Ellison: Obama deserves blame for Democratic losses

[former9thward]

Source: The Hill

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said former President Obama is partially to blame for the Democrats’ poor showing at the polls in 2016.

Ellison, now the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, blamed Obama for ignoring party politics while he was in office, which he said had put the president’s legacy at risk.

“Look I’m a great fan of President Obama. I totally voted for many of the things he supported — Dodd Frank, Affordable Care Act, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — I could keep going,” Ellison said at an event Wednesday at the University of Minnesota.

“Wonderful achievements. But Barack Obama could have been a better party leader, and I think the fact that he wasn’t put his legacy in jeopardy,” he said.



Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/329673-ellison-obama-deserves-blame-for-democratic-losses

[Freethinker65]

1. Not helpful

[forgotmylogin]

56. Of all the people who worked tirelessly and completely

for advancing Democratic and Progressive humanitarian society others might consider assigning blame to, Obama is not the droid you're looking for.

He made mistakes, but those were acknowledged and learned from, surprising in the same manner that 45 doing something accidentally right is surprising.

He's laid pretty low, but of all people who need a well-deserved extended break, you'd think the government could run itself for a short time without his influence.

[brush]

57. He just effed up. WTF is wrong with him? Everyone knows Comey/Putin pulled the rug from...

under Hillary at the last minute, now he's blaming Obama.

Not smart, Ellison. You may have just lost your seat.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

61. That's being kind.

[LongTomH]

2. This is not helpful!!!!

I respect Keith; but, this is not helpful to our cause at all!

[Leghorn21]

3. What's the fuckin point. Cheezus. wtff. eom

[onenote]

4. What is Ellison's point?

Does he realize that Obama remains the most popular Democrat in the country? And that he only alienates people with divisive remarks like this?

Amateurish.

[JNelson6563]

29. That's the word: Amateurish.

As a neutral primary person I did notice that so often after a primary vote or caucus Team Sanders was always in an uproar over not knowing crazy voting rules of a state beforehand and stuff. I would catch the reports on NPR on my morning drive home from work. After a while I was just shocked at how they seemed to have no advance game.

Even in my small time politics as a Congressional Dist chair with 14 counties. I knew each county did stuff differently and worked with each one individually on issues because of that. How could a national campaign have been so unaware of such things??

So it seems that amateur business is continuing. Disappointing.

[Sculpin Beauregard]

5. Look forward, not backward.

These stories seem suspiciously timed, no?

[rogue emissary]

12. If there's a quote from one Democrat criticizing another Democrat.

The Hill site is the first to report it and blast it to the rest of MSM. When I see some Dem getting hit from the center or the left. Soon as I search for a video or the original quote in context. Ninety percent of the time I end up on the Hill website.

[Wellstone ruled]

18. Very true.

Did it help our cause,doubt it,more garbage for Fox News.

[Aristus]

6. Okay now, firing squad; if you would just like to form a circle, we'll get started...

[PatSeg]

8. That was totally unnecessary

and certainly not constructive in any way whatsoever. What the hell was he thinking?

[JCanete]

9. I don't know about that. The Democrats at large seemed to let Obama and their own

accomplishments down, and at one point, post ACA, rather than loudly touting that achievement and promoting what could be made even better, asked for distance from Obama while campaigning in the midterms. I thought he kept a low profile because it was advised, whether that was smart or not. It probably was not, but I don't think that's on him.

[C Moon]

10. Next! He's not going to work.

[Roy Rolling]

11. Dysfunctional Party

Running a gigantic political party is difficult, the current party administrators are weak. That contributed to the loss. The buck stops there, Ellison was one of the party's LEADERS. Own it.

[bluestarone]

13. totally

fn DISAGREE!!!!!

[BluegrassDem]

14. Ellison butt hurt over Obama endorsing Perez

Very petty Ellison! Makes me all the more happy Perez won!

[leftofcool]

15. This is why I am sick of the Democratic Party

[ehrnst]

70. I'm sick of certain people who are trying to tank it for personal gain. (nt)

[ciaobaby]

16. Well he did tap DWS to head DNC. Not a good choice.

[riversedge]

17. Put your energy into getting Dems elected in 2018-and enough of this blaming

Obama. Not helpful at all.

