“The short-term strategy is, win the House of Representatives,” stated the former president, garnering applause. “Because that’s going to be the circuit breaker that will give us control of one major component of the federal government. With that as a bulwark, we’re now able to block some of the worst impulses that are coming out of this White House.”
The former president laid out a two-pronged strategy for Democrats: to reclaim a House majority next year, and to work on honing the party’s messaging in the coming years.
“Long term, let’s tell a story, a better story about who we are as Americans and what we share,” Obama said, according to excerpts shared with CBS News. “We have to tell the story that makes people who feel outside that process, we’ve got to bring them back in.”
A major reason shit is so fucked right now is when Obama won he just ignored the DNC for 8 years running his own campaigns and not helping out state parties with fundraising.
Which lead to a 2016 DNC funded and controlled by Hillary and trump becoming president.
The time for him to have done something was 17 fucking years ago
Nah, I’m not going to unironically “Thanks Obama” for shit being so fucked up right now. Trump did not get elected either time because of anything Obama did or didn’t do.
I’d argue the racist backlash from having a Black Man in Charge might’ve worked for Trump.
True but that’s not something I’m gonna get mad at Obama for that, there’s plenty of shit to not like about the guy but riling the racists for the crime of being president while black ain’t it
All he had to do was appoint a non biased DNC chair and we’d have easily had Bernie 2016-2024…
Which would have prevented trump. Even Biden beat trump, Bernie would have sent him home with his tail between his legs.
Do you really need someone to explain how 8 years of Bernie would have solved all of this shit?
Quick edit:
To bring it full circle, Obama didn’t support the state parties either, which is why Republicans held onto the House in the first place, which is what he’s complaining about now.
He literally created this problem.
The DNC chair is appointed by a committee of over 400 people with no obligation to follow the President’s recommendation (though they usually do). The DNC is a private organization with no obligation to the people. The responsibility of electing our leaders comes down to us. And as a populace, we looked at Clinton and Trump and chose Biff Tannen with the golden toilet. It’s not like America didn’t know who Trump was when they elected him… both times. This is a problem with our culture and our people, not something we can comfortably pin on old leaders or outside forces. You think the country that re-elected a felon would have given Bernie 8 years?
These two points are contradictory. When a private organization can define who is allowed on the ballot, you understand that means “we” have no choice in the matter right?
Yeah, I’ve been advocating for ranked voting forever. But as long as we’re stuck with 2 parties, we’re stuck with an either-or decision.
Well when the DNC allows one primary candidate to hold it hostage because they let her control of the DNC Treasury, it’s their fault when they fuck everything up for the country.
And when a Dem wins the presidential election they nominate a chair and the DNC vote is performative…
Obama could have named anyone, going off memory but the first time he didn’t nominate at all, and the second time was for the neoliberal who gave 2016 to Hillary, likely at Biden’s recommendation.
And you’re making my point, trump couldn’t have beaten anyone in a fair election, the only two times he’s won and when Dems had rigged primaries to force historically unpopular candidates.
Biden even managed to beat him, like 40 years after his first disasterous primary. That’s my point, Bernie would have stomped trump.
Trump polled more historically unpopular than Clinton and Harris, and one of the main points of discussion to follow was how incongruent the polling was with the votes. You can’t Monday morning quarterback this productively. And in any case, it sidesteps my point. Were Clinton and Harris great candidates? No. In a well America, should they still have beaten Trump handily? Absolutely. We’re not well, as a nation, and you can’t lay that at Obama’s feet.
Bernie polled well with a segment of voters who ended up going to trump. That would have turned the whole race. Instead we had Clinton’s baggage and corporate puppetry running against a guy who represented the puppeteers.
Buddy…
You’re acting like we didn’t know Bernie was a stronger candidate during the primary…
Things don’t magically become real these one you admit them, they’re true before you realize it too
You should continue that quote.
The very end?
You saying people can’t follow logic to it’s logical conclusion…
Because you don’t agree with it? Then try to use logic.
Don’t just insist that reality was different so you get your warm and fuzzies.
And absolut shit ton of people were ringing alarm bells not just in 2016 during the primary, but back in 2008 when Obama and the party instead of seizing it.
It’s oke you just started paying attention, I’m sincerely glad. But stop fucking acting like nothing was realized before you personally did so that’s the shit trump does with his “nobody knows” and you won’t stop saying “nobody knew” despite a shit ton of us, and we weren’t exactly shy about it.
Obama let every issue plaguing the country fester further with just some Band-Aids to kick the can down the road for some other poor sap to deal with.
Which is to say if he had done what he was elected to do (remember that Hope and Change platform?) and made modest economic reforms that are still desperately needed today, he could have single handledly pushed us in a direction that might have afforded us more opportunities for a fascism off ramp to happen.
