last Wednesday, the President pissed me off

[scheming daemons]

Regulars here know I am the biggest pro-Obama poster around.

I have repeatedly slapped down concern trolls, pony-cravers, and "professional left" for 4 years.

The President has a VERY good record to run on, and it pissed me off that he wouldn't defend it in front of 60 million.

The advisors that told him to avoid being the "angry black man" in the debate fucked up. Every voter susceptible to that is already voting for Mittwit.

Fight for your record, dammit!

The biggest threat to us is the enthusiasm gap. It is real. The brilliant DNC in Charlotte, especially the big dawg, reversed that trend and moved the enthusiasm to our side and away from the GOP.

The debate clusterfuck reversed the enthusiasm gains. You can feel it.

I have donated $25 a week to the campaign for almost a year. I will crawl naked over broken glass to vote for Obama.

But dammit, quit playing it safe. Vigorously defend your record at least as hard as I do, Barack.

We have turned this economy around... everything is headed in the right direction. We are no longer in constant fear of a second 9/11. This is due to YOUR leadership, Barack.

Fight as hard for it as Bubba and Biden are.

You pissed me off.... you killed your own momentum and allowed the media to create a new narrative. Get your head out of your ass in the next debate. No more beta-male, polite bullshit. Go alpha-male on Romney.

Give us some "angry black male". It only hurts you among those that already hate you. As FDR said... WELCOME THEIR HATRED!

[nc4bo]

1. After seeing how all this turned out...

I'm ready for some ABM too. Romney's must be taken out and all his shapeshifting BS called out.

Doing it on the campaign trail is no where near as effective as doing in front of millions of people. M$M isn't going to give you that kind of audience during a stump speech.

Not sure if this can be played out in a Townhall format but definitely during the last debate on FP.

[ywcachieve]

2. scheming daemons, what you posted here is something

that President Obama needs to see. Send it to him. I am positive he will want to know how you feel. He is a good man, and would want this feedback.

[INdemo]

13. I agree..send this to the President but

will it make it past the campaign staff??

[ywcachieve]

15. President Obama does read the mail of the people.

He is concerned about how we feel.

[MessiahRp]

24. I thought I saw that he only reads/responds to 10 letters a day.

Not a very high probability to be read if that is correct.

[OriginalGeek]

29. Then everybody send it.

Credit Scheming and copy and paste it and send it to the Whitehouse.

[GeorgeGist]

3. Snort

Have a nice day.

[Logical]

4. Thank you for this! Ignore the whiners who will now call you a troll!!!

[napkinz]

5. We need Joe Thursday night to deliver a CLINTON!

The damage is done.

Thursday night we start anew.

There's still one whole month to go.

[bluestate10]

69. Regardless of what Joe does, the President can't have another debate where he is essentially

absent. May be the President was dealing with a major problem of huge impact to the nation. But he owes his supporters the confidence that he will put up a fight in debates and defend his excellent record. President Obama is calling for us to stand behind him, I will, but I want the President to fight and make us proud that we are standing behind him.

[BeyondGeography]

6. I'm looking at it as a well-timed fail

The President blew a major opportunity, but I think it showed him to be as complacent as many of us were. This race was looking too easy, so he played it safe in the most insipid way imaginable. It was by no means fatal and the MSM gusher for Romney, which was dying to go off, will not last another week.

I agree with you on the damage he did on the enthusiasm front, but he has two more debates to rectify that. Obama has made his own job harder, but he's up to the task. We also know that Mitt will not play error-free ball the rest of the way.

[cilla4progress]

43. I hope you are right ..

I keep think of HOW HARD Obama has worked, and everyone around him, only to see it dissolve in 90 minutes that don't matter a whit in the big picture real world.

Shee-it. We know he'd sure like to have that back. I feel for the guy. I know a lot are pissed at him, but, bejeezus, I can only feel for the guy. He's exhausted. He knows he blew it - this is all on him. Who knows what happened. Let's just hope you are right that this "gusher" for Rmoney is about to deflate. Hopefully it was well-timed, as you posit!