[BeyondGeography]

19. He could have been better, but the "building in Chicago" bit is childish, Keith

C'mon.

[Blue Idaho]

20. I think Obama's legacy is safe...

I don't think I can say the same for Ellison.

[Scruffy1]

21. Even if he is right it won't fix anything.

Besides which, the debacle of the 2010 elections was mainly brought about by the "news" which includes CNN

[renegade000]

22. *sigh* I feel like someone should tell Sanders and Ellison...

That negging isn't the best tactic to win over the majority of the Democratic base.

[kcdoug1]

23. YEP absolutely right!

President Obama should have removed DWS from the DNC. The DNC is/was completely deaf and blind to what was/is going on the in the country. The DNC screwed up BADLY!!! by letting the DWS drama continue for as long as it did. President Obama should have stopped it. Hopefully, large numbers of people are awake now. We must UNITE the past is DEAD! FUCK 2016! WE ARE A PARTY! NOT a dictatorship! let's have EVERY discussion! let's decide what it is we believe in, in the wake of Donald Trump and the GOP/RUSSIANS.... it does not MATTER what happened last year!!!! the only the that matters is what WE DO TODAY!

[DallasNE]

24. Not Well Said, But He Has A Point - Sort Of

Obama was responsible for keeping Wasserman-Schultz on as DNC Chair and she was awful in that slot. But Obama was also a lightening rod for the alt-right so using him was a mixed bag, really. How well did that work in PA?

An early test for Obama was the Cambridge white cop that arrested a black Cambridge professor for "breaking" into his own home, which had a sticky door. Obama was a friend of the professor, involving him directly. He tried to smooth things over by having the two to the Whitehouse for a beer. The cop thought he did no wrong so he would not apologize, causing things to blow up in Obama's face. It cost Obama standing with white blue-collar workers, showing Republicans that those voters could be peeled away. Trump perfected it, with a boost from Black Lives Matter.

How could Obama have been used when the issue is racism and the very real issues that Black Lives Matter exposed had such a detrimental effect on racist white blue-collar Americans. While Obama had these issues not working in his favor why not deploy Joe Biden. He had a history of being able to connect with these very people. Indeed, so did Bernie Sanders. But Hillary Clinton could have picked up the phone at any time and put these people out on the road so why didn't she.

[StevieM]

27. Hillary did have Sanders and Biden campaigning for her. Not that any amount of campaigning was ever

going to make a difference. Neither was Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

This election was all about James Comey and the FBI, from start to finish.

[DallasNE]

63. Yes, But

She did bring in both Sanders and Biden but late, making it look a little desperate.

But great point about Comey. Without Comey there were not enough racist, white blue-collar males to do it. Troubling, Comey did not properly characterize what they found on Abdin's computer. It was not new email, it was a backup of old email. It would have been from before Hillary deleted her personal email and it was those personal email's that Comey wanted to see. One report said that one of the "new" emails was where the two women discussed what they were going to wear to an event that evening.

Lastly, it has never been adequately explained why Hillary's polling did not pick up the movement toward Trump with the white blue-collar males. Trump's polling picked it up.

[onenote]

32. assuming he has a point, what is the point of bringing it up?

Obama isn't in the White House anymore. How does dredging this up help advance the goal of Democratic unity?

Answer: It doesn't.

[StevieM]

25. He is kind of right, but for totally different reasons. Obama appointed James Comey to the FBI.

That was hands down the biggest mistake of his presidency.

Comey rigged the 2016 election, from start to finish.

Had he not intervened with 11 days to go we would have held the White House, with a decisive win, and taken back the Senate with four additional seats.

Had he not held that despicable and dishonest press conference in July we would have won the White House in a landslide and taken back both houses of Congress.

Had he not launched the bogus and unnecessary investigation into HRC's email server we would have won the presidential election by a historic margin and beaten Republicans across the board in Congress, including wins in red states and districts.

