Mother Jones: "...they have only one option: figure out a way to take back Congress in 2016."

[peoli]

Noam Scheiber has a piece in the current issue of the New Republic about Hillary Clinton's imminent takeover of the Democratic Party, and today Ezra Klein interviewed him about it. Klein was especially interested in the argument that Obama's 2008 supporters were so disillusioned by Obama's failure to change Washington that they're now eager to support an old-school politico like Hillary. Here's Scheiber:

Back in 2008, Hillary Clinton made this kind of snide, but in retrospect apt, critique of Obama where she said that Obama thinks he'll get to Washington and the heavens will part and the Republicans will cooperate, but that just won't happen. So I asked some of these Obama supporters if she was right. And a lot of these people remembered those comments and being annoyed by them. But they all said she was actually a bit right. We were a bit naive then, they said. People used the word naive a lot in these conversations.

I'm not sure I've ever fully fessed up to this, so this is as good a time as any. For years, I really didn't believe the conservative snark about how Obama supporters all thought he would descend on Washington like a god-king and miraculously turn us into a post-racial, post-partisan, post-political country. Kumbaya! The reason I didn't believe it was that it never struck me as even remotely plausible. Did Obama give soaring speeches? Sure, he's a politician. Did he promise to change the way Washington works? Sure, he's a politician. Did he promise to pass historic legislation in dozens of different areas? Sure, he's a politician.

It just never occurred to me that anyone took this stuff seriously. It's a presidential campaign! Of course he's promising a chicken in every pot. That's what presidential candidates do. I believed then, and still believe now, that Obama is basically a mainstream Democrat who's cautious, pragmatic, technocratic, and incremental. In fact, that seemed so obvious to me that I never really credited the idea that anyone could seriously see him any differently.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/07/obama-wasnt-silver-bullet-and-neither-hillary-clinton

[Cosmocat]

1. Let me make one thing perfectly clear

It just never occurred to me that anyone took this stuff seriously. It's a presidential campaign! Of course he's promising a chicken in every pot. That's what presidential candidates do. I believed then, and still believe now, that Obama is basically a mainstream Democrat who's cautious, pragmatic, technocratic, and incremental. In fact, that seemed so obvious to me that I never really credited the idea that anyone could seriously see him any differently.

This was my near exact take away when he was running. I liked him a lot, he was super inspirational. But, I LISTENED to what he said and it was always generalized stuff. People WANTED to hear what they wanted to hear. I thought he was a moderate democrat, and I knew before he got elected he was going to be cozy with big finance.

To be clear - Barrack Obama was under no delusions that republicans were not going to be raging assholes when he ran for office. He probably did not know they would be THIS bad, but the man is not delusional.

His campaign was a mix of who he was a person, and also a branding. He was the guy who would be the adult in the room.

That is it.

I don't remember him ever saying the republicans would be nice and work with him.

He just said what HE would do.

AND, he made good on what he campaigned on.

THAT was his campaign promise, that he would do all that he could to run DC the right way.

For the life of me, I don't get where DEMOCRATS blame him for republicans being raging jackasses.

And, somehow gin themselves up into thinking if he was JUST TOUGHER they would act differently. What words could this man has spoken that would have changed how they behaved.

None.

And, let's be honest - had Hillary won, the results would have been the EXACT SAME, just replace all of the race baiting with even more ramped misogynistic crap.

In what world do people live where they think Republican's would have worked with her (or ANY democrat) more than Barrack Obama.

They spent over a year killing Barrack Obama before he and the democratic majority in congress barely passed health care reform.

16 years earlier - the republicans chewed up Hillary and Bill's efforts to get health care reform done.

It is what they do with ANY democratic President.

And, I don't know here people were from 1992 to about February of 2008, but the republican's spent a decade and a half MERCILESSLY portraying Hillary Clinton as the female Satan. The meme was that SHE IS DEVICIVE (or, it is her fault when republicans go mental about her).

She was public enemy #1 until the day they realized Barrack Obama was the front runner in the Democratic primary.

[sendero]

2. I agree with a lot of your post..

... but to me one thing is undeniable and you can blame it on whatever you want. Obama WASTED 5 years of his presidency trying to gain the favor of Republicans by playing nice nice.

Now one could argue that it wouldn't have mattered how he approached things, the Reps would not have played ball. I will concede that is possible. But its clear that what many/most of us here figured out by year two Obama took 3 more years to figure out. And I claim that he could have in fact accomplished more if he'd given up on the idea that the Reps are ever going to enter into any kind of reasonable compromise with a black man.

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. I disagree ...

President Obama wasn't "playing nice nice" with republicans trying to gain favor ... he was doing what the vast majority of the American people want in their representative - a person willing to work with the opposition to get something done.

Further, had he NOT "wasted" that 5 years, there would be no way the majority of the electorate would have arrived at the conclusion that republicans are the problem.

How can you say, this:

Now one could argue that it wouldn't have mattered how he approached things, the Reps would not have played ball.

And come to this, conclusion:

I will concede that is possible. But its clear that what many/most of us here figured out by year two Obama took 3 more years to figure out. And I claim that he could have in fact accomplished more if he'd given up on the idea that the Reps are ever going to enter into any kind of reasonable compromise with a black man.

[sendero]

6. Well its fuynny..

.. that now all this time has passed he's using executive orders and such to move forward. He could have done that long ago. I stand by my assertions.

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. Do you really believe ...

The American public would have accepted his using executive orders in his first term?

[Hekate]

9. I certainly don't think so

In fact I think the death threats would have spiked a lot sooner.

[Hippo_Tron]

5. I said this stuff at the time too, but we all had to have SOME reason for voting for the guy

I rationalized that his winning coalition would be younger and less white and this would ENABLE him to govern little more to the left than Hillary. His winning coalition was indeed younger and less white. I don't think he governed any more to the left than Hillary would have.

[Hekate]

8. I agree with you. I don't know what people have been thinking...

There was a massive amount of fantasizing about Obama and Hillary both, as candidates. And then DU got mad at Obama for doing what he actually said he would do, and being what he demonstrated that he is ("basically a mainstream Democrat who's cautious, pragmatic, technocratic, and incremental&quot .

In addition it's like the GOP demonizing of the Clintons never happened. Excuse me, but as much as I think Hillary Clinton is enormously qualified for the office, it is going to be sheer hell living with the GOP when she runs and if she is elected. In fact it has already started again in some quarters.

Hekate
*No, my ballot for 2016 has still not been filled in.

[Cosmocat]

10. One small part of my leaning to BO

as the primary progressed was that I thought MAYBE the Republicans would not be as big of jackasses to him as they would be to Hillary ...

I still remember thinking that and telling people that.

It is mystifying that people here have a mind block on just how much and how long they raged against Hillary.

Now, I was wrong, and have forever learned the lesson that there is absolutely NO democratic republicans will offer even the FIRST measure of decency as President.

[winter is coming]

4. Take back Congress in 2016? Why wait another two years? n/t