Thanks for your post.

[Scootaloo]

91. Looks to me like the "lack of enthusiasm" is the product of right-wing boosters among "progressives"

You know, the same folks who helped beat down any and all support for democrats on DU two years ago? The same folks who, for the past three years, have found nothing but misery in the fact that Obama is president, and then lie about how they're just upset he's "not progressive enough"?

Obama might not have brought his A game to the first debate. Anyone who's watching could see that Romney didn't even bring the right fucking ball to the game, though. But to hear the meat-waste "Concerned progressives" tell it, this is all certain doom. It's time to give up. Just accept it. Don't bother voting, it won't matter, blah blah blah.

And it's fucking WORKING. This internal voter suppression tactic is working. And the more people mope, the more it works.

If we lose this election, it won't be because Obama was stiff in the first debate. It'll be because "progressives" pulled another 2010 and worked their asses off to get Republicans into office by wet blanketing their "compatriots."

[librarylu]

7. I was at the dump -

I mean recycling center- yesterday and the attendant started going off on Romney for his "all lies" in the debate. I told him I tried to be unemotional and neutral and listened closely to see if Romney made any good points. I came away hating the man.

Hopefully other viewers had reactions like that and didn't think the President did badly at all.

Sometimes it's better to be low key and let people come to conclusions on their own.

Republicans I've met seem obsessed with gas and food prices, jobs and the deficit. It doesn't matter that Obama doesn't control gas and food or that the situation has been improving for the last three years or that the deficit has to do, in part, with the Baby Boomers reaching retirement age. They're thinking with their amygdalae and nothing's going to change that.

Facts might impress the rest of us, though. The attendant lost his job, pension, everything due to corporate raiding. He's no fan of Bain

I'm going to find some more garbage and swing back by the dump. I neglected to remind him to vote.

[mnhtnbb]

10. Take a voter registration form with you--just in case he's not registered.

[RitchieRich]

51. Amygdala joke!

One thing I love about being on DU, people can make an amygdala joke and have a reasonable expectation that it will be understood. Try that on the comment section of FoxNews, they'd assume it was a penis joke, or feel threatened and call you names.

[swayne]

8. President Obama needs to get his sh*t together. Otherwise he WILL lose.

I have always said that Obama doesn't seem to get the gravitas of things until his back is up against the wall. It leads to charges of laziness and while I vehemently disagree with what the "Jabba the Hutt" John Sununu said about Obama--you can't give them openings.

He should have ended this election for Romney last week. Now you have talking heads like Joe Scabourough and Chuck Todd etc talking shit on Obama and talking up Romney. These guys were demoralized last week before the debates and if the 7.8% employment number hadn't appeared....they would be laughing in Obama's face.

[ywcachieve]

18. I don't believe a debate will cause supporters to jump ship,

when Pres. Obama has made SO many achievements, in spite of Repubs obstruction?

[gateley]

60. I don't think anybody will jump ship, any more than Romney's 180 will cause those supporting him

to cross the aisle. It's the low info voters (most of America!) who hadn't committed who may be influenced by "performance".

[mazzarro]

80. +1000%

This is a characteristic of Obama - the tendency to underrate the gravitas of what the rePIGs have schemed up for him. It shows up in all the political battles he has had with them, yet he approaches them with his guard down. When will he learn to be more circumspect in dealing them all the times.

[Dawgs]

9. Whatever. n/t

[Tom_x]

11. >> The President has a VERY good record to run on,

OK you want to be as crazy and as "alternative universe" as the crazy cons.

You really think that makes the liberal movement in the US stronger ?

[TwilightGardener]

31. Huhn?

[ProSense]

12. Here:

"The debate clusterfuck reversed the enthusiasm gains. You can feel it. "

...Time didn't stop after the debate.

A Popularity High for Romney – but Ditto for Obama
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021498976

"Give us some 'angry black male'. It only hurts you among those that already hate you. As FDR said... WELCOME THEIR HATRED!"

