When the Democrats lose presidential elections they usually blame their candidate for not getting the message out. They also blame bovine voters too stupid to appreciate all that liberals have to offer. They certainly blame the eeevil Republican Machine for distorting the truth about Democrat policies. But they never admit they lost because their policies are too liberal.
Here is a sampling of the liberal post-mortem commentary after Kerry’s loss in 2004.
Salon sniffs.
Democrats Lost The Battle, Not The War – Only people suffering from historical amnesia could believe this election proves that liberalism is dead.
Slate’s arrogantly slams the idiot voters.
The Unteachable Ignorance of the Red States.
The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry. I suppose the good news is that 55 million Americans have evaded the ignorance-inducing machine. But 58 million have not.
And from those patriots at the Democratic Socialists of America.
Yes, the Democrats lost this election, but they did not lose it because they ran too far to the left.
~~~In the face of the 2004 results we find among Democratic Party leaders the same impulse to “move to the center” that permeated official reactions to the results in 2002.
Peter A. Brown, of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, specializes in polling of electoral battleground states. He contends that this year the Democrats face the acid test of liberalism in the person of Barack Obama.
Since Republican Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, the only Democrat to win the White House has been Bill Clinton. But he was the rare Democratic nominee, and not just because he was victorious.
Mr. Clinton’s southern roots and willingness to challenge his own party’s philosophical orthodoxy may have made the difference on Election Day in 1992 and 1996. In any case, he followed a fundamentally different path than other Democratic nominees since 1980.
After the 1980, 1984, 1988, 2000 and 2004 elections, Democratic leaders argued that the American people had not rejected their ideas or governing philosophy. Instead, they said, their nominee had not effectively communicated the party’s core message. It wasn’t the American people rejecting those views and values, they contended.
The liberals have put their credibility and their future in the hands of the golden boy. If he can’t carry the day, they are screwed.
Nevertheless, it’s clear that if Sen. Barack Obama loses this November, Democrats will have to conclude that yes, in fact, their defeats are linked to their brand of politics, not their salesman’s communication skills.
Not only is the political playing field stacked in the Democrats’ favor — an unpopular war, an even less popular Republican president, and a slow and perhaps shrinking economy–but also their White House candidate is the extraordinary communicator in this race. Sen. Obama is clearly the most charismatic candidate and the best public speaker that the Democrats have offered in many decades. Some might say since John F. Kennedy; others might go further back.
~~~If Sen. Obama, in such a favorable political climate, can’t sell the party’s philosophical view of what government should do, it is very difficult to see how anyone else could succeed at the task.
Brown is spot on in everything but this conclusion.
Democrats will have to conclude that yes, in fact, their defeats are linked to their brand of politics, not their salesman’s communication skills.
No. It is a lead-pipe cinch that if the Democrats lose, they will not blame their anti-American policies, they will blame it on one thing, racism. You see, Barack Obama couldn’t possibly lose on substance. And if he can’t lose on substance, then it must be something entirely unrelated to his politics, and the only thing left is his race.
So on November 5, 2008 after Obama loses, Slate can simply revise its 2004 article: “The Unteachable Ignorance [and Racism] of the Red States.
Also find Bill Dupray at The Patriot Room
Prediction – Not one democrat will blame liberalism for an Obama defeat.
They will play the obligatory race card and blame racism.
Michael,
You are correct.
We are seeing it already. We’re even seeing it right here on this site.
Obama’s speech on Friday was a preemptive strike but his remarks are also an attempt to set the tone that anyone who questions his thin resume or the policies he is proposing will have the millstone of racism hung around their necks.
It’s hard to see how Brown could miss that racism safety-net. Obama himself spread it out. I’m bracing myself. It will be liberals all over the world, not just in America, who will scream racism.
I don’t care about the reason he is defeated. Just so he is. He is a danger to this country. There’s no telling where he would take us. Just look at all the terrorists and dictators who have endorsed him. They can see how weak he would be. They probably realize they could lead him around by his nose. Just give him a sob story and he will fall for it hook, line and sinker.
He is clever. I’ll give him that. But he is not as intelligent as he thinks he is or that his followers think he is. Has he made any statement or promise that he has not reneged on? How many associates or friends has he desavowed? The man is an average Chicago politician and he will say and do anything to be elected. Just look at the way he tells each group what they want to hear even though it is the oppoiste of what he said the day before.
He has now moved the DNC to his home territory. Even if he loses the DNC will still be there in Chicago. That was a power grab in and of itself. AS if the democrats were not crooked enough now they will be located in the heart of the second crooked city in the country. The most crooked city is New Orleans.
