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[A Human Becoming]

Don't forget the Obama Boys!

 

[noshten]

Bernie Sanders stumping for Jessie Jackson - sounds like Bernie stumping for himself.

He got slapping for that

 

[benjipwns]

He had endorsed Vice President Walter Mondale for president in 1984 in the least enthusiastic way possible, telling reporters that "if you go around saying that Mondale would be a great president, you would be a liar and a hypocrite."

lol, Mondale annihilated again

EDIT: lol at the one shot that makes it look like Bernie's talking to two random dudes sitting in folding chairs

 

[PantherLotus]

Congrats to Chichikov. One of the best posters this forum has ever had. EVER.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

What message should Hillary pivot too?

Bernie voted against immigration reform. He voted for the crime bill of Bill Clinton that his supporters like to argue is one reason Black people shouldn't vote for Hillary.

Hillary has a lot of progressive achievements, she needs to highlight those and plan out what her progressive achievements will be as President.

In the end, Bernie's problem is:

Hillary's problem is she needs a more motivating message.

 

[Basileus777]

What message should Hillary pivot too?

Bernie voted against immigration reform. He voted for the crime bill of Bill Clinton that his supporters like to argue is one reason Black people shouldn't vote for Hillary.

Hillary has a lot of progressive achievements, she needs to highlight those and plan out what her progressive achievements will be as President.

In the end, Bernie's problem is:

Hillary's problem is she needs a more motivating message.

Hillary needs to find a message that isn't just her talking about how good her resume is and break the image that she's just championing the status quo.

 

[Chichikov]

Chichikov became a mod. Congrats!

Congrats to one of my favorite posters! I always knew he'd be a mod someday. :')

Light theme, smh.
Well, they say the first ban in the hardest...

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

What if Clinton just needs to stay steady and move along instead of acting out of frustration over every loss? Maybe that's the REAL answer.

 

[Black Republican]

Hillary needs to find a message that isn't just her talking about how good her resume is and break the image that she's just championing the status quo.

Hilldawg can fix it

 

[benjipwns]

Hillary should immediately pivot to a grand uniting idea, which uplifts all people spiritually, is bipartisan, shows that the political process can work, reaches across the aisle, engages young people in public service and traditions, puts political differences aside, rebuilds the integrity of common society and lays the groundwork for strong balanced growth.




Sorry, somebody spiked my drink with some kind of Thomas Friedman/David Brooks drug.

 

[shinra-bansho]

I said this in a different thread partly in jest... but I don't really know what message exactly she can project to compete with what Sanders is offering, i.e. basically that you'll have free university and free healthcare, fixing your infrastructure and getting jobs back from the globalised world, while we take it to the fatcats and make them pay; mixed with the world is in turmoil, we have to act now type sense of urgency.

Revolution is the catchcry and it's more compelling than realism or resume.
Dreams are simply more inspiring than reality.

He's managed to project this dreamlike scenario in a way where his support-base believes it plausible, even if dispassionate assessment would probably say it's not. And saying that it's not plausible basically casts her as a nag, or isn't really credible anyway because she's a liar.

 

[Jay-Hova]

Honestly it's ridiculous how many white people who mistrusted Obama and were put off of him because of accusations of "socialism" when he was a moderate democrat along with other things like his race, are willing to actually go with or actually consider or just like Bernie Sanders as person.

Read some comments where Bernie Bros we're talking about how they wish the FBI would just indict Hillary already. This is really where we're headed.

You should probably keep accusations of "Bernie-broism" to issues actually pertaining to race or sexism rather then these catch all opinions you can find from people in a wide variety of groups, unless you're going to pretend they don't exist.

 

[benjipwns]

Hillary should immediately pivot to a grand uniting idea, which uplifts all people spiritually, is bipartisan, shows that the political process can work, reaches across the aisle, engages young people in public service and traditions, puts political differences aside, rebuilds the integrity of common society and lays the groundwork for strong balanced growth.

Alternative collector's edition punchline: Like abolishing the state.