Yeah, I'm sure the people critical of the President's performance are going to ignore the MSM when they label Obama "unhinged." Oh, they might say screw the MSM initially, but when it continues, the claims that he did it to himself will grow.

[mountain grammy]

37. I often wish Obama would go to sleep with FDR's speeches in his head

I don't expect Obama to be FDR, but he should not be afraid to take on the aristocrats and the racist idiots. As FDR said when told the wealthy would leave the country if he raised their taxes: "I will miss them." FDR could barely get out of a chair, but he stood up for working people better than anyone in our history!!

[treestar]

14. I'm not that confident about the angry black male thing

Yes, it would not bother me, but what would the media do? And how would that affect average voters? I'll let black posters speak on that more.

Tweety and Rachel were going to have those meltdowns no matter what happened. They need a horserace for their ratings. Obama was pulling too far away. If they hadn't had their meltdowns, you might not have had yours or you might have felt like enough in a minority not to say something like all the momentum is gone. Or, if Democrats can let one bad night lose all their momentum, then that proves the point they are weak. It's the voters who are the weaklings then. Until we can stand as strong as Republicans do, we are going to keep having them be a large enough force to stand in the way of progress.

We know they are lukewarm for mittens and he has made several mistakes, yet they don't back down. They even pretend they don't believe government statistics. Yet a Democrat only has to make one mistake and the Dems give up and start saying they can't take it any more.

[kysrsoze]

40. Nobody really cared when Herman Cain loudly/angrily spewed. Maybe they WANT some Samuel L. Jackson!

[treestar]

41. I didn't see Cain do that

But then he claims to be a Republican, so the media would allow him to get away with it.

I firmly believe Rachel and Co. would have sputtered how they can't believe Obama let himself get angry. He's been so cool up till now.

Unless Obama were the one behind in the polls. Then they would call out Rmoney's "performance."

[ecstatic]

75. Supposedly the independents' rating of Pres. Obama went down during the one

or two times that he challenged Romney. I don't know what to think. I wasn't fond of that debate; honestly, I'm still reeling from it, but ABM might not be the answer either. The answer is passion, like Deval Patrick, not Howard Dean style anger (and I love Howard Dean, btw).

[treestar]

76. Yeah and another thing bugging me is answering all of Rmoney's lies

and we'll have pundits saying he's letting Rmoney control the debate, making it all about Rmoney. The same thing: Obama didn't get his points across; he spent the whole time contradicting Rmoney! There was no way Obama was going to be allowed to "win" this debate with theses pundits - they need their horse race.

[ecstatic]

78. that's so true! nt

[sasquuatch55]

16. Obama was just giving Romney the rope that will destroy him in the next debate. n/t

n/t

[George II]

17. After overcoming the odds of defeating numerous oppponents in the primaries in 2008...

....and then soundly defeating the republican attack machine and John McCain as an African American candidate, I think Obama's campaign strategists know what they're doing!!!

[hockeynut57]

34. hey , lets take a break,

from politics and all go play some shinny

[johnny156]

19. He pissed me off too but...

It's time we stop talking about the debate its been almost a week, the more we talk about what happened it just keeps it in the news and on the front page and in the minds of voters. Let's move forward, "he fucked up" now it's up to him to do better for us next time.

[brush]

33. Fucked up?

I don't think so. See post #25. I don't want to repeat myself but I feel too many of us bought into Tweety, Rachel and the rest of the MSM's meltdown and gushings over Romney.

[treestar]

42. +1

[frylock]

62. including obama and his staff..

they've admitted that obama fucked up that debate.

[silvershadow]

20. I hear you, though, in his defense...The polls are already showing Romney's bounce to be

short-lived, if indeed there ever was one. After the VP debate, look for Obama to whack him at the knees, when he will have no time to recover. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it)...But I agree, as a white man, I rather like ABM Obama!

[heaven05]

21. ABM

can be played up, by M$M, big time. Righteous anger at obvious lies and accusation will not hurt. I would not let him call me a liar first. He needs to be, somehow revealed in front of 60 million as the obvious lying clown he is. I don't know that key but there has got to be a lie buster somewhere. His staff is smart, I just hope they find it. Make mittytwit crack.

