“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.”
The Centrist Democrat is saying we should support centrist Democrats?
I… uh… think we should… uh… focus on… winning elections. Just like I… uh… did in 2008.
Please don’t ask how I did in any subsequent year. Thank you all for coming. Vote Blue No Matter Who. I’m going to fuck back off to Martha’s Vineyard to… uh… hook up with Jennifer Aniston.
Good luck out there, losers. Obama out.
uh what do you mean we uh need a plan on how to move away from the right instead of uh completely embracing it
You either die in the primary or live long enough to become Hilary Clinton
Then blamed for dems losing after running gop lite campaign
And this is why it’ll never happen.
There’s far too much divide amongst the left and It seems rampant fascism isn’t even enough for these people to get with the program and shut it down.
Again with the messaging. The problem isn’t “messaging” it’s that you and your ilk insist on leaving the working class out to dry you capitalist ghoul.
It doesn’t matter what they say because I know they’re not gonna do it and make excuses.
But it’s not like I have anyone else I can vote for.
Political power is not something that can be given in a ballot box, it must be taken. Too many people believe that their only political outlet is voting. Join a community organization and start fixing the problems you see instead of listening to politicians who tell you to wait for 4 more years until the “good guys” get back in power.
BRB, headed to Sunbelt to rent some cones and a road painting kit.
I’ll finally get that bike lane!
Honestly, guerrilla infrastructure construction might just be what we need.
Never vote for a capitalist party. But do literally everything else you can think of.
Biden did more for the working class than Trump ever did or will. There are just too many “freethinking” conspiratard clowns who are easily scammed by republican lies. Unlucky
I never said anything about Trump. Biden did something, which is rare for his type, but it’s certainly not enough, and as long as it’s not enough people will keep flocking to the right because the right actually does things (bad things, to be clear, but that’s irrelevant).
Tbf Obama also did more for the working class than Trump ever did or will. ACA alone covers that. The issue is brainlets getting brainwashed by rightwing propaganda.
ACA was a gift to insurance companies. It was cowritten by the heritage foundation ffs.
It still managed to help a hell of a lot of working class people. It’s a net positive in my book.
As a working class person, my rates doubled every year for the first 4 years I was on ACA. When they got to $800 a month I cancelled my insurance and decided to take the tax penalty instead.
That happened to all plans during that time period, not just ACA plans.
Tell me how many people are getting hurt by republicans cutting it, then cry about “gift to insurance companies” again. The kind of take that only people too privileged to not need it would have.
He had the opportunity to give everyone universal health care and instead he chose to give us the half-baked “solution” that is utterly dependent on republican good will while also driving up health insurance profits, leaving us more reliant on middlemen insurance companies than ever before.
So yeah, people are hurting without it, but don’t pretend like it was some nice gift. It was a token that was tossed our way so we wouldn’t ask for more.
Obama had the opportunity to “give us universal health care”? When?
It was Congress that killed the public option btw.
Both things are true. It was obviously a gift to the insurance industry, but it doesn’t mean that it didn’t help millions of people.
Yeah you’re right, those people are way better off being required by law to purchase a product from a private company that doubles its rates every year. Who needs a public option?
I thought you guys didn’t like the Heritage Foundation?
You probably love bump stocks because Trump banned them huh. Even if there are better alternatives to ACA, until the political climate in the US allows for that, it’s still better than nothing.
Even ACA, the hEriTaGe CrEaTioN, is constantly being successfully shot down by conservatives. What chance in hell do you think there is of implementing and sustaining a socialist alternative? Until the country stops being braindead enough to elect MAGA-level candidates, it won’t happen.
Seems like a faster resolution would be to hold people accountable for their crimes and treason. That’d eliminate most of the big problems.
I mean, the guy who perfected drone strikes on American citizens was never going to suggest that.
They’ve been “working on messaging” since Hilary lost in 2016.
Maybe, I don’t know, have a platform and message that helps everyday people instead of telling people everything’s fine, stop complaining.
Actual positions piss off donors, messaging* is free.
*Read: “lies”
And Dems should stop with “voting for lesser evil”. Are they saying they’re still evil? I mean, sure, on presidential elections, do that if there are no better alternatives to neoliberal Democrats running. But in the meanwhile, there should be grassroots attempt to primary progressives in local elections and then work their way up to federal level. The left used to be good at organising. And now modern day Americans will have their ancestors, who ended the gilded age and elected the two Roosevelts, rolling in their graves for passivity and being brainwashed by corporate media to accept breadcrumbs because “perfect is the enemy of good” thought terminating cliché that most Americans accept.
The message never really evolved past, at least we aren’t trump. The working class and hard leftists are fucking pissed with milquetoast centrist democrats. They spend all their time trying to win over republicans than holding on to their core fucking base. I voted for Hillary and Kamala because, at least they weren’t trump, but I wasn’t fucking happy that those were my choices.
They’re also absolute liars. They’ll say primaries are the time to disagree then vote blue no matter who in the general, but you see how they tried to sabotage Mamdani.
They expect progressives’ votes but won’t throw us the smallest fucking bone while in office — instead they pass legislation written by The Heritage Institute and tell us to eat our vegetables.
