Anyone following this culture war going on between President Obama and the right wing of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity? Will the right wing have a serious impact on what President Obama hopes to accomplish?
Judging from the way this stimulus package sailed through the House despite having NO SUPPORT from the Right, I doubt it. All I see are the Republicans being obstructionists out of SPITE. It's not like they have any better alternatives
The way I see the political calculus being played out the opposition want to see the Obama administration fail. Their own calculations is that he has two years to show something or just fail. If he fails then the opposition will recapture the Congressional House and maybe the Senate in two years. In four years if Obama is a complete failure as they see it they will recapture the Presidency. I have brought this up to a number of people here who do not have a clue to the strategy that is being played out against Obama. The political pitbulls like Limbaugh and Hannity are already energizing their millions of listeners and others to take the offensive as the underground resistence to bring Obama to his knees and recapture both houses of Congress.
Good theory but the American public in the last election showed they're not idiots. They know full well how deep the hole dug by the Bush Administration is. We're talking eight years of damage here. Obama will need a full term at least for anything to really materialize. He has the good will of the majority of Americans and the world, while the extreme Right pundits are a bunch of provincial lunatics trying to cling to relevance. Obama might have two years to show something but so do the Republicans. They were destroyed so badly in the last election there's no way they can come back in time for the midterms. They're still trying to figure out how this black dude with a Arab-sounding name kicked their asses. Their dogma is spent and they have no front runners or headliners unless you think Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber are political superstars.
Not to take anything from the american people, but they tend to be fickle. I guarantee you that two years from now if the economy is not any better than self interest will reign.
Actually some of us have stopped listening to Rush, and are quickly becoming disappointed with Hannity. I think they both need to give the man an honest chance and they have become quite petty in their approach, but then again that is the exact same approach much of the media took with Sarah Palin, so neither side of the media argument gets my respect. Exactly, because some of us want to see him succeed even if we didn't vote for him. Thank you for your faith in the American public.
True enough, but the public's choice would be to hand midterm power back to the party that got us in this mess in the first place. Not gonna happen. Come back if after a full 4 year term nothing improves.
You're wrong there. Palin had her chance and failed. All this "media elite" garbage is just that, garbage. She wasn't ambushed. There was no bias. The woman is dumb as a rock. She couldn't even name what newspapers or magazines she reads for God's sakes. That's why I love YouTube, the shit is there for all time. Don't get it twisted, electing Obama is the first thing Americans have done right in many years.
Yeah, i think i'm siding with you on this one. I have frequently expressed my deep cynicism - even skepticism - at the morale and collective judgement of Americans as a whole but every now and then, we tend to get out shit together and act right. First of all, i think the majority of Americans - including those who voted for the President - realize that he's not literally Jesus and cannot work miracles instantly. He will need about two years to even stop the bleeding. And so i believe America will acknowledge that fact and give the man a chance, which is why you see his stimulus package winning support amongst a clear majority, even though they might have certain reservations and questions about certain elements. Now i am not a data analyst or witchdoctor and so i don't know what will happen in the 2010 mid-terms, but if we are to judge by historical patterns, the Dems might lose a few seats in the House as the incumbent President's party tends to witness a decline in the mid-terms. But given the wide majority the Dems currently have in the legislature, it will take a miracle and a number of scandals and incompetence on their part for the tide to reverse itself and they fall into the minority in the House - or even the Senate for that matter. As it stands, the Democrats have 255 seats in the House and 56 in the Senate. To fall into the minority, they would have to lose 179 seats in the House and 7 in the Senate which does not seem likely as of now. It usually takes three to four cycles for a defeated party to come back into power. As of now, Obama's approval rating is sky high among Democrats, and significantly strong amongst independents. If he goes into 2012 with an improved economy, mitigated warfronts and a good approval rating with his coalition, not even the most united conservative front against him will prevent his re-election. Of course, no one said it will be easy but it is do-able. Hell, George W Bush got re-elected so it should not be that hard.
Can always count on you for good political analysis. Good post! One small mistake though, for G.W. to have been re-elected he must first have been elected in the first place, which he wasn't