[Mockingjay]

22. last Wednesday, the President pissed me off

The way I see it, is that the polls only reflect those that were disapointed with the Pres. performance at the debate and they will come to their senses again. The MSM had a lot to do with that by insantly declaring a "winner" in a horse race....to keep it going...for ratings. President Obama, knows better than to to get in a screaming match with a liar and I think that was what he was reacting to. He made no mistakes on the facts, that night and that was what the Romney team was hoping for, but it didn't happen. Do you really think Romney will continue to win in the next debates....what goes up must come down, and Romney will! People will eventually go with the factual truths not the flimfam lies and distortions in one debate.

[Glitterati]

23. So wonderfully said!

if only I could said it so well.

[brush]

25. ABM, maybe not

Last edited Tue Oct 9, 2012, 10:56 AM - Edit history (1)

I think we'll see a difference in the next debate but I don't think the "angry black male" is the President's style, he's more a "cerebral black male" who'll be ready to confront the shape-shifter with passion, reason and, quite frankly, the truth." You're right about the President having a good record to run on and he should definitely use that in his arguments. I don't agree with you, however, on the so called "enthusiasm gap." Chuck Toad put that out there yesterday but I think that's just a construct of his to try to keep the race narrow. Remember, he works for a network that makes big money off campaign advertising that increases as the race narrows. And what the hell does he know from that beltway bubble in D.C. that he doesn't leave? I work with Organizing for America on the Presidents campaign and do voter reg, phone banking and canvassing. There is no enthusiasm gap that I see on the ground and I've been working since January. I'm in Vegas and there is much enthusiasm here. We've out-registered the repugs by 2 to 1 here in Nevada. Many Latinos especially have expressed eagerness to register and they even tell me they're voting for "Obama, Obama!" So no, Chuck Toad is wrong and we shouldn't fall for how the media tries to program us. I myself am still upset at how the media, even MSNBC pundits went crazy that night declaring that lying Romney the winner when the President stayed calm and serious and delivered substantive information. How do you instantly be declared the winner of a debate when all your statements are lies? It was all media hype and too many people, IMO, fell for the hype because that's what they were told. Where are all the independent thinkers who don't fall into the groupthink trap? I don't think the President lost, and I watched it with several other campaign workers and we all felt the same way. He just wasn't the razzle-dazzle flashy lying bully that the media seems to adore. We were all astonished and disgusted at the MSNBC pundits meltdown and gushings over Romney and wondered what debate they were watching (except, notably, Sharpton, O'Donnell and Bashir who differed markedly with their colleagues)?

[Cha]

71. Thank you, brush! You are the Winner of this thread, imv. n/m

[TahitiNut]

26. See ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021488818

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

27. I'm an Angry Black Woman ready for some Angry Black Male!!!

[Enrique]

28. sounds like an honest reaction

I didn't feel that way. Debating is a skill and Obama does not rank high in that skill. He has many other strengths however. It's like if Randy Johnson struck out as a batter, I don't think his fans felt let down by him.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

35. He actually does rank high on skill. It's just a different kind of skill..

...one that many Americans are not used to. This style has served him well throughout his years as a state senator, a U.S. Senator, during the primaries against Hillary (albeit not at first), against John McCain, and he'll rebound. I'm sure of it.

The president knows what he's doing.

[jsmirman]

30. Wow - timing is everything - I was way more pissed off

see: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021487277
Why I Was So Angry (With Thoughts On Patty Murray's Letter)

[Whisp]

32. he won't dissapoint - he rarely does

I wasn't angry at him at all but i was livid at Matthews and Shultz for their engorged with anger act that night - sheesh - I know the President is doing the best possible with what he has.

but I can understand why you are/were upset. I know you are a true blue supporter and that you aren't saying this to place a sneaky dagger in him, like some do here, but because you love him.

It will be fine. Things will work out the way they have to.

