When Do Dems Set Obama Adrift — or Can They?

 

Since his re-election, the news has been unrelentingly bad for President Obama. Scandal after scandal has emerged, be it NSA spying, IRS targeting Americans over politics, new Benghazi revelations, questions about the drone program, and on and on.

Many of these issues have faded from the news cycle (to cries of media bias from conservatives) but none have been resolved. They have turned into zombie scandals, popping up again and again whenever the news cycle has a slow day. “60 Minutes” features another Benghazi expose, the international press reveals allegations that the NSA listened in on Angela Merkel’s calls. If not resolved, all of these scandals will stalk the White House until Obama leaves office.

Then, there’s Obamacare. The three-and-a-half-year train wreck has only just left the station. Flames shoot from the wheels, cars continue to jump the rails, and an endless parade of sympathetic maidens are tied to the track ahead. If you think the reporting is damaging now, wait until journalists come back from their complaint-filled Thanksgiving meals with extended family.

On the stump yesterday, Vice President Biden didn’t once mention his boss by name. MSNBC and Huffington Post contributor Howard Fineman reports “Joe Biden Had Nothing Nice To Say About Obama At Virginia Rally.” A mere oversight or the start of a trend?

I don’t see how Democrats can detach themselves from their president too publicly before the 2014 elections. Still, nervous representatives and senators already are hedging their bets with talk of delaying Obamacare and somehow reforming the awful law.

At what point do Democrats decide President Obama does more harm to their grand progressive dream than help? In the next few months? After the midterms? Never? And if certain Democrats want to do so, how can they avoid alienating those who view Obama as a secular messiah?

Pouty Obama photograph via ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com.

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  1. Profile Photo Inactive
    @docmolloy

    Epitaph for Obama:

    Here lies Barack Obama:

    “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period..” 

    • #1
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    @NickStuart

    They may detach, but they’ll never deny.

    • #2
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    @rico

    While some Dems are attempting to cut their losses, no 2014 challenger will allow them to disassociate themselves from Obamacare. They’ve already marched off that cliff. Dems in 2014 will attempt to take a [fake] “pragmatic” approach to the progressive agenda out of “respect” for their voters’ sensibilities. Dems will never jettison Obama, but any reference to President “Who?” will be sparse.

    • #3
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    @DuaneOyen

    You heard PJ O’Rourke on the podcast (assuming you all, y’know, actually listen to it….)- yes he will be abandoned, but not till he is no longer president and thus doesn’t care any longer.

    • #4
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    @RichardFulmer

    Dems have a tradition of throwing inconvenient baggage under the bus.  Remeber Michael Dukakis?  During the 1988 election he was touted by the MSM as the greatest candidate ever to grace the party.  Not charismatic, mind you, but the ultimate in executive competence. After he was soundly defeated by Bush the Elder, pundits raced to cameras to claim that they’d always known that Dukakis was a complete loser.

    Obama is different.  Democrats pretend to be color-blind, but are nothing of the sort.  Much of their agenda is race-driven.  Given their extreme bias, I can’t imagine them ever giving Obama the same sort of heave-ho they gave Dukakis.

    • #5
  6. Profile Photo Member
    @

    I don’t see how Democrats can detach themselves from their president too publicly before the 2014 elections.

    Neither do I. They’ve backed him every step of the way on legislation and supported him during the endless scandals.

    Senators such as Harry Reid were absolutely essential in promoting his campaign to win the 2008 Democratic primary.

    • #6
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    @flownover

    Starting tomorrow if Cuccinelli wins.

    • #7
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    @UmbraFractus

    I think this puts Hillary in an uncomfortable position. She’s obviously going to try to run on Bill’s record, but this is going to mean running against Obama. I used to think the Democrat base wouldn’t let her do that, but now who knows.

    • #8
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    @BrentB67

    Duane may be right, but I think the reality is never. This is the progressive, marxist, messiah they have been waiting for.

    • #9
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    @LookAway

    The administration of the first minority president will not be allowed to “have failed”.  Ostrich nation, alive and well in Virginia for one,  will not allow it.

    • #10
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    @MikeK

    We have not seen the worst of Obamacare and will not until the employer market collapses next year. Employers are dropping family members and more is to come. I don’t know where it ends but the excuses will not slow done the consequences for a millisecond.

    • #11
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    @Rawls

    ‘SNL’ Spoofs Obama’s Unwavering Support Among Black Voters

    http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4208431

    Posting from mobile. Please excuse poor formatting.

    • #12
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    @JamesGawron

    Jon,

    This is the most intriguing question of them all.  He is a strange enigma in the first place.  His persona perfectly hits every dem blind spot causing them an irresistible urge to ignore his massive mendacity and incompetence.

    Slowly those with just a little bit of intelligence and integrity will be separated from the hopeless.  That segment plus the independents and rinos and tea party will make a massive majority.  Those remaining will have no solace.  They will be faced with the total failure in foreign & domestic policy.