 

[DataStream]

I said this in a different thread partly in jest... but I don't really know what message exactly she can project to compete with what Sanders is offering

Legalize it.

 

[benjipwns]

Legalize it.

FLIP FLOPPER:

Maerker: In Mexico, there are those who propose not keeping going with this battle and legalize drug trafficking and consumption. What is your opinion?

Clinton: I don't think that will work. I mean, I hear the same debate. I hear it in my country. It is not likely to work. There is just too much money in it

 

[Jay-Hova]

I said this in a different thread partly in jest... but I don't really know what message exactly she can project to compete with what Sanders is offering, i.e. basically that you'll have free university and free healthcare, fixing your infrastructure and getting jobs back from the globalised world, while we take it to the fatcats and make them pay; mixed with the world is in turmoil, we have to act now type sense of urgency.

Revolution is the catchcry and it's more compelling than realism or resume.
Dreams are simply more inspiring than reality.

He's managed to project this dreamlike scenario in a way where his support-base believes it plausible, even if dispassionate assessment would probably say it's not. And saying that it's not plausible basically casts her as a nag, or isn't really credible anyway because she's a liar.

Honestly I think non Bernie supporters or not as enthusiastic Bernie supporters really miss the reason why most people want him, or what they expect from his presidency with from what i've seen from a large portion of people isn't to wave a wand and make everything/free better.
Not saying it isn't a factor, but i'd argue that people want him because they see him as as close to an honest and principled politician you can get (not as much of a reason for me), not Hilary (weaker reason), that we've tried moderate too long and need some enthusiasm to start the sway towards a more liberal Democratic party and a more active voter base if Bernie plays that part of his agenda right, and that even if we don't get half as much as Bernie wants done he could be the starting point and that it's better to start high and settle lower than start low and just go lower.
At least that's my assessment.

 

[thepotatoman]

I said this in a different thread partly in jest... but I don't really know what message exactly she can project to compete with what Sanders is offering, i.e. basically that you'll have free university and free healthcare, fixing your infrastructure and getting jobs back from the globalised world, while we take it to the fatcats and make them pay; mixed with the world is in turmoil, we have to act now type sense of urgency.

Revolution is the catchcry and it's more compelling than realism or resume.
Dreams are simply more inspiring than reality.

He's managed to project this dreamlike scenario in a way where his support-base believes it plausible, even if dispassionate assessment would probably say it's not.

I don't see what's particularly unrealistic about Sander's policies other than the fact that those plans aren't getting past congress, which you can say the exact same thing for basically everything Clinton proposes. For instance, Sanders may want minimum wage at $15 while Hillary wants it at $12, but it won't even reach $7.26 until democrats control congress.

 

[DataStream]

FLIP FLOPPER:

Yeah, she's flipped on plenty other things but only when it was beyond politically safe to do so. I think this subject is pretty damn safe at this point (58% in favor). Those against it aren't very vocal about it.

II'd like to see her do something genuine and risky.

 

[benjipwns]

 

[shinra-bansho]

I don't see what's particularly unrealistic about Sander's policies other than the fact that those plans aren't getting past congress, which you can say the exact same thing for basically everything Clinton proposes. For instance, Sanders may want minimum wage at $15 while Hillary wants it at $12, but it won't even reach $7.26 until democrats control congress.

I mean for the most part I've largely seen people accept that anything she wants to do that's outside the realm of appointments, vetoes and executive actions is probably unattainable. For the most part it's about preservation of the good that Obama has done and if possible some expansion of it.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Sanders proposals will be non starters. Hillary will actually able to get things done like Obama. Sanders is someone who thinks Obama has been a progressive disappointment and if you believe that you are as delusional as Republicans.

Hillary message to minority has to be able continuing Obama's policies. Do AA agree with Sanders characterization that Obama has been a disappointment? Should Hispanics support someone who voted against immigration reform? Should both support someone who is conservative on gun control?

Would Obamacare have happened without Hillarycare? What has Sanders done in 20 years to advance healthcare reform compared to Hillary?