[fredamae]

36. IMO-Anyone who is worried

about PBO "appearing" like an "angry black man" apparently fails to grasp the fact that those "sensitive" folks were UNLIKELY supporters to begin with...
I don't give a rat's ass if PBO Is Black-Green-Pink-Brown-he has Every Right to Be Angry not just for the way he's been disrespected and treated---but to be angry For Us.
We want it, we deserve it and will not likely view and compare his anger to a "color chart key code".

[treestar]

45. No presidential candidate of any color can afford to look angry

That's why we look for those clips of Mittens having a meltdown. It definitely means the person can't handle the job.

[Cary]

38. I don't think it was as bad for President Obama as the spin.

Come on. It's a long slog. Romney was coming off a 30 day period that could hardly have been worse for him. Romney pivoted. Romney told a bunch of lies. Romney abused the moderator.

Try to focus on the bigger picture. Frankly I don't know how you handle a situation like President Obama found himself in, even in retrospect. We are now 28 days out. A bump in the polls for Romney at this point means what, exactly? I'm not sure but I figure the Obama campaign knows how to handle this better than I do. They are winners.

We have to see how the debate goes with Biden and we have two more presidential debates. I think our candidate and his campaign are up to this. I really do.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

39. You pissed me off...

Not really. I agree with everything that you say with one exception.

"professional left??"

That sounds like a fox news talking point.

[progressoid]

44. "Professional left" does sound like a fox news talking point.

Sadly, it came from the White House. I think, Robert Gibbs first said it.

Many here have unfortunately used Professional left, pony cravers, concern trolls, etc., against those who have a critique of the administration or the party.

[femrap]

50. I thought it

was Rahm???

[progressoid]

59. Could be. Considering Rahm thinks liberals are "fucking retarded".

Edited to add this,

Gibbs Stands By His 'Professional Left' Critique

Speaking publicly for the first time since he disparaged the "professional left," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he stands by his comments, has no plans to resign and that he fully expects progressive voters to go to the polls in 2010.

"I don't plan on leaving and there is no truth to the rumor that I've added an inflatable exit to my office," the press secretary said during Wednesday's briefing, referencing the recent incident in which a Jet Blue flight attendant bolted his plane in frustration.

...

Does he stand by the comments? "Yes," he replied.

It was suggested that the remarks may have been part of a cynical strategy to depict the White House as not beholden to the progressive base. But the press secretary insisted that there was nothing underhanded in his interview with The Hill. He had said what he said in a bout of frustration.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/gibbs-stands-by-his-profe_n_678811.html

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

55. Why should the left be anything else than professional?

I really dislike it when the Democrats use these terms against heir own.

It shows a lack of professionalism on their part and derision for any progressive that they wish to marginalize.

[GumboYaYa]

46. I agree 100%

Obama needs to stand up for liberal values.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

47. Oh ye of little faith and even less understanding...

The one thing this president has, and Romney never will, is likability and Americans elect likability...if that weren't so Gore would have swept so many states Florida would not have been necessary. The Angry Black Man is just too dangerous and I'm not even certain this
particular black man could even carry it off.

At this point in any election the goal is to glean the "undecided" voters...a polite euphemism for the knuckleheads...or low-information voters. The ABM would be a major turn-off for those voters. Why do you think Romney so blithely threw his base under the bus and they have so blithely accepted it? Republicans have always understood that the final weeks of any election depend on the ignorant. Stop and think just what Fox and the rest of the media would have said had an ABM shown up at that debate? How is that useful?

As to Democratic enthusiasm...Democrats have been assholes for as long as I can remember when it comes to their candidate...or their president. They want perfection and heaven forbid their idol turns out to have feet of clay. If they don't get out there volunteer, donate and vote, then they will get the president they deserve....And while that is rough for people like ourselves who are heavily invested in President Obama, the fault lies with the people not the president.

If I were advising President Obama I would tell him to gently mock Romney right to his face...make the audience laugh....Romney won't know whether to shit or go blind because like all "entitled" men the one thing he absolutely can't stand is being laughed at. He will have no defense for it and will start sputtering absurdities even the knuckleheads will recognize as such.