[kcdoug1]

26. I disagree

I think the election was lost WAAAAY before the Comey thing.....

[StevieM]

28. I couldn't disagree more. And for the record "the Comey thing" actually began in August 2015

with his bogus investigation.

[deurbano]

37. Agree. We were/are in the opposite of a post-partisan era, and Obama

wasn't wary enough about the snakes in the grass. Comey was from the Whitewater days (ffs!!!), and he was an ultra-partisan, self-serving, sanctimonious jerk then, too. (Why, why, WHY would President Obama appoint that viper to such a sensitive position?!)

Also, since he thought Clinton was going to win (and didn't want to seem to be messing with the election), Obama didn't do enough to warn/expose (or whatever a president has the appropriate power to do) the Russian involvement (and possible collusion with Republicans) in our election. "When they go low, we go high" was not an effective response to that kind of treachery.

[moonscape]

79. Would the T voter have taken Obama's statements/reveal on Russia

seriously? The warning signs were out there but it didn't matter. So much didn't matter to the T voter, and he still has unbelievable approval with Repubs.

I'm not convinced that anything Obama would've done could've changed the outcome. More was baked in than we realized.

[Nedsdag]

53. Comey was HRC's campaign manager?

He told her not to campaign in Wisconsin?

I didn't know that!

[onetexan]

30. OK, so i went to the Dallas area "Come Together, Fight Back" tour

that was advertised as featuring Bernie Sanders and Keithe Ellison. I signed up a week ago, but yesterday received an update that Michael Blake, another vice-DNC chair, was going in KE's place. At first i was a little disappointed given the past several months we had read so much about him jockeying for hte DNC chair against Tom Perez. Now that i read the above i'm glad i got to hear Michael Blake instead. He was a great speaker - very charismatic, and connected well with the audience. That's terribly sad to hear he said those things about O. Divisive.

[sheshe2]

31. I think he has been spending to much time with.............

oh never mind.

[betsuni]

52. Exactly what I thought.

[sheshe2]

54. ;)

Love you, betsuni.

Great minds.

[betsuni]

55. Love you too!

[okasha]

83. Yep.

[sheshe2]

85. ...

[nini]

89. That's the first thing i thought

Too bad too. I am so over this kind of stuff.

[sheshe2]

33. It's Obama's fault...

[LenaBaby61]

34. "Ellison: Obama deserves blame for Democratic losses."

Can and will this circular firing squad ever end? I mean, we're dealing with a putin-loving, insane, drama-queenish fat cow installed into the presidency with the help of the GOP and putin/russia who CAN also be blackmailed by his same murderous russian boy toy, and THIS criticism of Pres. Obama right NOW is what Ellison is fixing his mouth to say?

tRumputin's trying to change the subject from FBI russia/investigations/HIS guilt, in which Comey's probably sitting on tape recordings of God knows what against tRumputin ruskie/GOP co-conspirators at this moment against the cabal of evil, AND THIS NOW from Keith? tRumputin's saber-rattling with N. Korea, and sending his "Armada" to West Korea to draw attention away from all things russian, his FAILED Don't Care health care bill, his FAILED Mooslim Ban(s), and his slow-rising costly Mexican Border Wall, and Ellison's fixating on Pres. Obama, and in a negative way at this point in time? Really?

[sheshe2]

38. LenaBaby

[Cha]

47. Mahalo, Lena.. for putting that in Perspective!

[montana_hazeleyes]

60. Thank you!

[yurbud]

74. sometimes it's not a circular firing squad but learning from mistakes.

[TheDebbieDee]

35. Maybe Rep Ellison is trying to attract the Dems that didn't care for Obama back to the party...

People like Tavis Smiley (Pres O couldn't do anything right per Tavis) or Dr Cornell West (Pres O couldn't do anything right per Dr West) or the other folks who lean Dem but for whatever reason (I'd bet jealousy) didn't seem to like Pres O!

[Cha]

43. He's dividing the party.

[Blue_Roses]

81. Yes, no doubt it was jealousy

It was so obvious...