 

[benjipwns]

someone who thinks Obama has been a progressive disappointment and if you believe that you are as delusional as Republicans.

I don't, I think he's gotten slightly better over time. The first two years were easily the worst.

Maybe my expectations just became progressively lower?

 

[DataStream]

should just say:

"I'm a progressive who will get things done!"

]

 

[Basileus777]

I mean for the most part I've largely seen people accept that anything she wants to do that's outside the realm of appointments, vetoes and executive actions is probably unattainable. For the most part it's about preservation of the good that Obama has done and if possible some expansion of it.

She doesn't need to go as far as Bernie, but I don't really see why Hillary selling a vision of her Presidency that goes beyond what a Republican Congress would let her achieve would be such a bad thing. It's a political campaign, not a promise written in blood. Grim realism is not the stuff successful campaigns are born out of.

 

[Suikoguy]

Sanders proposals will be non starters. Hillary will actually able to get things done like Obama. Sanders is someone who thinks Obama has been a progressive disappointment and if you believe that you are as delusional as Republicans.

Hillary message to minority has to be able continuing Obama's policies. Do AA agree with Sanders characterization that Obama has been a disappointment? Should Hispanics support someone who voted against immigration reform? Should both support someone who is conservative on gun control?

Would Obamacare have happened without Hillarycare? What has Sanders done in 20 years to advance healthcare reform compared to Hillary?

Sorta true. Unless then Senate and House change again, Hillary will basically be Obama term # 3, a repeat of term 2. She won't be able to get that much done.

Executive Orders, Supreme Court and Federal Appeals appointments, and Vetos.
Plus a large degree of Foreign policy direction.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

Why doesn't she just say I'll give you 16 dollar minimum wage while you get money to go to tuition free college?

This is the problem with offering fantasy policy, you can just play one-upmanship all day since none of it is going to become real anyways.

 

[benjipwns]

Should Hispanics support someone who voted against immigration reform?

Why should Hispanics in particular care about any particular form of immigration reform?

Should both support someone who is conservative on gun control?

One D- from the NRA is conservative now?

What has Sanders done in 20 years to advance healthcare reform compared to Hillary?

Well, he voted for Obamacare. She skipped town to fly to fancy shindigs and send top secret emails to her private server and kill Ambassador Stevens.

 

[daedalius]

I mean for the most part I've largely seen people accept that anything she wants to do that's outside the realm of appointments, vetoes and executive actions is probably unattainable. For the most part it's about preservation of the good that Obama has done and if possible some expansion of it.

She does seem to be being quite "realistic" about what she can and can't get done.

Maybe she should throw in some lofty goals with the note that they will have to fight to get them done?

Bernie is definitely targeting the loftiest of goals, many of which I feel he will never be able to accomplish unless this is a wave election (which it won't be), but his supporters seem to love that (and so does every person and website on my facebook feed evidently).

Obama did this too, but in 2008 I don't think we'd hit the iceberg that is the current republican majority in the house and minority in the senate.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

A D- from the NRA is conservative now?

In a primary where two people who share a 93% similarity in voting records are being cast as polar opposites, yes.

 

[DataStream]

I don't, I think he's gotten slightly better over time. The first two years were easily the worst.

Maybe my expectations just became progressively lower?

Overall he's been great, but there a certainly some bad parts (Drones and national security.) His opening was primarily disappointing because the idiot Dems controlled both houses and played things way too safe. On a purely political level, his last 2.5 years have been a masterwork. He has played the GOP like a fiddle.

I think in 10 years he'll be looked back on as one of the greats. He has set us up very well and his work towards normalizing foreign relations, the ACA, beginning a dialog on gun violence that has quieted for far too long, and talking about the realities of the Prison Industrial Complex are extremely significant steps forward.

 

[shinra-bansho]

She can't sell lofty goals because at her core she's a big policy wonk nerd and cautious to a fault, and really in the end who's going to believe her anyway?