[frazzled]

48. Actually, you're pissing me off, for real

Get over it. Your hand-wringing and Monday-morning quarterbacking (actually, it's way past Monday morning and time to STOP) is doing nothing but reinforcing the narrative and helping the other side.

Look at what the Republicans do. Last week we were laughing at them for saying Romney was going to win this election, win Pennsylvania ... in the face of mortifyingly bad polls. Their base was claiming the polls were all "skewed." Well, guess what, this kind of audacious chutzpah works.

Instead of stepping back and saying, hey, the President really got some of his points out while Romney, by reversing all his positions, clearly cannot be trusted, you keep repeating the (false) meme about Obama's "failure." No, he was not a failure. He was not worse than George W. Bush ever was in a debate, not by a long shot.

If he'd been "angry" the narrative would have been that Romney won because Obama got angry, or had to spend the whole time defending himself. You are not a political strategist nor a debate coach. You are just an armchair observer, like the rest of us.

Our job should be to have our candidate's back, not to criticize him. We should be minimizing the importance of a debate, finding the things he did well, predicting ultimate success—in short, praising him in the face of any evidence to the contrary, even. The last thing we should be doing is accepting the idea that he failed and giving "advice."

[brush]

63. I agree

I like your post. Let's not fall into the groupthink that all the media did (Rachel and Tweety had meltdowns while declaring lying Romney instantly the winner). I'm pissed at them and all the people who repeat what they say despite what they saw. Romney abandoned all his positions and lied all night. Not what I call a winner.

[Solomon]

68. Well said. I saw no failure. What i see is people willingly

letting the media tell them what to think. It's disgusting to me.

[femrap]

49. I agree w/ you...

show your leadership and STOP LOOKING DOWN AT YOUR PAPERs. Head up and use your hands to emphasize your points.....and INTERRUPT the son of short dick when he lies.

Let the white dudes be afraid of the 'angry black man.' They're gonna vote for Mi$$ no matter what.

The momentum turned....I, too, felt it. Being polite in a prez campaign gets you what Kerry got in '04....when he didn't fight the Swift Boaters.

My neighbor, an 88 year-old repugnant answered me when I said, 'Damn you repugnants are mean.' 'And that's why we win!'

[andym]

52. The President knows he didn't have a good debate

He's said as much in public now. His team reported that he was having alternately good and bad practice debates, so inconsistency is partly to blame and his team didn't expect the lying moderate Romney that appeared at the debate. I only don't understand the last point, since Romney has telegraphed what he was going to do clearly enough for amateurs to see, for example http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021416757 .

So, 1) He knows he needs to do better, 2) He is likely going to do more practices (I hope), 3) He knows what to expect from Romney.
All these factors should result in an improved performance.

He has to make his narrative strong about how he's helped the economy. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021495764

He also needs to explain why a mean, lean government (as he's previously called it) is important.

[BlueStreak]

54. The remaining debates come way too late to make the difference.

He needs to be making strong arguments RIGHT NOW rather then just clowning around with his pleasant, jovial, inoffensive scripted speeches.

[andym]

56. In a divided country, the the debates closest to the election may be the most important

The best example is Reagan vs Carter, where people finally made up their minds in the last week. Of course, that was both their first and last debate.

The first debate usually has the highest rating, but this year I expect all the debates to be highly watched. Especially with the entertainment factor of the unexpected being stronger this year than others.

As for what is being said on the campaign trail, few people hear it. it matters much less than what is said before around 50 million people. Still, it should be used to foreshadow the next debate. I hope there is an emphasis on taking credit for the economy's improvement.

[BlueStreak]

53. I am more disappointed by what happened since

They are still trying to float above it all, trying to brush it off with cute jokes. And if anything, the Obama campaign is getting more and more vague every day. Honestly I am trying hard to find the differences now. Both campaigns have slipped into nothing but platitudes.

There are sharp differences.

