fhrugby the Wise wrote:
It would be humorous to see it it happens. The O is a great speaker and a likable guy whether you agree with his politics or not, however he does seems to fold to outside pressures way too easily.
I'd actually argue that this has been pretty much the definition of his entire career. He's never done *anything* out of lockstep with the interests that support him directly. He's never crossed a party line, and seems to have a position on every issue that veers around dramatically as the political wind blows. He's against drilling when talking to environmentalists, but ok with it when talking to people who have to put gas in their cars. He's for gun control when talking to Liberals in Illinois, but suddenly ok with private ownership when the issue swings the other was in the Supreme Court case recently.
What he calls "nuance", I call equivocation. He's very good at being just vague enough to allow him to tell whomever is in front of him at the moment something that seems to be exactly what they want to hear.
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I would hope for the democrats sake that it was not too premature to put O up for the big office run and his decisions mess up his chances in future elections, because they seem to have a real hard time finding good candidates for president.
Hard to say. I think they screwed the pooch on this one. The Dems have a hard time politically because they have the Liberal activist Tiger by the tail most of the time. Sometimes, it's the other way around. Those voices are loud but not very politically savvy. They managed to gain power back for the Dems in 2006, but the cost was a focus on a course of action that the Dems knew would be political suicide to pursue (ending the war immediately). The result has been one of, if not the, least productive Congress ever and longstanding single digit approval ratings.
Same deal with Obama. The hard left wouldn't let it go. They were infatuated with him and unable to see his glaring flaws. Instead of going with reason, the Dems were forced to push him higher and higher. And now, he's going to fall. Hard. If they'd been more patient and gone with their heads instead of their hearts, they'd very likely have won with Clinton and would have Obama waiting in the wings 8 years down the road. Stupidly handled IMO.
Now. Assuming he loses, he'll be the guy who should have won by a landslide but failed miserably. It's very very rare for a nominee of a party who loses a presidential election to get a second chance. He wont be able to run on being a fresh face and would have to find some way to convince voters that even though he lost last time, there's something different about him now. That's a really hard sell. It's possible, but unlikely.
This is just part of what happens when your political ideology appeals to people primarily on the emotional aspects of issues. You get irrational political decisions.