 

[benjipwns]

This seems like a lofty, vague and unrealistic platform item that is extremely unlikely to be passed:

Setting ambitious targets, the plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of global warming,

....


A new cap-and-trade program that auctions 100 percent of permits alongside investments to move us on the path towards energy independence;

An aggressive comprehensive energy efficiency agenda to reduce electricity consumption 20 percent from projected levels by 2020 by changing the way utilities do business, catalyzing a green building industry, enacting strict appliance efficiency standards, and phasing out incandescent light bulbs;

A $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund, paid for in part by oil companies, to fund investments in alternative energy. The SEF will finance one-third of the $150 billon ten-year investment in a new energy future contained in this plan;

Doubling of federal investment in basic energy research, including funding for an ARPA-E, a new research agency modeled on the successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Aggressive action to transition our economy toward renewable energy sources, with renewables generating 25 percent of electricity by 2025 and with 60 billion gallons of home-grown biofuels available for cars and trucks by 2030;

10 "Smart Grid City" partnerships to prove the advanced capabilities of smart grid and other advanced demand-reduction technologies, as well as new investment in plug-in hybrid vehicle technologies;

An increase in fuel efficiency standards to 55 miles per gallon by 2030, and $20 billion of "Green Vehicle Bonds" to help U.S. automakers retool their plants to meet the standards;

A plan to catalyze a thriving green building industry by investing in green collar jobs and helping to modernize and retrofit 20 million low-income homes to make them more energy efficient;

A new "Connie Mae" program to make it easier for low and middle-income Americans to buy green homes and invest in green home improvements;

A requirement that all publicly traded companies report financial risks due to climate change in annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission; and

Creation of a "National Energy Council" within the White House to ensure implementation of the plan across the Executive Branch.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I don't, I think he's gotten slightly better over time. The first two years were easily the worst.

Maybe my expectations just became progressively lower?

The time in which Obamacare passed? This is the fucking problem with Liberals. A law that is now insuring 17 million people, that has caused percentage of uninsured to drop at an all time low is considered a disappointment because it didn't have a Public Option. Jack fucking shit Obama could have done about that. Passed Stimulus, Detroit bailout, Cash for Clunkers that so many people derided at the time but in hindsight were major factors in US economy becoming even worse.

And what was the big problem, all the young people who voted for Obama than stayed behind for midterms. How is that different from what the same young people will do with Sanders?

Sorta true. Unless then Senate and House change again, Hillary will basically be Obama term # 3, a repeat of term 2. She won't be able to get that much done.

Executive Orders, Supreme Court and Federal Appeals appointments, and Vetos.
Plus a large degree of Foreign policy direction.

Dems can win Senate in 2016. For that they need someone on top of ticket like Hillary I believe.

Why should Hispanics in particular care about any particular form of immigration reform?


One D- from the NRA is conservative now?


Well, he voted for Obamacare. She skipped town to fly to fancy shindigs and send top secret emails to her private server and kill Ambassador Stevens.

True, good points.

 

[ivysaur12]

I never got why a version of this wasn't her messaging to begin with.

"Progressive who gets things done" fits. It contrasts with the potential for Bernie's pie-in-the-sky idealism, it reminds us that she's progressive, and it also touts her former experience. All in one sentence.

That's your fucking slogan.

 

[vicissitudes]

I will play in fantasy Hillary land and try to come up with a strategy for her if I were a supporter.

I think she's close on messaging, but it's not coming across well. I think the best line of attack is to portray herself as a Democrat and Bernie as an Independent. Highlight that under a Democratic president and Democratic congress, we got millions of people health coverage, pulled out of the Great Recession, killed Osama Bin Laden, ended the War in Iraq, and invested in energy and took steps to curb climate warming. And now Bernie is attacking the very people who have made such great progress by labeling them as "establishment". With Hillary we will continue to make great progress such as student loan reform, free 2-year college, equal pay for women, and better health care and maternity leave. With Bernie we will get nothing because he is against every person in Congress, and no one from either side supports him.

