President Obama Moved the Overton Window to the Left

[sheshe2]

****************************BOG POST*********************************


Here's how Wikipedia defines the Overton Window:

In political theory, the Overton window is the range of ideas the public will accept. According to the theory, an idea's political viability depends mainly on whether it falls within that window, rather than on politicians' individual preferences.

snip

Essentially she is saying that the reason Hillary Clinton can run on these issues is because the Overton Window has moved to the left. How did that happen? The truth is that the answer to that question is very complex and the movement can be accredited to a lot of different people and factors. But I'll give you two ways that President Obama contributed.

First, the President demonstrated in both 2008 and 2012 that what we now call the Obama coalition is capable of electing someone to the highest office in the land. Instead of chasing after the so-called Reagan Democrats (as conventional wisdom would have dictated at the time), he bet his cards on his own ability to expand the electorate with people of color and young voters. It worked! Now it's possible for someone like Hillary Clinton to run for president on the issues that matter to this expanded electorate - which is significantly father to the left that it was when her husband ran in '92 and '96.

Secondly, I'd point to something Ron Brownstein wrote a few months ago:

One senior Obama adviser says the administration “To Do list” after 2012 included thinking “about how you lock in the Obama coalition for Democrats going forward. Because it’s not a 100 percent certainty that they come out for the next Democrat.” Part of the answer, the adviser said, was to pursue aggressive unilateral action on “a set of issues where we have an advantage … and believe are substantively the right thing to do” and dare Republicans to oppose him.

Read More http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/05/president-obama-moved-overton-window-to.html

[hrmjustin]

1. lol good post and it will piss a few off a few.

[sheshe2]

2. Lol~

[brer cat]

4. I can't say that would be a bad outcome.

[hrmjustin]

5. lol.

[sheshe2]

8. Luv ya, brer cat...

I have one article that I am holding back on. Not sure if I should take the fire or put it here.

[Iliyah]

3. K & R

[yallerdawg]

6. The politically possible.

Obama has been moving the yardstick to the left. Hillary can operate in this range now. The country moves left.

Sounds like a plan. I mean it sounds like a plan!

The Overton Window.

Good for us!

[sheshe2]

9. Crazy huh?

There are peeps here that say this President is so far right he is a Republican.

[rpannier]

7. K&R

Not sure I totally agree with the analysis, but it's something I think people should read and decide based on the evidence it presents

So, I am kick and rec for exposure (hopefully)

[Major Hogwash]

10. If it is true that Obama has moved the Overton Window to the left . . .

. . . then that window will allow ALL Democratic candidates to run on these issues next year.
Not just those candidates who want to be the next President will be able to run on those issues.

But, also ALL of those candidates who want to be elected to Congress for the first time.

Capish?

We need a strong majority in both Houses of Congress, or else the next Democrat that is sent to the White House is going to find themselves in the same position that President Obama has been in for the last 5 years . . . dragging the Republican congressmen and congresswomen with him, kicking and screaming the entire time.

The next Democratic Presidential candidate for the Democrats must have long coattails.
They must be able to pull in new Democrats in to both Houses of Congress, without losing any of the Democrats that are already serving in Congress.
That is a tall order, but that is precisely what we need next year.

I think President Obama will be able to help us do just that . . . by waiting for our party's process of nominating the next Presidential nominee to be finished before getting involved in stumping for our candidate.

The corollary requirement for this tactic to be successful is that I don't think the next Democratic Presidential nominee should try to distance themselves from the most successful President we have had in this country for the last 50 years or so, President Obama.

This is a task not unlike Hercules having to clean out the Augean stables, assuring that our nominee gets in to the White House, while pulling new Democratic members in to Congress, while protecting all of the sitting Democrats already occupying seats in Congress at the same time.
Let's face it, both Republican-controlled Houses of Congress stink like they have never stunk before, the public's opinion of Congress has never been as low as it has been for the last 5 years.

So, the Augean stables analogy is apropos.
We need to clean out all of the bullshit that the Republicans have brought to both Houses of Congress.
We must replace all of those bullshitters with people who will actually represent the constituents that live in their districts, instead of representing corporations that reside in different states.

