It amazes me how quick people want solutions........

[KansasVoter]

How else do you explain the party in control always losing so many seats every mid-term election?

And I know some of us Dems are not happy with Obama, but the rational ones will never vote for a Republican!

So, I guess the independents, are so naive and stupid, that they thought Obama would fix the damn country in less than two years. And, since he has not, they are ready to vote again for the idiots who really put us here to begin with.

You cannot fix stupid and folks, the American people are totally and completely stupid!

[NC_Nurse]

1. You'll get no argument from me on that. Seems most folks here have the

Attention span and critical thinking skills of a housefly.

[johnlucas]

21. Critical thinking is discouraged in this country

There's a reason why you don't see consecutive courses on critical thinking in public school.
The government doesn't WANT you to be too smart.
Because if you are, you might question the validity of their existence.

Education in this country from public to secondary school is trying to produce various levels of workers for the corporations or cannon fodder for the military. They don't want someone questioning the core of society's machinations because those questions may lead to answers that change those machinations.

The system is designed to preserve itself & marginalizes (& sometimes criminalizes) those who refuse to fit in. The system is only here for someone's personal wealth & power. Breaking that down is a threat to that person's master plan.

If somebody REALLY used critical thought, they might question the validity of both the Republican AND Democratic parties.
What's important are the causes not the labels.
Basically, what kind of society are we trying to make?
John Lucas

[obxhead]

2. It's not what he has not been able to accomplish that infuriates

some of us. I have patience to let any Dem have time to work on a very broken system.

It's what he has done that has us disillusioned and enraged at this administration.

[zipplewrath]

3. marginal support

Parties win elections because they get the last few percentages of the independents. That's a pretty soft support, and can be extensively grounded in "any one but..." attitude. That basically sets you up to be the target next time.

[DJ13]

4. Independents always swing back and forth between party's

The only effective way to prevent them from doing that in a midterm is to work on passing those things they were promised two years prior.

And by passing, I mean actually passing legislation as it was framed to them in the past campaign.

That doesnt mean promising health CARE reform then passing health INSURANCE reform.

Nor does it mean most of the trillions spent on stimulus goes to the top 1% in the hope it would trickle down while millions have lost jobs and homes.

[OHdem10]

5. Can we also say the Democrats on the Hill have some responsibility

here. They permit the Republicans to monopolize TV
making their points and positions in the strongest
way possible. They are the Party in Power and could
demand TV Time to put forward their own ideas.
How much real push back did we see from Democrats.
I cannot call people stupid if they only have one
party's story and the other party did not even try.

Whether we like it or not: America gets their news
from TV.


corrected spelling.

[elleng]

8. Entirely agree, OH; thanks.

and I'd say MORE than 'SOME' responsibility, as they actually MAKE the laws.

[elleng]

6. Don't think its 'independents,' certainly not here at DU.

I'm independent by nature, so I watch, wait and see, and don't complain as so many do.

And I object to 'the American people are totally and completely stupid.' We all are 'informed,' that is, NOT informed, by the media which is in the hands of business interests, which are interested in their own businesses and nothing more. That's a major flaw in our system, that they can perpetuate their one-sided interests upon us as they do.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. I believe that some Americans are stupid. They are not all

informed, even by the media, unless it is about the latest celeb problems. There are too many people who are not making the slightest attempt to be informed. They do not regularly watch news or read newspapers or news magazines. The news online that they click on is about the last Gibson rant or Dr Laura or what the best wrinkle cream is. You are giving a lot of credit to many people who know little except that there friends or parents vote this way or that.

[elleng]

12. Certainly some Americans are stupid,

I don't see how I am giving 'a lot of credit to many people;' certainly not my intention. And I surely don't accept many polls to 'determine' what many think/want/believe.