[sheshe2]

45. Thanks for the update still_one.

[still_one]

46. nuts, I think my retake was wrong. Ellison gave the wrong message

Last edited Thu Apr 20, 2017, 10:55 PM - Edit history (1)

[TomCADem]

39. Atlantic: The Kremlin's Troll Army - Moscow is financing legions of pro-Russia Internet commenters

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/the-kremlins-troll-army/375932/

Like many people with access to the Internet and a holster full of gadgets, Vladimir Nesterenko is living a double existence. In real life, the 49-year-old Kiev native is a published author and darling of the Ukrainian counterculture. Online, he's "Adolfych"—a Russian-speaking mischief-maker who uses his Twitter, Facebook, and LiveJournal accounts to comment, sometimes thoughtfully and often profanely, on the deepening conflict with Russia.

"I know a lot of Muscovites have little dachas in Abkhazia," he wrote in a recent post. "But could these Muscovites have afforded their little dachas if they hadn't gotten rid of the Georgians and turned a flourishing region into cheap fucking shit, like they're doing now in Crimea?"

On another post, responding to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's uncharacteristic chest-pounding over a recent round of Western sanctions, he scribbled gleefully, "Podkhuilo razbushevalos," a phrase, playing off Ukraine's favored insult of Vladimir Putin, that might best be translated as "Dickhead Jr.'s freaking out."

* * *

A June article by Max Seddon of BuzzFeed reported the Kremlin was spending millions of dollars to pay English-speaking Russians to promote President Vladimir Putin and his policies in U.S. media like Fox News broadcasting and The Huffington Post and Politico news sites. Trolls are reportedly expected to manage multiple fake accounts and post on news articles 50 times a day, often with sentiments as simplistic as "Putin makes Obama look stupid and weak!"

[Cha]

42. Wtf, Ellison.. way to Divide the Party.. if that's your goal

Oh wait.. You're on a fucking unity tour or some shite like that.

You worry about your own damn "legacy" and President Obama will take care of his.

Wow.. he just went waaaaaay down in my estimation.

[pansypoo53219]

44. 2016 was all about being NOT OBAMA to the rite.

[citood]

48. Vying for party control

A book is making the media rounds, which is critical of the HRC campaign.

Ellison's remarks are just return fire.

Meanwhile us little people trudge along.

[Me.]

49. What The Matter Keith...Not Getting Enough Attention?

No one fawning over you? Thank God things shook out as they have. I think you at the head of the DNC with your Senator friend by your side may've been a disaster for us. Neither of you are showing good judgment lately. Not in love with Perez lately and I think he needs to make a course correction which would include taking back his power and doing as he promised.

[murielm99]

59. Yes.

Perez now has two people he needs to send home so that he can begin to take back his power.

[ehrnst]

71. Ironic that he's complaining about Obama not being a good party leader

isn't it?

[Me.]

72. Certainly Is

And i tuned into Morning Joe this morn for a few minutes just in time to see them play a long segment of him complaining about PBO. Clicked away ticked. Perhaps he & his pal Bernie think 45 is doing a swell job as they're certainly helping him and the rest of the Cons.

[NRaleighLiberal]

50. .

[X_Digger]

51. Oh for fuck's sake. n/t

[Lotusflower70]

58. I love Keith

He is my representative but he is wrong on this one. A lot of the Democratic candidates lost because they distanced themselves from President Obama. Plus there was opposition to him within his own party. Sounds like some jealousy to me.

[Historic NY]

62. Really......

[KT2000]

64. while tRump is out there blaming

President Obama for all of his own disasters, our own Democrat is joining in. President Obama deserved more support than he got from the Democrats in Congress and deserves to be respected and supported after his presidency.

[Blue_Tires]

65. Christ, not this shit again...

DOES ANYBODY IN THIS PARTY KNOW HOW TO WORK TOWARDS THE FUTURE INSTEAD OF DWELLING ON WHO IS AT FAULT FOR PAST MISTAKES?

[octoberlib]

80. +1 million

I am so sick of this shit.

[randome]

66. "Obama should have worked harder so I shouldn't have to!"