If there is one man who can actually pull all of this off -- at the same time -- it is President Obama!

But, we are going to have to help him do it.
We are going to have to nominate a Presidential candidate who is not ashamed to be seen with President Obama.
And we are going to have to build the biggest GOTV drive in our party's recent history.

*mic drop*

[sheshe2]

11. *mic drop* is right.

If it is true that Obama has moved the Overton Window to the left . . .

. . . then that window will allow ALL Democratic candidates to run on these issues next year.
Not just those candidates who want to be the next President will be able to run on those issues.

But, also ALL of those candidates who want to be elected to Congress for the first time.

Fact.
They cannot run from him as they have in the past. For the first time in a very long time the Democrats need a united front. Forget the divisiveness here, this is not RL. Yet the Ds need to make a stand here.

The next Democratic Presidential candidate for the Democrats must have long coattails.
They must be able to pull in new Democrats in to both Houses of Congress, without losing any of the Democrats that are already serving in Congress.
That is a tall order, but that is precisely what we need next year.

I think President Obama will be able to help us do just that . . . by waiting for our party's process of nominating the next Presidential nominee to be finished before getting involved in stumping for our candidate.

If congress does not change, then nothing will change no matter which Dem takes the White House. I fully expect the President to be out stumping with the extraordinary power of his voice and his passion to take this country forward.

We do need to clean out the shit in the stables that have festered for so long. They have been pustulous boils on the ass of this country for far to long. They need to be lanced with our vote.

The Republicans are a dying breed, old white men that only wish to take us back a hundred years or so can continue in their superiority. They don't even have a clue they are dying because they wear blinders. Yet they are in their death throes. Let's help them along.

They are terrified, because they know America will no longer be a white America, we will be the United States of America in every shape and color.

So in the end~

But, we are going to have to help him do it.
We are going to have to nominate a Presidential candidate who is not ashamed to be seen with President Obama.
And we are going to have to build the biggest GOTV drive in our party's recent history.

Obama never said I am the change. He said.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Thank you so much Major Hogwash!

[Major Hogwash]

12. We're going to need all of the heavy hitters this time.

We're going to need the All-star team - both, Presidents Carter and Clinton, President Obama, SOS Kerry, Al Gore, Howard Dean, and a whole bunch of other smart vocal Democrats to get the message out that 2016 is the year that we take our country back for good!

We have to get another liberal appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court in order to overturn the horrific CU decision.
That's imperative.
If we fail to respond to this crisis, we may as well get used to living out the rest of our lives in corporate shackles, working for less than a living wage until all of the government cheese runs out.

[sheshe2]

13. Oh yes, we need all the heavy hitters.

Elizabeth Warren is one I will add if she gets her act together. She is my Senator. I met with her. Loved her.

Not really liking what I am hearing from her right now. Here, my thoughts, she is being used as a tool to batter Obama. I do not like a woman used. I cringe every time someone calls her Liz.Run Liz run. I find that disrespectful. She is Elizabeth or Senator Warren.

Yes we need a liberal appointee to the SC. We will only get that with a Dem in office.

I shiver at the thought of another lifetime conservative appointee to SCOTUS. We might as well just lay down and die, because they will kill us all one way or another.

We need to do this Major Hogwash. I plan to do my best to see it happen.

[Cha]

14. Oh yes Pres Obama did move that "Overton Window".. and the next Dem Candidate will not win

running from his Accomplishments. I don't care how damn much the internet seethers don't actually know what these Accomplishments are.

Thanks for your OP, she! The Glorious BOG that drives some so crazy!

[Hekate]

15. Another great post knocks it out of the ballpark! I never heard of the Overton Window....

....but it sounds like another way of describing what Obama SAID he was going to do, and then SET ABOUT DOING. He said turning this country around was going to be like turning around a battleship -- a battleship has a huge amount of inertia and the process must be done in steady increments. He has never taken his eyes off the prize.

Candidates to come will be fools if they try to run away from Obama's record.

[sheshe2]

16. A focused man, our President.

He is setting the course for our future.

Thanks Hekate~