She needs to embrace the establishment label and point out how much good the government has done, not play this race-to-the-left game with Bernie which she will never win.

 

[Jay-Hova]

The time in which Obamacare passed? This is the fucking problem with Liberals. A law that is now insuring 17 million people, that has caused percentage of uninsured to drop at an all time low is considered a disappointment because it didn't have a Public Option. Jack fucking shit Obama could have done about that. Passed Stimulus, Detroit bailout, Cash for Clunkers that so many people derided at the time but in hindsight were major factors in US economy becoming even worse.

And what was the big problem, all the young people who voted for Obama than stayed behind for midterms. How is that different from what the same young people will do with Sanders?



Dems can win Senate in 2016. For that they need someone on top of ticket like Hillary I believe.



True, good points.

You really think that Clinton can inspire more people to go out to vote than Sanders?
.

 

[Holmes]

Still think her message going forward should be about how she's a fighter of inequality - gender, racial, sexual - and to tie that into income equality. Sprinkle in that she has been and will always be a champion and defender of all rights - womens, religious, immigrants, LGBT, workers - and you got your positive and motivating message. And don't run from the establishment label like vicissitudes said. Next time Sanders calls her establishment, say something like "if fighting my whole life against racism, for children's rights, helping get millions of kids health insurance is establishment, then I'm proud to be establishment."

 

[shinra-bansho]

Neither of them will inspire turnout to the degree that President Obama did.

I think the point being made about downballot relates to questions I posed the other day e.g. will he fundraise for the DNC, DSCC and DCCC and if so from whom, will he stump in gubernatorial races - would it actually help or hurt if he did?

In relation to that point her campaign has raised $27M towards her "Victory Fund" that's shared with state parties.

 

[benjipwns]

"Progressive who gets things done" fits. It contrasts with the potential for Bernie's pie-in-the-sky idealism, it reminds us that she's progressive, and it also touts her former experience. All in one sentence.

That's your fucking slogan.

"*SINISTER BLACK AND WHITE IMAGES*

Secretary Clinton has experience in getting things done alright. Experience in getting things done like the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, The Secure Fence Act, the Wall Street bailouts, the Iraq War, Stop and Frisk, blocking same sex marriage recognition nationally, Citizens United, and more...

*HOPEFUL COLORFUL IMAGES WITH DIVERSE FACES*

Bernie Sanders opposed the Iraq War, the Wall Street bailouts, wants a health care program that works, ...."

Sanders campaign, I will not take payment in bitcoin or dogecoin.

 

[Holmes]

You really think that Clinton can inspire more people to go out to vote than Sanders?
.

I think she wouldn't scare swing, suburban voters in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Flordia, and even Missouri and North Carolina where Democrats need to win to take back the Senate comfortably.

 

[Jay-Hova]

I think she wouldn't scare swing, suburban voters in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Flordia, and even Missouri and North Carolina where Democrats need to win to take back the Senate comfortably.

I guess this depends on what you believe low voter turnout is the result of.

 

[Makai]

I never got why a version of this wasn't her messaging to begin with.

"Progressive who gets things done" fits. It contrasts with the potential for Bernie's pie-in-the-sky idealism, it reminds us that she's progressive, and it also touts her former experience. All in one sentence.

That's your fucking slogan.

I'm a progressive who gets the right things done.

Checkmate, pragmatists.

 

[DataStream]

Hadn't seen this before tonight: http://together.vote/

Pretty good.

 

[Aaron Strife]

I guess this depends on what you believe low voter turnout is the result of.

Apathy.

And I don't really think there's a cure for it.

Bernie is not Obama and even he couldn't get turnout to break 60%.

 

[dabig2]

The time in which Obamacare passed? This is the fucking problem with Liberals. A law that is now insuring 17 million people, that has caused percentage of uninsured to drop at an all time low is considered a disappointment because it didn't have a Public Option. Jack fucking shit Obama could have done about that. Passed Stimulus, Detroit bailout, Cash for Clunkers that so many people derided at the time but in hindsight were major factors in US economy becoming even worse.