I see now why he lost leadership election to the DNC: he's an idiot.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]

[Blue_Roses]

82. Exactly!

[treestar]

67. Circular firing squad

what is the point?

[heaven05]

68. this was an unnecessary comment

from one who must not understand that this type of thoughtless spillage from his brain out of his mouth gives faux news more ammunition for the despicable deplorables to run rampant though out their ameriKKKa as pillagers of decency and civility. Ellison, this was a downright stupid comment.....

[ehrnst]

69. Really. And you supported someone that won't even join the party. (nt)

[Bradical79]

73. I somewhat agree

Though in my opinion, his ignoring of party politics at times is what helped him get elected twice. He's someone who believed in compromise, reaching out, and trying to bring multiple sides together. If he were more involved in explicit party politics, I don't think he'd be the same person that was elected. A person's personality and ideals can be a positive in some situations, and a detriment in others. Unfortunately, the GOP decided to go in another direction puting party power over values, rationality, and the future of humanity.

Edit: and I agree with those who say this isn't helpful. Hillary was 100% right with the public vs. private face. Just because you think something, and may even be correct, there are times you really should keep those thoughts to yourself. Failing to take her own advice on this even bit her in the ass a few times during campaigning. The timing of his comments are horrible. That's something that should be internal discussion or later historical analysis, imo.

[yurbud]

75. after the profound failure of Baby Bush, Democrats had a chance to bury Republicans for good

if Obama had noticed that the GOP had only gotten uglier and more extremist in their tactics since they tried to impeach the last Democratic president, that he started out with a genuine mandate from the voters, and that he had the bully pulpit of the White House to sell progressive policies and whip not just the GOP but the more corrupt members of the Democratic Party into line, he could have put the party in the kind of unassailable position they were in when they controlled Congress for decades from the end of World War II until Reagan.

Instead, Obama gave away half the loaf up front by not challenging the core policies of the GOP of tax cuts, budgets balanced on the backs of the poor, and privatization of government services, especially public education.

And probably more damaging in the long term, he did not expose and punish the lies and profit motive at the heart of the swath of chaos and death Bush burned across the Muslim world.

The most heartbreaking symbol of the opportunity Obama threw away was the story of a sheriff who said he stopped enforcing evictions for foreclosures to see what Obama would do.

When cops expect that kind of change, that's big.

When he didn't even try to deliver it, by simply enforcing existing laws on those that did the most damage (even if it took a little creativity like throwing Al Capone in prison for tax evasion), he became a merely above average president instead of one of the greatest like FDR or Lincoln.

And like the compromising presidents before the Civil War, by leaving the sociopaths of Wall Street unscathed, he paved the way for a greater conflagration in the future.

[still_one]

76. the myth that President Obama had a mandate ignores the reality of the blue dogs

[samnsara]

77. someone tell him this kind of divisive talk needs to stop NOW

[demosincebirth]

78. We don't need these remarks from him!

[EarthFirst]

84. Waiting for someone to make the Ellison/Sanders connection... nt

[Nevermypresident]

86. I'm concerned....

We are almost 5 months in from an agonizing defeat - Hillary and many down ballots.

When is our national party going to "get its s_it together"!?? FGS, our time is here to take back Congress and hopefully the Presidency.

Comments like this and the continuing Bernie controversies are discouraging.

Maybe I'm not plugged in enough, but; I don't see the leadership I expected at this point. I thought the backlash from the current situation with trump and the repugs would unify our national party in a way I"ve never seen.

Maybe I'm too inpatient...

[NurseJackie]

87. WTF?!

[Steven Maurer]

88. Well Ellison is right

Still, I'm not sure what President Obama could do about the color of his skin.


And quite frankly, that is all this is about.


Have you talked to Trump supporters? I have. They're all balls of old white racist rage. Even when they agree with Democrats on social policy, which they do quite a bit, it doesn't matter. Because what's important to them is not so much that they're doing well, but that brown people are doing worse.

You really can't get through to them. Bigotry means more to them than money.

[Egnever]

90. Holy shit

Fuck this guy.

WTF.

I can't even begin to describe how much this is bullshit.