Socialism for the rich, rugged capitalism for the poor.
And they’re doubling down on THE SAME BROKEN GAMEPLAN AGAIN.
Liberals gave us Donald.
They’re also absolute liars. They’ll say primaries are the time to disagree then vote blue no matter who in the general, but you see how they tried to sabotage Mamdani.
100% agree with you on this. Let’s not forget how the fucked over Bernie Sanders too. At this point, they’re controlled opposition to give us the illusion of choice.
They won’t help us. It’s up to us to save ourselves. And that means a tea-party style takeover of the Democratic Party via major grass roots effort.
Edit: I just remembered, we didn’t even get a god damned primary for president because Biden dropped out and we just had to Swallow Kamala.
They’ll say primaries are the time to disagree then vote blue no matter who in the general, but you see how they tried to sabotage Mamdani.
Yes, but Mamdani did something that liberals are still scratching their heads on how to use to their advantage-- social media. The right managed to successfully exploit the new digital machinery to brainwash people. But the actual progressives and left are learning from their previous mistakes and using social media to gain attention and improve their messaging. It is gradually working as more and more progressives are getting elected on the local level.
Possibly, but I think the problem is more the message than the medium.
Plenty of right-wingers have been radicalized by old-fashioned cable news.
And the democrats haven’t struggled to get their message heard — they’re the less openly racist center-right party. But no one wants to vote for Diet Republicans™️.
I totally agree with this strategy. However if the democrats are unwilling to do anything about it does it even matter? Checks and balances require the checks part.
Get the majority and then START using it. Be aggressive to fix this shit and start actually doing something.
There is no amount of democratic supermajorities that will be able to fix anything in this country. They have neither the vision, willpower, nor permission from their donors. The only thing that will improve material conditions for the working class in this country is not discussable on platforms like this.
Donors being the key word. Or if you really wanna get technical, owners. Yep… totally agree.
It’s good that Obama is stepping back into the spotlight. He still resonates with people as the last president we had before the world went insane.
He also reminds anyone wanting to run Trump in ‘28 that he would have another two-termer to contend with.
Barring that, he is still a unifying figurehead in the short term, while everyone watches Trump’s rapid decline.
We got Biden because Obama interfered in the primaries when it looked like Sanders was going to win.
Rumor amongst the political class is that he was motivated by wanting to preserve his legacy, rather than let someone upstage him.
Fuck Obama. We’re exactly where we are, in part, because of him.
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He was? In the primaries?
Bloomberg made a run just to try to prevent him from winning. Then all establishment candidates stepped back at once to endorse Biden, and there was a smear thing coming from Warren…
Is my memory wrong over here?
I don’t remember much of Sanders in 2020. It was 2016 when he was a front runner. The DNC said “it’s her turn” and went with Hillary. The sanders voters went with Joe Rogan and trump. I really don’t remember Bernie being a strong candidate in 2020 like he was in 2016.
Yes?
Did you think he didn’t?
You might not remember because, despite being the top first or second choice the entire primary, corporate media would often not mention him in lieu of the 11 or so other candidates running, or if they did would mention him last. Meanwhile Biden was not even top 5 until an orchestrated drop out scheme
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It is kinda weird that you keep trying to tell a story that didn’t happen…
Sorry. I’ll delete my comment.
It’s good that Obama is stepping back into the spotlight.
It is, in fact, very bad. As is obvious from his long list of broken promises, Obama is part of the problem, and any advice he gives—indeed, the advice he’s now giving—won’t address what really needs to be done.
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That race means American democracy is fully over. I already kinda think it is, but if that race happens there’s no “maybe we’ll come through this,” we’re just done for.
We’ve given up on the idea that laws mean things and will be enforced.
Well that was easy.
No we haven’t
No. We’re not doing that unconstitutional shit just because Republicans want a dictator. Obama’s half the reason the house and a significant number of state legislatures were lost to Republicans.
iirc when whats his face was proposing the amendment it was worded to exclude two in a row potuses. Basically custom written for Trump.
It’s good that Obama is stepping back into the spotlight
It would be even better if you killed yourself and anyone who agrees with you.
Amazing stuff, never question what the people you are voting for actually support, always compromise with fascists, eventually you’ll be able to enact the fascist policy yourself!
Why do the people have to compromise with the democrats? How about the democrats REPRESENT THE PEOPLE.
Why would they do that? There’s no money in it
They needed a catastrophic loss and they needed it in 2016.
Because the same 5 votes keep getting tossed around no one cares to do anything in either party.
Obama & Biden should shut the fuck up. Their dedication to kicking real problems down the road is half the reason we are in this position to start with.
The man in the high castle that coordinated all the candidates to drop out behind Biden in order to crush Bernie says this huh
When did that happen? Have a link?
They’re talking about 2020. Bernie was winning primaries until all moderate dems dropped out to back Biden. Elizabeth Warren stayed in to split progressive vote.
What’s crazy is many had delegates in the table and their home states hadn’t voted yet. This was all right before Super Tuesday they dropped. Normally you stay in and you barter with all the delegates. At least through Super Tuesday.
