Jul 13 2010

Drip, drip, drip

How do you make Dems care about the midterms?

Posted at 4:20 PM ET, 07/12/2010

The White House and Dems have made this case every which way: They’ve charged that Republicans will again rule as stooges of Big Oil and Wall Street. They’ve claimed that Republicans will rain a blizzard of subpoenas on the White House if they take control of Congress. They’ve framed the elections as a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and those that are getting us out of it. And so forth.

Yet rank and file Dems don’t appear to care that much. The latest polling shows that the “enthusiasm gap” remains the same, with Republicans far more excited about voting than Dems are. In other words, Dem scaremongering about the GOP takeover doesn’t yet appear to be revving up Dems to turn out this fall.

What if the only way to boost Dem enthusiasm isn’t to reveal how successful those awful Republicans were in rendering the Dems quasi-powerless, but to succeed in spite of this problem and do more to mitigate the crisis and the pain it’s caused?

rustymancuso581

3 comments

  1. It’s seems to be all over the tv recently. This poll that poll the other poll.

    I need to run a polling company. They never ask the right question.

    Why do you have no confidence in the Democrats & the President?

    I bet it’s because they already know the answer but they’re afraid to read it.

  2. Lacking All Conviction

    Atrios:

    Confused About The Politics

    So let’s say Obama’s people have correctly deduced that there’s no chance in hell of getting anything through Congress. They have two basic options. First, they could get on the teevee every day and say, “This is my plan to help. Republicans in Congress won’t pass it.” They could hold rallies in Maine. Allies could run ads. At least people would know who is for and who is against…and just what it was that people are for or against.

    Option two is back off proposals you’ve previously made and have Axelrod get on the teevee and say, “there is some argument for additional spending in the short-run to continue to generate economic activity.”

    I have no idea what they’re thinking. It would be one thing if polls suggested a tolerable outcome in November, so that playing it safe could possibly make sense as a political strategy. But that’s not the way it is; and it’s hard to see what possible motivation there is for pulling punches. Going for your opponent’s capillaries when you yourself are bleeding heavily?

    The Democrats were given a mandate by the American voters in 2008 and they blew it for so-called “bipartisan” politics. Not that Obama was a progressive to begin with but he has changed so little that there isn’t much hope left. Given the choices in the voting booth, I suspect that many swing voters will choose to stay home in November.

    The only message that might save some Democrats is pointing out what they tried to do and what the Republicans obstructed by stringing them along in false hope of participation and them voting “No” anyway.  

  3. you’re asking them to do their job, ek?  How quaint…….

    Ya know, horror is going to be the emotion du jour in early November on certaiin political blogs.  And schadenfreude will be ubiquitous everywhere else.

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