And what was the big problem, all the young people who voted for Obama than stayed behind for midterms. How is that different from what the same young people will do with Sanders?

The malaise goes much deeper than blaming him for lack of public option and a lower-than-expected stimulus. It all goes back to his lack of populism. Here's an article from before the 2010 midterms that helps explain the disappointment at the top from progressives:
The Unnecessary Fall

In the United States, politics pivots around the allegiance of the middle class, even as its identity has changed from yeoman farmers and mechanics to store clerks, office workers, x-ray technicians, and small business owners. They are, in Bill Clinton’s words, “those who work hard and play by the rules.” They are the central characters in a populist rhetoric that goes back to the early republic. It depicts the middle class as embattled and threatened either from forces below (impoverished immigrants, welfare cheaters, ghetto rioters) or above (Wall Street speculators, state bureaucrats, K Street lobbyists). Populism can be embraced by Glenn Beck or Tom Harkin. It is intrinsically neither left-wing nor right-wing.

Politicians, such as Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan, who found a way of using populism’s appeal during downturns have enjoyed success, while those who have spurned it have suffered accordingly. If, in circumstances like the present one, you don’t develop a populist politics, your adversaries will use populism to define you as an enemy of the people. That’s what Carter discovered during the stagflation of the late ’70s. And that’s what has happened in the last 20 months of the Great Recession to Barack Obama and to the Democratic Party he leads.

Obama took office with widespread popular support, even among Republicans, and some of his first efforts, including the $800 billion stimulus, initially enjoyed strong public favor. But that wide appeal began to dissipate by the late spring of 2009. Disillusion with Obama fueled the November defeat of Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia. By January 2010, it was a crucial factor in Republican Scott Brown’s astonishing victory over Martha Coakley in Massachusetts.

In the postmortem debate over these defeats, some Democrats have blamed Obama’s dogged pursuit of health care reform while the economy was hemorrhaging jobs. That may have been a factor, but the real damage was done earlier. What doomed Obama politically was the way he dealt with the financial crisis in the first six months of his presidency. In an atmosphere primed for a populist backlash, he allowed the right wing to define the terms.

As Obama was delivering his inaugural address, the financial crisis was already in full swing; and it was already apparent that financial speculation, outright fraud, and irresponsible and sometimes illegal housing-loan practices had played a very large role in precipitating the crisis. The public was up in arms. But, instead of rallying the public against the “money changers,” as Roosevelt had done in his first inaugural, Obama, taking a leaf from Jimmy Carter’s infamous “malaise” speech, put the blame on the public as a whole. “Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age,” he declared.

Over the next month, Obama would periodically criticize bankers after embarrassing revelations–at various times calling the bonuses they gave themselves “shameful” and an “outrage”–but, after hearing complaints about his rhetoric from the bankers, he would back off. At a private meeting on March 28 with 13 Wall Street CEOs, the president, his spokesman Robert Gibbs said, “emphasized that Wall Street needs Main Street and Main Street needs Wall Street.” And, in his Georgetown speech, Obama returned to his theme of collective responsibility. The recession, Obama said, “was caused by a perfect storm of irresponsibility and poor decision-making that stretched from Wall Street to Washington to Main Street.”

[...]
Some in the White House political operation recognized in the late spring that the administration’s economic efforts were being defined by right-wing populism and tried to push Obama to take a more populist tack. A group within the White House began calling themselves the “pitchfork gang,” but they would find their attempts to convince Obama to get tough on Wall Street or on insurance companies undermined by Geithner and by National Economic Council head Larry Summers, who were worried about upsetting business confidence. “There was a continual tension in the White House,” says a person who was privy to the discussions. “One week, we would be very hot, and then, the next week, we would dial it back.”

