Why will Democrats fare better in 2012? Do you think they will?

[mmonk]

I mention this because Joe Scar said Obama will be reelected because people will see the tea party candidates as failing between now and then. Of course there are other views such as Obama will get further blame if Americans' lives don't improve broadly enough and there is the opinion Progressive Democrats will continue to feel betrayed and still lack enough enthusiasm to turn fortunes around in the Congress. What do you think? At this time I'm not sure, especially if social security, education, and medicare is messed with too much.

[Newest Reality]

1. In some ways I wonder

if it matters as long as we continue to see one side enabling the other when it is the outcomes that matter.

[mmonk]

3. What about perceptions? Will they play into it?

[Newest Reality]

15. Aren't perceptions the crux of the matter?

Manufactured consent?

What lurks beneath the game board, (where issues, divisive and otherwise are presented) is the question of current resources and how they impact the dynamics of the current political spectrum. How many people currently perceive the critical nature of that factor yet?

The world is at a "peak everything" tipping point. Potable water and petroleum are currently at that stage in various places and ways, with other commodities close behind. Current consumption levels and waste are proving to be unsustainable and yet, people are holding-out or hoping for some kind of return to said at some point.

Money issues and funding seem to be merely a skin on the more tangible and concrete aspects of supply, here.

So, what are the politicians actually going to be able to do but play the game of public relations where we are motivated to stay focused on issues that distract us from what is crucial and related to our survival? Cognitive dissonance is one way we are easily manipulated to avoid the more disagreeable and frightening implications of life out of balance.

[mmonk]

18. Yes.

The question is can they hold back obvious truths.

[northoftheborder]

8. The perception and the fact.

The American people must be informed with up to the day information about what the Republicans are trying to do to them, and who is stopping them. That is IMPERATIVE. The Dem leaders and their surrogates and PRES. OBAMA must use their megahorns and publicize everything. We cannot depend upon the MSM to summarize and analyze anything.

[mmonk]

10. How much will the Citizens United case figure in?

[butterfly77]

2. no

[old mark]

4. K&R- Great question. I HOPE we will, and I believe we can IF the administration

will start to PUBLICIZE what good it has done and stop the politicians from destroying Social Security and Medicare. I think the jobs are slowly beginninng to come back, and the economy slowly recovering. I don't expect the GOP House to be very successful in anything they actually try aside from making headlines with their standard cheap political bullshit. I think they might just manage to defeat themselves again, and I hope the Democrats are better at doing Democratic things rather than being "bipartisan".


We will have to wait and see.
mark

[mmonk]

6. This one will be hard to read I suspect.

Like you said, we will see. It will probably be a perception driven election.

[kentuck]

7. There has to be a Party that stands for the people and against the establishment...

Democrats have been very weak standing up for the people, in my opinion. If they do not change, I do not expect any big changes in the next election.

[old mark]

26. Exactly. Too many Democrats have become GOP Lite "Me, Too" politicians

and forgot where the Democrats support comes from.

We need them to get back to that.


mark

[FBaggins]

5. Why will they fair better in 2012? Because it would be hard to do worse. n/t

[mmonk]

LOL. True. The question should be will the Republicans hold

onto gains and consolidate or will Democrats bring enough to swing fortunes back.

[FBaggins]

16. That'll depend a great deal on the president's coattails.

The Senate looks like it will be tough to avoid some losses... possibly even the majority. We're just defending too many seats. There are probably as many as a dozen potentially competitive seats on our side... and maybe three on their.

Of course... there's a LOOOONG way to go and if the last election taught us anything, it was that things can change in a big way. Just look at the 2010 predictions that were made in early 2009. For one thing, we have no idea what the retirement picture will look like.

The House isn't a bleak, since the entire body is up each go-round and they now have lots of freshmen to protect. Reapportionment and redistricting likely wins them 6-10 new seats and protects a similar number of otherwise competitive seats... but a strong reelection campaign for the president could still swing the House back, even with that handicap.

[mmonk]

20. The reapportionment and redistricting is definitely a concern.

For those of us who are progressive, it brings a further concern since progressivism can't advance from the Senate anyway. I'm not an optimistic person looking forward, especially when one looks at the control corporate America has consolidated with the Citizens United case. I think I'll ride out the majority of what's left of my life essentially unrepresented.

[JTFrog]

9. Yes. n/t

[vi5]

11. Obama will do fine....

He has the benefit of a ridiculously weak GOP field and a general likability factor. He is the incumbent so he can stay above the fray while the Republican field beats each other up and then starts to beat him up and appear shrill.

As for the rest of Democrats in the Senate and House, they'll fare no better than they did recently. Until we get another good DNC chair in there and someone working on a better ground game and concentrating more on actually fighting and pushing back and giving people something to vote FOR, then people will continue to take their frustrations out on Democrats.

[mmonk]

14. Should Dean return as chair? Maybe. Of course the current track

has been set. I agree that it makes gains harder.

[meow mix]

12. there will be no progress due to lack of stones. so im going with no.

bigger losses on the way.

[COLGATE4]

13. I doubt it. We have two years of unbridled Rethuglican obstructionism

to look forward to, coupled with Issa's witch hunts which will get 24/7 coverage on all the MSM, not just Fux. Unless the economy significantly improves by then, I don't see us doing well. (BTW, the word you are looking for is 'fare', not 'fair').

[mmonk]

19. Thanks. Corrected.

That is something spell check doesn't catch.

[whattheidonot]

27. obama not answer

Obama is not the answer. He let Wall Street and the banks control. He took big money from them. He talks about the debt instead of the meltdown, which caused to a large degree the debt problem. The rich are getting richer. There is not much to build an economy on because of lots of people with no income. Gas is going up. Food is going up. In the middle of all this we have bailouts for banks and talk of debt reduction? The bankers should be in jail and a jobs program should have been implemented

[tabbycat31]

17. I think they will

First of all there will be Obama against some teabagging wingnut (the only type of candidate that could survive a GOP primary) on the top of the ticket.
Second of all I think the GOP House is going to shoot themselves in the foot.

As a progressive, but also as a realist, I think that the progressives need to be a lot more patient. We are never going to be able to get single-payer overnight, and the current legislation is a baby step. Is the law perfect? No. BUt it's a step in the right direction.

[mmonk]

21. How much of current law will stay?

[tabbycat31]

22. I think most of it will

I think a repeal will pass Boner's House, but not the Senate and the White House.

[mmonk]

23. What do you think we will lose from it? The Senate and the executive branch

is where compromise is an idol god that is followed.

[emulatorloo]

25. depends a lot on filibuster reform. It is in the works, McConnell & the Lobbiests are in panic mode

Apparently procedurally Reid can keep the "first day of Senate business" going for 2 weeks while the Dems hammer out how fillibuster reform will work.

So far what I am hearing

- no secret holds
- if you want to filibuster, then you have to ACTUALLY be on the Senate and Defend yourself (ala the olden days)

We've already seen what a lazy bunch these Republicans are over the Lame Duck. All this crying about how HARD it was to have to work and not go on Vacay/

[emulatorloo]

24. New Boehner House is going to give the voters a refresher course on Republican Uselessness

As to medicare and social security, the push for cutting those programs for deficit reduction is coming from Republicans. And per polling, even their nutty base thinks that is a VERY BAD IDEA.