AS I have said before the reason he will not release his birth certificate is because his father is listed as an arab and in the religion column both his mother and father are listed as Islam. His father’s family has been adamant that they are arabs not africans. They look down on Africans just like the Arabs in Darfur do. If this birth certificate is released he would lose more than half of the African American community.
“It will be liberals all over the world”
No … world calls guys that want liberalism waist down and communism in economy – socialists. In US they stole the name, but they are hardly “liberals” anymore. Well… lefties are really good in word games, no wonder they made better name for themselves in US. Being called socialists they’d have a hard time in your country.
@topic
I think Obama will fall. His charisma and simple fact – that some people will vote democratic nominee anyway – will give him an edge. However it won’t be enough against this huge pile of scandals! Long line of shady associates and even shadier line of endorsing tyrants could seed dubt even into activists and die hard fans. Declaring support is one thing, acutally voting for a guy you’re not shure about is another.
McCain may go play in the center, considering Obama is on far left. Plus he had no destructive duel like Clinton-Obama. Plus if all goes well Iraq will look really good in the autumn. Now even left leaning papers are forced to admit what’s happening there. If it stays this way Iraq may not be Obamas trump, but mcCains.
Plus – best dirt is stored for last moment. Obama was fired upon by Clinton specialists a lot, though independant ppl find tons of dirt on him almost constantly. I belive mc Cain’s ppl will find something really, really good and fire it at last possible moment. There’s so much on him already, it’d be strange he had not one more really deep, but not very presidential secret.
Question re: the birth certificate issue….
Assume for the moment that the birth certificate issue is _not_ the problem Barbara(4) mentions – that is father = arab, both parents state they are muslim – but rather the natural born citizen issue. There hasn’t been a great deal of discussion of it, other than a very few blogs, but you can bet that important people are aware of it. Nevertheless, the issue hasn’t been raised…. Why not? It was with McCain…
So also assume that things go as expected and Obama is duly designated as the Democratic candidate. Who is mostly likely to challenge his candidacy based on the natural born status (or lack thereof)? If he is disqualified(by the courts, I’d assume), who becomes the candidate and how does it come about? VP candidate? New Democratic convention???
You’re actually assuming the public will see coverage on the scandals like the would possibly deserve or be covered in a way that they would had it been a Republican candidate. The MSM is so in the tank for Obama they’re doing everything they can to mitigate the scandals the minute they pop up.
Yes there is a giant conspiracy so immense that only 1% are enlightened enough to be able to see through it. Look, Americans have a wide variety of news sources the ones that they choose are the ones that they like and are comfortable with watching. There is a reason why only about 10% of the population chooses to watch Fox News (the only right of center news) during the prime time news hour. And it is not because SOROS has some secret power that forces them to watch the other stations. McCain is trending downward in all of the polls, Obama is trending upward hoping that some scandal is somehow going to pull the Republicans out of their hole is not the way to win an election
Can’t you guys find another way to phrase things? “In the tank”; “throw under the bus”; “Bush Derangement Syndrome”–they’re used up by now. Be nice to the language and come up with different ways to express the same thoughts.
Really, John Ryan? If Fox only gets 10%, what percentage does CNN and MSNBC have then, considering that Fox has had the #1 prime news ratings consistently for the past 7-9 years? Could it be that other 90% are watching Extra, Inside Hollywood, etal? Because they sure aren’t watching competitive news shows.
Those minority conservatives must sure pile in to the talk radio shows too. Top rated radio commentators? All conservative. I believe the current line up is Rush/Hannity/Savage.
By contrast Air America’s needed bailing out. They’re about the biggest known names for liberal talk. Oh my…
So if you’re suggesting no one wants news that doesn’t suit your particular liberal approach, you’re obviously ignoring both cable news and talk radio stats.
Perhaps if john ryan would watch some Fox News he would have known that President Bush’s policy on offshore drilling has not changed.
john ryan has never been one to tire himself out with the pursuit of knowledge or truth, so this is not a surprising development.
i would no more vote for obama than put my kids up for adoption. he is so freakin scary, you can see through it if your blinders are not on. we are not rcacists, we are people who are tired of watching the left slowly take away every sigle right we have. this was once a nation based on freedom, not any longer unless you are in strange bed room habits that involve animals, then you are protected by the aclu. go figure.
What you said is exactly why BHO is unelectable, even with MSM total support; ‘i would no more vote for obama than put my kids up for adoption. he is so freakin scary, you can see through it if your blinders are not on. we are not rcacists, we are people who are tired of watching the left slowly take away every sigle right we have’.
No matter what the NeoComs rant about BHO as President at this time is not going to happen. remember the only reason the BJC barely got elected was the ‘Peace Dividend’ due to the end of the Cold War. BHO ain’t BJC, he is far, far left of him.