Romney wants to end Medicare. Not "Medicare 'as we know it'" . He wants to end Medicare, period. The plan is perfectly clear.
Step 1: Offer an "option" to people under 56 to get a voucher meaning they will never receive Medicare benefits
Step 2: Start siphoning off the funding for Medicare so that 10 years from now, those who didn't take the voucher path will have a crappy system
Step 3: 10 years from now, start lowering the voucher amount every year and continue to drain resources from the Medicare system until it is gone.

Stop pussy-footing around with this. Call it what it is. This should have been the ONLY thing anybody should have discussed in Florida. That would have been an easy win, and now that state is probably lost.

You can go through that same process on 3 or 4 main issues. Get specific. Time is running out. People need time to process the magnitude of the plan Romney intends to carry out. We lost a hugely important week just bullshitting about Big Bird.

[scheming daemons]

58. this

[theglammistress]

61. Agreed

I also think liberals are helping the president's lead erode by flipping out over everything. I don't comment here hardly ever but I read nonstop and I've had this place and the NYT comments section on life support watch since debate night. This isn't over yet, but as a base, we all better sack up.

Obama knows he screwed up. His next two debates will be different. I actually agreed with Chuck Todd this morning, which stunned me. Chuck said Obama needs to quit talking about the debate (and big bird). He is right. Start fighting back on the issues!

All of us continually melting down isn't helping the narrative.


http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/10/hack-gap-rears-its-ugly-head-yet-again

[ibegurpard]

88. Big Bird...

yeah that non-starter needs to stop right now
seriously, no one gives a shit about that

[Larkspur]

57. I view Obama's debate disaster, like I did his statement about Hillary in 2008

during the NH primary campaign when he said, in much the same demeanor that he had Wed night, that Hillary would do fine.

Obama lost NH because he didn't have enough time to rebound from that mistake, but he never made it again and ended up winning the nomination and the election.

Obama has time to rebound and Biden is a better debater than Obama. Biden will not let Ryan and Romney get away with lies and distortions about the Obama Admin record. Also the debate format favors Biden, whose 40+ years in the senate will have him in the right mindset.

Ryan is already feeling the pressure -- Paul Ryan Abruptly Ends Interview After 'Strange' Question (VIDEO) . If he throws a temper tantrum, like he did at this reporter, Biden wins and the Obama team will be on the rebound.

I expect Biden to approach America Thursday night, like a wise old Unlce/Grandpa Joe who will praise Obama's accomplishments and character while telling people that Romney-Ryan are like used car salesment trying to offload the last lemon on the lot to the American people. That's similar to what he did in his DNC convention speech.

[mnhtnbb]

64. Let's hope so. I've never heard as many lies as the R's offer--not even at a used car lot.

[Vietnameravet]

65. Criticisms defended..

One of the most oft-cited incidents from FDR’s presidency is a policy meeting he held with labor leaders shortly after his election, which he concluded by telling them “I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.” FDR understood that regardless of what he personally believed, change had to happen from the bottom up, not just from the top down. He was a bold leader who was never afraid to take on a fight as long as he had the American people on his side.

That is a quote from the Roosevelt institute and I think it has real meaning to the debate we are having among ourselves.

Let's just assume that Obama's advisers really thought, as many here have said, that Obama risked being portrayed as "an angry black man" if he came out swinging...so he should hold back.. or that this was some kind of rope-a-dope....IMO that is a losing strategy..

When people from MSNBC and elsewhere, including here, demand he forget that advice and insist he go after Romney hard and fast..always with a smile...but taking no prisoners.. then the campaign knows we have his back and he need not fear getting tough..

That is why I have always rejected the advice of so many here who are offended by criticisms of the debate performance.

In any event, I think the campaign now gets the message..in large part because many stood up and told the campaign they did not like what they saw and wanted a more aggressive Obama..

My prediction is that they will get it next time and that will again turn the tide in our favor..

[tallahasseedem]

66. +1

You have managed to state exactly what I have been thinking as well.

Great job!