Is it Obama’s fault that Trump is a fascist? No. But is it his fault that imperial action remains a central part of our foreign policy? Yeah partially. Is it his fault that the necessary measures to uplift those left behind by society were turned into half measure stop gaps to prevent cedeing power from capital owners? Yeah partially.
Remember Obama had a trifecta for the first half of his first term. The only reason he didnt do what he said he would was lack of want and political will. He’s an evil piece of shit.
Those are normal, nuanced issues to have with a leader. I agree with most of what you’ve said. “They didn’t do enough to make things better,” is a valid position that does not equate to “evil piece of shit.” Trump, on the other hand… America knew what Trump was (insert appropriate Biff Tannen still) when they elected him. That’s pathological.
The point is not that these are nuanced issues to have against a leader its that Obama campaigned on NOT being this guy, won, and then went back on everything he did paving the way for Trump by doing nothing to help divert us from the economic turmoil we are seeing today.
The comment I replied to was not about knowing who the person was before electing them it was about Obama’s culpability in the political climate that birthed both Trump presidencies. And if it wasn’t Trump there would have just been someone else. He is not an aberration to our system he is a product of it.
Unless you’re saying Obama created that system, I don’t see the point of the distinction. If your assertion is that Obama should have fixed what is fundamentally wrong with US culture, then I just plain disagree that this is a reasonable expectation. Considering the size of our population that identifies with the disease, I don’t see “pathological” and “product of the system” as mutually exclusive. The manic person, for instance, does identify with the mania. Could Obama have done more? Definitely. I’m not disagreeing with that.
I’m not even sure what you’re trying to say here. What do you think he campaigned on? Why do you think he won such an overwhelming mandate of support from the population? It is because he literally ran on addressing some of the fundamental issues plaguing American society. Obama failing to do all of led to further exacerbation of all of those issues. Did he create the heinous capital worshipping culture we have in the US? No, but what did he do to combat it?
Oh, I remember, and I also remember telling everyone to lower their expectations. Obama’s campaign promises were off the charts optimistic, bordering on delusional, even for the time. And that’s not where the bar is for us now. Simply not doing this (gestures at everything) is now what constitutes a “great leader” for us. I don’t want it to sound like I’m okay with the bar being this low, but here we are.
Demand more from your electeds. This attitude is exactly how they’ve gotten away with fucking us for so long.
“…I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” - MLK Jr, Letter from Birmingham Jail
He’s talking about you, bub.
Obama also helped discourage other democrats from running in 2016. He also pushed Biden in 2020. He’s part of the reason we are in this mess. Establishment Dems think they know better.
Maybe some of those insider trading dems could have ponied up some cash instead of relentlessly begging working people for money to lose against Donald fucking Trump, twice.
Goddamn everything really is Obama’s fault isn’t it.
Hear me out… the holocaust? Obama’s poor decision making created a backwards temporal shift and yeah that’s him too.
Here me out, maybe don’t reward Wall Street for their fuck ups? Maybe throw the exectutives and board members in jail? Maybe nationalize Goldman Sachs. Maybe don’t deploy the FBI on Occupy Wall Street. Maybe don’t sign into law a heritage foundation healthcare privatization plan? Maybe try to do literally anything except look into the camera and say that “Abprtion isn’t your highest priority”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxiDZejZFjg
I mean, he was president between Bush and Trump at the head of a Senate near-supermajority (at one point a supermajority). A lot of shit happening today could’ve been avoided if Obama had been less of an establishment ghoul; that is how missed opportunities work.
Obama was fundamentally a centrist who enabled just about every one of our worst impulses as a country.
Endless war? Murdering thousands of innocent civilians in the middle east? Massive deportation? Deregulation for big corporations? Massive bailouts on the taxpayer dime?
Oh sorry the supreme court set the precedent with gay marriage and that half baked compromise cooked up by the heritage foundation as an alternative to single payer healthcare with the Affordable Care Act happened so I guess him being a piece of shit and a massive opportunistic liar doesn’t matter.
Except “centrist” has meant solidly right, for decades.
Back on planet earth, where you may live, he did in fact abdicate his influence as the head of the Democratic Party and then disappeared to relax on the beach as is American tradition of presidents staying out of politics.
There is a working theory among the world’s forefront experts that Obama was not only imperfect but actually did some really bad stuff too. But that’s just a theory…like gravity
This the same Obama who routinely comes out and chastises black men for not voting how he thinks they should? Or maybe the same Obama who has been doing his best to cape for Israel?
Whichever Obama made those phone calls to ensure Bernie lost the primary