]

10. Points well taken.

I should qualify my comments above to say "not realistic given the current political circumstances." In fact, Obama himself ran on ending the Iraq War while re-focusing on Afghanistan. He never advanced the idea of single payer or war crimes trials.

Nobles ideals are wonderful (seriously) if only to highlight how far reality is removed from them.

[blueworld]

14. Thanks for your usual graciousness & understanding - great ideals:) n/t

[EFerrari]

16. When you call enforcing the law "noble ideals", that shows you how far

you have drifted down the Get Along River.

[EFerrari]

15. LOL. Yeah, in my "perfect world", torturers are punished

and Obama has no open black sites. Silly me!


:rofl:

[Faryn Balyncd]

7. How about if we had a Congress that would REPEAL the rule giving Catfood Comm a NO-AMENDMENT vote in

the lame duck Congress.


What other action could our Democratic leadership do to motivate our demoralized base and inspire the independents.


We need to run on saving Social Security, and we can't do that as long as we have a fis in place that assures Democrats will gut SS in the lame duck Congress.

[NJmaverick]

8. pure fantasy and not all that useful for dealing with the real world

[neverforget]

18. Yeah the "Real World" is dealing the Democrats a potentially disasterous

mid-term election because of what they have done or not done. There's going to be a lot of "what if's" on November 3. Maybe asking Democrats to enact Democratic ideals with legislation is pure fantasy but I do know that acting all "bipartisan" has gotten the Democrats absolutely no where. In 2008, we asked for change and got change around the edges. Too many Democrats want to play it safe instead of looking at the big picture of Democratic ideals.

[Recursion]

11. Voters would be in armed, open revolt

And they'd be right to, because the only way those could have happened is if Obama had dissolved the US Congress and implemented them by dictatorial decree.

Well, he could probably have stripped Tenet of his MoF without dissolving Congress. But I don't think voters would care about that.

And even if Congress had passed a single-payer bill that were implemented a la Canada (50 required state Medicare programs and outlawing of most private medical care), they would be in armed, open revolt too.

[Arkana]

12. Considering we'd also be on the Planet Zarg, they'd look pretty good.

[LostInAnomie]

13. Without good employment and a decent econmy...

... it would probably look exactly the same.

[Recursion]

17. A lot of DUers have confused "why I'm mad"...

...with "why everybody else is mad".