Posted on 11/02/2010 5:14:49 AM PDT by markomalley
"We can run on this," David Axelrod, President Obama's chief political strategist, said nine months ago as Congress debated Obamacare. On Tuesday, the president's party appears poised to lose control of the House and to be reduced to dependence on Vice President Joe Biden's tiebreaking vote to retain vestigial power in the Senate. Axelrod's advice surely ranks among the worst campaign miscalculations in American political history. And it is indeed difficult to account for an error of such magnitude without thinking that Obama and Axelrod ignored what they surely could see with their own eyes.
The evidence was certainly there for everybody to see early on. A clear majority of Americans expressed doubts about Obamacare in 2009 as soon as they became aware of its central feature: putting government bureaucrats between patients and their doctors. Their doubts solidified into determined opposition during 2009's long hot summer of tempestuous Town Hall meetings. The opposition grew stronger still as the months ticked by despite repeated "new" efforts by Obama and his allies in Congress and the liberal mainstream media to "sell" Obamacare.
It appeared that the Obamacare drive stalled in January when Massachusetts voters put Republican Scott Brown in the Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi persuaded Obama to ignore chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who counseled stepping back, and instead to push forward against all opposition. There followed the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase and other corrupt closed-door deals to buy critically needed Senate votes. Then came Pelosi's infamous "Deem and Pass" rule that forced an up-or-down vote in the House with little debate and no floor amendments even as thousands protested outside the Capitol. Obamacare was thus passed into law, and the opposition began demands for its repeal.
Worried Democrats might have taken solace on the campaign trail in September from Sen. Charles Schumer's July promise that voters would become Obamacare supporters as the measure's initial "benefits" took effect. Instead, the polls showed consistent majorities month after month supporting repeal of Obamacare. Obama said over and over that Americans would be able to keep their private health insurance, but in October thousands of people working for major companies like Boeing and McDonalds discovered it was a hollow promise. As the campaign entered its final weeks, the only Democrats talking about Obamacare were the few who had voted against it.
So here we are. Rasmussen Reports says 58 percent favor repeal of Obamacare. The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that 55 percent of voters favor congressional candidates pledged to repeal Obamacare. Facing such bleak prospects, Democrats now can only dream of what might have been had Obama listened to Emanuel instead of Pelosi.
The Rats are shovel-ready for the dust bin of history.
What he should have said is "We can run away from this."
This inability to see tomorrow's future leads him to gross stupidities.
The defining moment was the Democrats’ unrestrained celebration and jubilation when it passed on the House floor, despite the resounding opposition. We witnessed despotism in action, and now they are going to suffer the consequences of their strident hubris and blatant disregard of the will of the electorate.
Some spinmeister was trying to explain that Obamacare was NOT the primary concern of voters. “In fact it was 3rd behind Jobs and the economy.”
Well lady, Obamacare IS THE PRIMARY IMPACT TO THE CURRENT STATE OF JOBS AND THE ECONOMY!!!!!
Even if Republicans take both houses, how will Obamacare be repealed? Obama will still have veto power.
I do understand that the Republican House can withhold funding, but that isn’t “repeal”.
Someone explain it to me in simple terms.
Don’t you love it how they try to spin away from what all of us already know?
Where was it that Rahm Emamuel came out against the passage of Obamacare. I never saw that. Quite the contrary.
All those arrogant RAT liberal idealogs think they know precisely what the people must have no matter how harmful and repulsive their prescription is for us.
They can cut off funding to the beast. The IRS needs to get more agents to enforce its draconian provisions and won’t get them. So enforcement of the law will be a dead letter. The House has the power of the purse.
"We won and I will now rule over you."
Nancy Pelosi misjudged the national mood. She’ll lose her job because she placed her ideology above the country’s welfare. A smarter House Speaker would have said, no we’re not doing this, let’s fix the economy first. The Democrats were stuck with a leader lacking in political acumen and now they’re reaping the consequences of her fanatical insistence they slit their own political throats for the President. I don’t feel sorry for them all. They deserve their fate.
Every last tax-whore ‘yes’ vote on Obozocare is a closet Marxist, and as such needs to go out to pasture. My back was already aching from carrying the dregs of society who do nothing for themselves except suck the life out of productive citizens. Obozocare is effectively like asking me to carry them further while they chop off one of my legs.
FUBO...you and all your a$$hole buddies were warned. ‘Coming to Jesus’ party today!!! What color feathers do you want?
So many Washington insiders simply cannot believe that any pol could put something as a higher priority than the next election. So when Obama said he wants to "fundamentally transform" America, and that he would rather be a one termer who got stuff done than a two termer who didn't, everyone dismissed it a rhetoric, aside from those of us who as Rush puts it, "live in Literalville".
Now, LISTEN to us you STUPID voters! This is the way it is and nothing can stop or change it. We made sure of that when we snuck all sorts of laws into the bill that guarantee that it cannot be changed or repealed later. That's because we knew before hand that you voters are too STUPID to know the difference.
That's because we are so much smarter than you......Now, go vote for the Democrats right now! They are the only ones smart enough to rule this country and ALWAYS know what is best for you STUPID people!
(”Boy, Barrack, that sure was a brilliant campaign approach. They will flock to your feet any second now!”)
Watch the D talking heads and spinners tonight. The talk will be this election was 100% about the economy and 0% about heath care reform, the banking reform bill, Cap/Trade, or any of the other Obama agenda items.
The lefties guests on Fox were already parroting this mantra last night. The goal is to couch this loss as a run-of-the mill “dumb luck/party in power always loses midterms/nothing to see here” one. Nice try.
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