I didn’t try to say anyone should forget or ignore anything, I literally wasn’t aware of this
man in the high castle
Lol I immediately thought of Man in the High Castle the TV Show about nazis taking over America…
Obama LovEs Gen0siDee!1!1
Well yeah he does support it unironically.
There ya go
work on honing the party’s messaging in the coming years.
I think focusing on the message isn’t going to help all that much. I think most voters have become desensitized to political messaging. Obama’s own “hope and change,” message helped with that desensitizing, after people felt that in the end they had neither.
I think most Americans are now looking more for a real, material plan for improving things. And I don’t think the problem is that no one has a plan, plenty of politicians do, but I think Americans just aren’t sure which plan will work. It’s the perfect environment for political grifters who are able to convince people they have a plan to help them, even though they have no such thing. One thing I think most Americans were pretty confident about was that the plan that establishment Democrats put forward of “nothing will fundamentally change,” was not appealing. When the people are absolutely desperate for positive change, that’s the last thing they want to hear.
100%. I think Biden’s “status quo” messaging only worked because of the chaos that was Trump’s first term and COVID. That is not a platform to run on when Trump pushed the country into full-blown fascism. The pendulum needs to swing in the other direction. The only thing I fear is that those in charge of the DNC have proven they are not interested in supporting social democrats or democratic socialists for the presidency. We sorely need a third party that is taken seriously.
but I think Americans just aren’t sure which plan will work.
I don’t even think it’s that complicated. Look at the overlap between Trump voters and AOC or Mamdani voters, or Obama->Bernie->Trump guys. From my perspective, it seems like there are a lot of people who want massive change in how things operate in the US, and a good number of them are willing to vote for whoever says they’ll really shake things up in office, regardless of the details of said shaking or the candidate’s political affiliation.
The Democrats’ problem isn’t messaging, it’s their message. They destroy their credibility with voters when they claim they’ll be able to fix things and make life better on the campaign trail, yet once in office, they work tirelessly to maintain the status quo voters are already so unhappy with. And when they do have a candidate come along who promises the sort of change people are looking for, who people actually believe are being sincere when they say they’ll change things and deliver for the working class, the Democrats and DNC have shown they’ll do everything they can to prevent that person from actually winning and sideline them as much as possible in the event they do win. The politically engaged are tired of busting their asses to get people elected or promote their policies, only to see the Democrats shoot themselves in the foot, rolling over and watering down their goals in the name of bipartisanship, often before the Republicans even ask for it. If a Democratic Senator told me they were campaigning on free ice cream for everyone, I’d expect to be brought down to “One cup of skim milk for everyone at or below the federal poverty line, provided they can complete 20 pages of paperwork to prove they really deserve it, and submit this documentation on a website that’s only operating between 1-3pm on February 29th, but closed every other day during leap years and completely inoperable in regular calendar years,” by the time a draft materializes, much less after Republican obstruction and pushback.
It’s no wonder people have soured on them.
It’s hard to explain a real plan when most people are only semi literate, with no attention span, and no real knowledge of how government works.
What percentage of people believe the president writes laws, do you think?
That didn’t stop us from the New Deal
“Blue no matter who” doesn’t work and it’s time they realize this shit and either start putting forward actual good candidates instead of piles of human excrement like Newsome and Harris or dismantle the party and allow an actual leftist party to take its place.
I think one of the main things that we need is to get a group of people together to write up an actual health care plan that covers all Americans and show that it costs the same or less of what we pay now. Then drill it into everyone’s heads that they are being stolen from and cheated every day of their lives by our current healthcare system.
The people who think we have great health care options need to realize we aren’t in the top 40 countries in the world for keeping a kid alive to 1 nor 5 years old.
The number of white women are around 3x as likely to die during a pregnancy/birth than those in Canada or the UK, and the reason I say white is because black mothers are around 6x more likely to die.
We are paying far more than anyone else in the world for healthcare and I would call the service we receive for our money absolute dog shit.
If we could get the population to agree on that, we can say fuck the Democrats, fuck the Republicans, fuck their entire existence being to divide us and trick us into voting against our best interests, but anyone who is going to walk into congress is going to put forward the healthcare bill exactly how we wrote it with no changes or we throw every person in Congress out of the country permanently and put new members in the next day.
“But the insurance companies” <- fuck them, they are out of business, the legislation was the permanent insurance for everyone, you don’t need to pay someone every month, you are already paying it out of your taxes
piles of human excrement
It’s astounding that none of your candidates have ever won, or will ever win. WINK
Choo chooo!
What about irreconcilable fundamental differences in how we think government should serve the public?
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?
The DNC chair is appointed by a committee
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.
You can’t Monday morning quarterback this productively. And in any case, it sidesteps my point. Were Clinton and Harris great candidates? No
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.
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.
The DNC is a private organization with no obligation to the people. The responsibility of electing our leaders comes down to us.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
So from now on, I’ll remember to say “Well, the candidate and I have a tactical difference because they support genocide and I don’t, but that won’t change my vote.”
It all makes sense if you remember that centrists have no principles, only tactics.