[bluestate10]

67. I agree with everything that was written.

Around 20 minutes into the debate, I was praying for President Obama to wake the fuck up, listen to Romney lying and figuratively rip Romney a new asshole. THat moment never came, instead we saw President Obama out on the campaign trail in front of adoring crowds ripping Romney the way that he should have fucking did the night before when he was face to face with that lying asshole.

If I see the President starting the next debate the way that he started the one on Wednesday, I will turn off the television, not log onto DU, shower, floss and go the fuck to bed. May be I will be able to sleep.

[ecstatic]

74. lol nt

[flamingdem]

70. I can accept this criticism from you

You are right in most respects, I think all these things will get through to him in time.

He's a fast learner but we know he has some blind spots.

[Jake2413]

72. I have mixed feelings

On one hand I think Obama was lackluster in the debate. But I also think if he went after all the lies in that forum, it would have been all about Romney and given Romney a national stage of 60+ million viewers to hear him repent his 47% speech. And Obama would never got any of his points across.

[brindis_desala]

73. Sorry. You are wrong. The last debate was a setup.

That's what the other side wants. He didn't ace the tightrope but he'll make it back.
Likability. Look at the numbers. That's the ballgame.

[ClusterFreak]

77. Fuckin' A!

[madrchsod]

79. could`t disagree more...

mittens was exposed as the spoiled little child that he is. his contempt for those he feels are below him was displayed on his face and in his words. there was no way that obama or anyone else could ever reply to the amount of lies that mittens uttered in that debate forum

[Azathoth]

81. It's not going to happen. Obama just can't handle face-to-face confrontation.

He can write and deliver a good speech -- and even throw a few measured punches in the process -- but when it comes to face-to-face conflict, whether it be with Romney or House Republicans or jackass reporters demanding his birth certificate, he's not even in the game. We've seen this play out over and over for four years now.

[B Calm]

82. If polls can change this much in a few days

all it tells me is how fucking stupid the people in the United States are, or the fix is in and Obama knows it!

[Bonobo]

83. While it is NICE that you have now given yourself permission to criticize Obama...

You should be aware that some of us that you have attacked as "concern trolls, pony-cravers, and professional left" are also people that have given a lot to Obama and criticize him from a similar sense of disappointment -maybe more than you are feeling with this but in a similar way.

In 2008, my mother and I travelled out of state to walk door to door canvassing for Obama.

My mother was on her 2nd bout of cancer and we had to walk slowly up the hills in the neighborhood. It was one of the last things we did together. She passed away not too long afterwards.

Now, here on DU, some people seem to think of me as some kind of anti-Obama troll with an agenda. In reality, my agenda is what it has always been -to push for Progressive causes and policies and to push back against right wing ones -Even if, scratch that, ESPECIALLY IF they come from our side.

I hope you can reflect on this post and perhaps see that some of those you have "demonized" (please excuse the pun) have a similar feeling to what you had here, though on a larger scale, and yet still have good overall intentions.

I hope this will effect some change in your understanding.

[woo me with science]

84. Beautiful post.

Thank you.

[WillyT]

85. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!! - K & R !!!

THANK YOU !!!

& Rec !!!

[ibegurpard]

87. thank you.

considering the post you're replying to maybe, just maybe, for once it won't go completely over the OP's head

[world wide wally]

86. So how do you beat a bully?

You punch him in the nose!... with the TRUTH in this case

[ibegurpard]

89. I think that their strategy was to coast

They did serious damage to Romney, helped immensely by his own blunders, and then were helped by the overwhelmingly positive reception to the Democratic Convention. I think perhaps this made them think they could safely go "above the fray."
You can't with these people, when they're down you have to keep on kicking them. Especially with the money at their disposal and the outright manic hatred for Obama out there.

[Summer Hathaway]

90. The media was going to 'create a new narrative'

no matter what happened in that debate.

They need a horserace - it's what sells newspapers and keeps viewers tuned-in.

I've read it over and over on political message boards since last Wednesday: "I thought Obama won the debate - until the media told me he didn't."