TacticalFox88 said:
Honestly, what can the Republicans say? They didn't do SHIT for the economy, and Obama will pretty much not have a choice in calling them out on it on the campaign trail. He's going to use Osama, Health Care, and various miscellaneous things to there full advantage.
Unemployment will be front and center. If it's above 7-8% nothing else will matter. You realize that in the first two years of his Presidency, Obama passed more "progressive" legislation since LBJ? That's fucking huge. You'd think people would have appreciated that like they do in other western countries. No. They either sat at home, or a small percentage of them switched from blue to red while the Tea Party dominated the electorate with a near foaming-at-the-mouth level of intensity that should scare the everlovin' shit out of any remotely sane individual. It was kind of a preview for what things will be like in 2012 if unemployment doesn't go down.
(I use quotes for "progressive" since that's kind of watered down these days, but they were bold steps forward given the extremely partisan political environment regardless, and he deserves a lot of credit that he's simply not getting).
Also, something else I wanted to mention about Obama's chances; lots of people, especially those of us left of center, seem to think Obama would fare more than well against anyone but Romney or Huntsman. I think that's kind of unrealistic. People like Santorum, Paul, Cain, etc. are very aggressive (ESPECIALLY Santorum), and if they somehow won the nomination I think you'd be really surprised (well, maybe not Cain, lol). I've seen Santorum debate a lot when he was our Senator, and this guy is really good at engaging his opponent head on, relentlessly. He's an asshole, but he pulls it off
damn well. You don't want to go up against him in a year that's bad for Democrats. You should have seen the guy in 2006; had it not been such a bad year for the GOP, he would have kicked Bob Casey's ass to the
curb. He is one of the most aggressive campaigners I have ever seen, and if he plays his cards right and the demographics are in his favor, watch out. He will stop at nothing.
Clevinger said:
Who said they had to tell the truth? They're the masters of misinformation/marketing. And they're going to have shitloads and shitloads of money to spread it.
Yeah. The GOP lying and distortion machine will be out in full force. Bachmann is super hot for US political standards and has a lot of charisma. She'll have the Citizens United case on her side, too. I'm absolutely terrified to see how well she's polling right out of the gate.
TacticalFox88 said:
So will Obama. He's like a completely different person in campaign mode.
...then he won the Presidency and ever since has been much more laid back. I don't think he'll be able to as easily recapture the magic of 2008.
edit: Fucking hell, Bachmann's rhetoric is already this intense and she's just getting started.
(CBS News)
This Sunday's guest on "Face the Nation" is Republican Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann.
"I want to announce tonight. President Obama is a one-term president," said Bachmann to boisterous applause at last week's Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire.
In the debate, Bachmann shined. She started by announcing she was officially running for president and then continued her ongoing attack on President Obama's policies.
She said the president's financial reform law would lead to job losses and said she wouldn't stop until she repealed health care reform. "It's a promise. Take it to the bank, cash the check. I'll make sure that that happens," she said, calling the bill a "job-killer."
Bachmann also turned her ire to government regulation, saying the Obama Administration is killing jobs. She said the Environmental Protection Agency should be "renamed the job-killing organization of America."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/24/ftn/main20074098.shtml
) Campaign rhetoric is another story (see the CBS link above), but if she plays her cards right that won't matter too much.