November 5, 2014

Bill Maher Had It Right

Before yesterday’s elections, Bill Maher, on his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher, excoriated Democratic candidates for not embracing Barack Obama and his real accomplishments. Sensing the unpopularity of the country’s first black president, Democratic candidates pretty much agreed with their Republican opponents that the Obama presidency has been a disaster.

No one can prove that adopting the strategy urged by Maher would have produced results more favorable to the Democratic Party on election day 2014, of course, but it is hard to imagine that things could have been any worse. At the very least, Democratic candidates standing up for the Democratic Party and a Democratic President could have played an educational role for the country: It is not a universally acknowledged fact that Barack Obama has been a terrible president. As played out on the ground, however, the notion that Obama is a feckless and incompetent president was reinforced not only by Republicans, but by Democrats as well.

With both Republicans and Democrats viewing a Democratic presidency as a failure, why would anyone vote for a Democrat? Why not give the other party a chance to govern? Did the logic of this really escape Democratic Party strategists?

Bill Maher had it right.


Bill Maher
Bill Maher (photo by Angela George)
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1 comment:

  1. JCFNovember 8, 2014 at 3:54 AM

    Yup.

    My Democratic Congressman has probably lost (still considered too close to call, but he's well behind. CA 7th).

    What did he (Ami Bera) run on (besides trashing his GOP opponent which---while justified---hardly inspired)? "I kept my promise on payraises" and "I'm part of the 'No Labels Coalition'".

    That's it.

    No "See how many people now have insurance [full disclosure: Yours Truly included! JCF] thanks to the ACA!" or "See how much the economy has improved---the stock market my opponent loves is setting record highs!" No "See how we've cut the deficit!" or "Look how much energy independence has increased under Obama!" [And certainly not "See how Marriage Equality has spread under My President's leadership!"]

    Nope, none of that. Just "PayRaise" and "No Labels" (and "my opponent sucks").

    And now, he's probably lost. :-(

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