By early January of this year, Obama was clearly losing the battle for the middle class. According to a CNN poll, 60 percent of Americans thought Obama “had paid more attention to the problems faced by banks and other financial institutions” than to the “problems faced by middle class Americans.” Only 28 percent, barely more than a quarter, thought he had paid more attention to the middle class. As Brown surged ahead of Coakley in the polls, the White House temporarily embraced a populist approach. On January 14, Obama called the bank bonuses “obscene” and said, “we want our money back.” In a January 22 speech at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio (a far cry from Georgetown), Obama used the word “fighting” 13 times and “fight” nine times. “I will not stop fighting for you,” he declared.

But, faced with a falling stock market and anger from Wall Street, Obama once again turned conciliatory. On February 10, he said that he didn’t “begrudge” the $17 million bonus awarded to Dimon and the $9 million to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. “I know both guys. They are very savvy businessmen.”

Obama’s reluctance to rail against Wall Street might have led to a watered-down financial reform bill, or even no bill at all, but, on April 16, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Goldman Sachs for fraud. The next week, an emboldened Obama went to New York to criticize the bankers directly for their “failure of responsibility.” As a result of the accusation and Obama’s rediscovery of his anger, Republicans became somewhat less obstructionist, moderate Republicans broke with the party’s leadership, and moderate Democrats fell into line. Congress produced a much stronger bill than the Democrats had ever expected.

But Obama’s embrace of populism has remained fitful and sporadic. After the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Verizon’s Ivan Seidenberg, the head of the Business Roundtable, criticized Obama for being anti-business in June, the president dispatched Geithner, White House aide Valerie Jarrett, and Bill Clinton to appease the business community. Obama has said enough to anger the CEOs, but he has failed to convey to the greater public that he is fighting for them.

Obama’s unwillingness to buck Wall Street and the Business Roundtable, along with his delayed and muddled response to the BP disaster in the Gulf, has eroded the public’s confidence in his leadership. In Pew’s midyear report card on Obama’s image, the greatest drop from February 2009 to this June was in the perception of Obama as a “strong leader.” Voters will sometimes tolerate policies they question from presidents like John Kennedy or Reagan, whom they regard as “strong,” but not from politicians like Jimmy Carter, whom they regard as weak.
[...]

Much more at the link. You can't just hand-wave those first 2 years and blame everything bad on an intransigent public who lacked common sense. There was a clear communication problem coming from Obama which led people to believe that he failed them - and yes, in some cases he did. Obama himself would go on to admit this after he won reelection in 2012.

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, yeah?

 

[benjipwns]

Populism can be embraced by Glenn Beck or Tom Harkin. It is intrinsically neither left-wing nor right-wing.

...

Some in the White House political operation recognized in the late spring that the administration’s economic efforts were being defined by right-wing populism and tried to push Obama to take a more populist tack.

Make up your mind Judis!

On February 10, he said that he didn’t “begrudge” the $17 million bonus awarded to Dimon and the $9 million to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. “I know both guys. They are very savvy businessmen.”

Jamie Dimon was one of Obama's first big Wall Street backers in his campaign. The White House was even stupidly using him to personally make calls to whip votes for the "cromnibus" in 2014.

 

[Jay-Hova]

Apathy.

And I don't really think there's a cure for it.

Bernie is not Obama and even he couldn't get turnout to break 60%.

I don't believe Bernie is Obama.
But I believe a big part of his presidency will be finding ways to increase voter participation and that at least some of his current supporters will keep the fight up considering it's a big part of his messaging.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

You really think that Clinton can inspire more people to go out to vote than Sanders?
.

I think she wouldn't scare swing, suburban voters in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Flordia, and even Missouri and North Carolina where Democrats need to win to take back the Senate comfortably.

This. Nominating someone like Bernie also opens up a greater chance of minority participation reducing than Obama's levels.

 

[benjipwns]

This. Nominating someone like Bernie also opens up a greater chance of minority participation reducing than Obama's levels.

Maybe those minorities should get out and vote for their party's candidate no matter who it is. Who are they to steal votes from their party and give them to the Republicans?

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Maybe those minorities should get out and vote for their party's candidate no matter who it is. Who are they to steal votes from their party and give them to the Republicans?

They are not voting for Republicans. They are just staying home.