[Dawson Leery]

7. Two sides to this.

No one can deliever everything they promised, more so in such a short amount of time. There are things that Obama has done to anger us, such as his position on warrentless wire tapping to inaction on DADT. At the same time, having a Democrat with the power to appoint justices to the courts is better than having a Republican doing the same, especially this group of reactionary bigots.
We have health insurance reform (because that is what it is), in spite of having Rahmbo screwing with things.
While I am not content with every Obama has done, we are heading in the right direction. With Republicans in charge we have s**t!

[xchrom]

9. Two things: independents have become a political 'party'.

And there at least three factions in that 'party'.

Second re: Obama and frustrated progressives -
More corporate power and influence wasn't the answer
To the problem of corporate power and influence.

[opihimoimoi]

10. Pres Obama is NOT a failure...that is RW Psyop to brainwash

he is the best we got and them GOPers have no one closer.

But, its the overall philosophy that FAILS THE GOPers....their negative traits is the difference

The Party of NO wants to make a comeback??

Fat chance...

They have doomed themselves when they went all in with W Bush/Cheny

who led the way to DISASTER...FOR THE NATION as well as their Political Party

Look at their Heros....their weak slimey bench////

none can compare with the DEMs bench...

They have the losing mode....

[elleng]

14. Right, it is RW Psyop,

and very distressing that it seems to work so well here!

[opihimoimoi]

22. so it seems...when the TRUTH emerges....heads will see with clarity

[Turbineguy]

13. Elect Comcast!

They have "On Demand". You can fix your problems by using your remote control.

[Safetykitten]

15. Well apparently he cleaned the Gulf and all the oil is gone in what? A month?

[TheKentuckian]

16. It's not speed so much as heading that causes the disillusionment for me.

In fact, I'm not sure we are moving toward anywhere at all because the ship is sinking and change for most folks is the song list of the band and the upholstery and location of the deck chairs.

The lifeboats are gone with one soul each on board because the weight of the loot was so heavy and efforts to run the pumps and to bail water are derided and stopped. That doesn't account for new holes being intentionally punch into the hull.

I see much more effort toward the impression that changes are being made than toward substantive changes being made.

There is no change when priority #1 is to maintain existing power and profit centers. If you carefully leave every piece of the existing structure in place then what you have is decoration.

Republicans willfully run into the icebergs and Democrats wish to manuver through them, both are far off course in Artic waters.

[EFerrari]

17. There's another little piece, too. If people felt they had any other way

to register their opinion -- a lower stakes way like a phone call or letter writing -- that really got them heard, maybe they won't go straight for their vote when they were unhappy.

[Curmudgeoness]

18. I think that phone calls, letters, and emails to legislators do work.

I realize that you do not get an immediate result like an election gives you, but they do keep track of what people are communicating to them. The problem often is that the other side of the issue are also sending letters and calling. You can't give up letting them know how you feel about any issues. Numbers matter to them. Well, sometimes---I had a rather condescending response once from Santorum who made it clear I was wrong and he would not change his mind. But that is not always the result.

Keep contacting legislators.

[EFerrari]

19. They only work in numbers.

And I think people know that. And then there's situations like when Dianne Feinstein was bombarded by communiques from her constituents before the invasion and she chose to ignore everyone. Ditto for Pelosi on anything related to BushCo.

If those kids that answer the phone would be somewhat attentive, I think people would feel differently. But that's not going to happen and people make the correct calculation that their voice doesn't matter. That leaves their vote.

[tabasco]

20. Propaganda works.

The republicans know how to divide and conquer.

The breed of current utopians who condemn Obama are the same type of shmucks that voted for Reagan.

[elleng]

24. Yes, it does work; has done so for ages.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=417959&mesg_id=418289

[bigtree]

23. we'll see how many of those disillusioned voters show up

Mostly, these midterms attract folks voting against something, along with the respective dependable voting bases of the parties. The trick in a midterm is to get your constituency riled up enough to show up. It's much harder to get folks to the polls to vote for something than motivating them to vote against something or the other. That's the wisdom in reminding folks of the prospect of another term of Bushites bent on taking us backward. Hopefully, that will be enough to attract Democratic voters to the polls.