    At that point if a scandal finally sticks.  Well then anything is possible.

    Regards,

    Jim 

    • #13
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    @TheMugwump
    Richard Fulmer: Dems have a tradition of throwing inconvenient baggage under the bus.  Remeber Michael Dukakis?  During the 1988 election he was touted by the MSM as the greatest candidate ever to grace the party.  Not charismatic, mind you, but the ultimate in executive competence. After he was soundly defeated by Bush the Elder, pundits raced to cameras to claim that they’d always known that Dukakis was a complete loser.

    I met Dukakis at the ’96 Democratic convention (long story).  Put him in an apron and you can envision someone schlepping bologna behind a deli counter. 

    • #14
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    @Barfly

    The media will begin to distance themselves from Obama at precisely the time Hillary’s campaign starts to surface. By the time she formally announces, they’ll have established that Obama was a great President but unfortunately was led by those around him into some, uh, excesses.

    Once Hillary’s nominated and the race is in full swing, they’ll have excused all his blunders as well-meaning but occasionally misguided. He’ll be a whitewashed icon. The healthcare disaster will be the fault of the right. Half the country will have forgotten their previous sycophancy and will eagerly swallow their praise of the next socialist Messiah.

    • #15
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    @flownover

    To wish, perchance to dream

    • #16
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    @docmolloy

    For in that Obamacare sleep of death what dreams may come true..

    • #17
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    @RichardFulmer
    Barfly: The media will begin to distance themselves from Obama at precisely the time Hillary’s campaign starts to surface. By the time she formally announces, they’ll have established that Obama was a great President but unfortunately was led by those around him into some, uh,excesses.

    Once Hillary’s nominated and the race is in full swing, they’ll have excused all his blunders as well-meaning but occasionally misguided. He’ll be a whitewashed icon. The healthcare disaster will be the fault of the right. Half the country will have forgotten their previous sycophancy and will eagerly swallow their praise of the next socialist Messiah.

    Maybe, but I think that it is far more likely that the blame will be placed on Republican intransigence. 

    • #18
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    @UmbraFractus
    Richard Fulmer: Dems have a tradition of throwing inconvenient baggage under the bus.  Remeber Michael Dukakis?  During the 1988 election he was touted by the MSM as the greatest candidate ever to grace the party.  Not charismatic, mind you, but the ultimate in executive competence. After he was soundly defeated by Bush the Elder, pundits raced to cameras to claim that they’d always known that Dukakis was a complete loser.

    Sounds a lot like a certain other Massachusetts governor from the other party.

    • #19
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    @RachelLu

    Unfortunately, this is one place where the Clintons’ well-known antagonism to the Obamas may actually help the Dems.

    • #20
  21. Profile Photo Inactive
    @rico
    • #21
  22. Profile Photo Inactive
    @rico

    It will be fascinating to watch the progressive object of adoration morph from a hip, articulate young man of color to a privileged, bumbling old white hag.

    • #22
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    @
    rico: It will be fascinating to watch the progressive object of adoration morph from a hip, articulate young man of color to a privileged, bumbling old white hag. · 15 hours ago

    Progressives have used Obama’s race as such a crutch, I don’t know if they’ll ever dare nominate a white male again. It’s very convenient to paint every policy difference as racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.

    • #23
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    @rico
    Jon Gabriel, Ed.

    rico: It will be fascinating to watch the progressive object of adoration morph from a hip, articulate young man of color to a privileged, bumbling old white hag. · 15 hours ago

    Progressives have used Obama’s race as such a crutch, I don’t know if they’ll ever dare nominate a white male again. It’s very convenient to paint every policy difference as racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. · 43 minutes ago

    That’s why many people see Clinton’s nomination as inevitable. They can’t nominate Cuomo or O’Malley or Kerry. And no Democrat woman (e.g. Gillibrand) would dare stand up to Clinton.

    The question in my mind isn’t who Democrat party power brokers want to nominate, but who Progressives see as the person best fit to carry the Progressive banner for the movement. After all, they can’t turn back now. Wouldn’t Patrick Deval fit the progressive profile better? Not to mention the experience gap of an experienced governor vs. a strident Clinton who has accomplished exactly what?

    • #24
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    @UmbraFractus
    rico

    Not to mention the experience gap of an experienced governor vs. a strident Clinton who has accomplished exactly what? · 15 hours ago

    If the Democrats cared about experience Barack Obama would still be in the Illinois Legislature.

    • #25
  26. Profile Photo Inactive
    @rico
    Umbra Fractus

    rico

    Not to mention the experience gap of an experienced governor vs. a strident Clinton who has accomplished exactly what? · 15 hours ago

    If the Democrats cared about experience Barack Obama would still be in the Illinois Legislature. · 3 hours ago

    Point well taken. But given the punishment (well-deserved) that Obama will take over the next three years due to his governing inexperience, Democrats will need “experience” on the résumé of their next presidential candidate, for marketing reasons if nothing else.

    • #26
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