James Poulos
James Poulos, Ed. · Aug 12, 2010 at 2:18pm

Jonathan Chait declares a state of turnout emergency for the Dems:

Young people and liberals get very excited about presidential elections. When the other party holds the White House, they can get fired up about turning them out. When their party wins, they expect all their problems to be solved. When the problems don't disappear immediately, they get disillusioned. To some extent, this dynamic can be found on both sides. But it seems especially sharp on the left. It happened in 1994, and it's likely to happen in 2010. It's a deadly combination for Democrats.

How disillusioned? Over to you, Weigel:

Do you remember how liberals spent roughly 7 years of the Oughts making fun of stupid Republicans, before getting swept up in optimism about Barack Obama? That's over now, so, back to making fun of the stupids.

A-a-and cue the t-shirt:

4885362555_2b641aed08
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show mesquito's comment (#1) ←
mesquito
Joined
May '10

Re: Mope and Rage

mesquito

Funny. I was just reading at The Atlantic that the Colorado result was an Obama triumph.

A commenter at TNR:

"The left is in the grip of the Greenwald Fallacy. There is not a dollop of understanding among so many of these people that the president is not a comic book hero and that there are structural political realities that inhibit presidential power."

That was the whole tone of the '08 campaign. There is usually an ugly and absurd messianic quality in a Presidential campaign, but the Obamacult was something special, from the leg-thrills to the tearful Oprahs to the alarming youtubes of celebrities pledging their very souls (where are they now?)

→ show James Poulos, Ed.'s comment (#2)
James Poulos

Re: Mope and Rage

James Poulos, Ed.

And K-Lo tips us to this from The Economist:

Gallup, meanwhile, has found no discernible increase in support for the Democrats among Latinos since Arizona adopted its controversial immigration law. And the huge Democratic votes in 2006 and 2008 were always going to be hard to maintain, even in the best of circumstances.

The Democrats’ best hope, in Mr Cook’s view, lies not in courting the party base but in denigrating the Republicans. That may help to remind disillusioned supporters why they voted Democratic in the first place. It could also give wavering independent voters pause. But the tactic’s chief benefit may lie in dampening the support of Republican cadres for their party.

Indeed, the Democrats’ leaders seem to have adopted this strategy already. They are trying to frame the election as a choice between their reforms, however imperfect, and a return to the failed policies of Mr Bush. Mr Obama is likening the Republican Party to a driver who, having crashed into a ditch, waits for someone else to pull the car out and then asks for the keys back. It’s a far cry from “Yes we can”.


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