Actually, Democrats had better do some soul-searching too
Why isn’t soul searching underway on the left? When the personality at the center of the cult leaves the stage in four years, Democrats will own his results without the benefit of his appeal. We can’t know quite what a second Obama term will bring, but if his first term is an indication, there’s little reason to expect his party will be crowing. The fiscal cliff is here but a whole landscape of steep drops comes next: the economic cliff (over which lies a possible double-dip recession), the Obamacare cliff (over which lies an unprecedented bureaucratic behemoth), the Iran cliff (over which lies a nuclear bomb), and so on. A precipice in every direction and a president who’s given us no reason to presume he can steer clear. Have Democrats stopped to wonder what initiatives they’ll have to defend when the dust settles in 2016?…
It is in the nature of personality cults to fail at most things beyond generating and disseminating propaganda. This inability is the result of two things. First, the personality’s popularity is not results-driven. Since adoration hasn’t been earned by achievement but by the advent of charisma, why kill yourself trying to get results. Second, few people are willing to candidly critique the personality at the center of the cult, so there is little chance of course correction. None of this bodes well for Barack Obama. And for the country’s sake, let’s hope it’s wrong.
To effect a revolution in American politics, you have to set parameters that successors will be compelled to heed.
Blowback
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Let’s hope they don’t so they think they have a mandate and then o-v-e-r-r-e-a-c-h
thebrokenrattle on November 12, 2012 at 10:09 AM
This assumes Democrats’ goal is to actually improve the state of the country as opposed to merely keeping power and continuing to loot the citizenry. I see no evidence this is actually the case.
Doomberg on November 12, 2012 at 10:09 AM
No, no, no, just go ahead and blunder on.
Forward!
forest on November 12, 2012 at 10:10 AM
I suspect that this will apply with or without any “success” of Obama’s philosophy or efforts.
Difficultas_Est_Imperium on November 12, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Cult of personality is running thru the brain
cmsinaz on November 12, 2012 at 10:12 AM
They can always put into the place the mechanisms to keep everyone else in line.
Wait…did I say that?
Bishop on November 12, 2012 at 10:13 AM
Uh – obama will not be leaving the stage in four years. Have no doubt, obama is now “President for Life” – his second term is just the beginning.
Pork-Chop on November 12, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Pretty much.
Mimzey on November 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM
De-friend and Di-vorce
Now’s the time for all libertarians and conservatives to break away from the Democrats in our lives. Are you married to a Democrat. Divorce them this week! Democrat girlfriend? Tell the moocher supporter to get lost. Democrat business associates? Don’t do business with them anymore. Democrat co-workers? Talk to them only when absolutely necessary in the work place. No BS-ing about sports at the water cooler. Inform them that your friendship with them is over. Do not under any circumstances go to Thanksgiving Day dinner if any Democrats will be in attendance. Tell all your family who are Democrats that you are forever writing them out of your life.
ericdondero on November 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM
I don’t think they are too worried. They will run another charismatic minority, dissemenate the same propaganda, kick the hornets nest of low info young voters on facebook, and cruise to another victory.
In my office over the weekend I overheard two associates who had voted for Obama discussing the election. Their conversation revolved around how they still couldn’t believe that the Mormon Todd Akin said that about a woman’s body rejecting a baby resulting from rape and that surely his fellow Mormon Mitt Romney secretly believes the same thing.
Kataklysmic on November 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM
That’s all it really amounts to in the end isn’t it?
The real game is hot potato/hand grenade, who gets caught with it when the music stops is the bigger question to me.
The left will implode when the money runs out. Of course that will take the country with it, or at least half the country with it as well.
I will say that the left will have a very hard time when Obama leaves, they have built their party around him and his ideals, much the same way the right built thier’s around Bush (to an extent.) It will lead to their ruin, as ours has.
Gatsu on November 12, 2012 at 10:18 AM
They wont find any.
the_nile on November 12, 2012 at 10:18 AM
Why- the idiot country just re-elected a party that has done nothing in the past 4 years to improve the economy. I have little hope.
Bensonofben on November 12, 2012 at 10:19 AM
That’s an excellent point, and why part of me is hesitant to say all the scary demographic info from last Tuesday means the GOP is screwed going forward. Hard to imagine Hillary, or any of the others mentioned, inspires the same freaksih cult in ’16 that drives the young and minorities to the polls in the numbers we saw this time. (Of course, Hillary will have the benefit of being historic, too, and the media will be all in for whomever it is, so maybe not.)
changer1701 on November 12, 2012 at 10:23 AM
Are you kidding me? As long as there is a single elected Republican, they will scream GRIDLOCK!!!
djl130 on November 12, 2012 at 10:25 AM
The problem is these young voters are racking up college debt they can never hope to pay off, finding low wage jobs(if they’re lucky to get hired at all), and p-ssing away nearly a decade of their lives under this regime. And BTW, their parents can’t keep footing the bill for them forever.
At some point, even the dumbest of college or grad school age young’uns are gonna put their economic well-being about trivial issues like gay marriage or free birth control pills. In fact, Romney reportedly did win the 18-29 crowd amongst white voters. So it looks like this election was decided heavily along racial lines.
Honestly, it sounds like the Dems’ only chance to hold onto power in 2016(assuming Obama doesn’t surprise us all with one of the biggest periods of sustained economic growth we’ve ever seen) is to run another black or Latino Presidential candidate to sucker minority voters into showing up at the polls(and their bench is weak) or attempt another scorched earth campaign to depress GOP turnout which is unlikely to work after 8 years of Obamanomics.
Doughboy on November 12, 2012 at 10:26 AM
There is ALWAYS hope, Ben.
thebrokenrattle on November 12, 2012 at 10:26 AM
The Dems hope 2016 will be all about how the GOP fought tooth and nail to defend the wallets of the super-rich.
Which is why I think we should cede that point. Just give up on the saving the tax cuts for the wealthy. There are several good reasons to do it:
1) Take the issue off the table for 2014 and 2016.
2) Many of the rich don’t seem to want us to defend the tax cut.
3) It would mean the Dems would own the economy completely as an issue. If a deal stalls because of the upper-income tax cuts, the GOP will be held accountable for the down economy.
4) Clearly, things need to get worse before they get better.
5) Let’s handle taxes their way for 4 years so we can point to the results.
hawksruleva on November 12, 2012 at 10:28 AM
Because too many voters who thought the economy was bad still blamed Bush for it. Let this be a lesson to the Republican Party. If you sit back and allow the opposition to define you to the electorate, then don’t be surprised when they get away with blaming their own incompetence on a man who’s been out of office and nearly silent for 4 years.
Doughboy on November 12, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Shhh.
Really though, the Democrats don’t have to do any soul searching. Their goal is not to maximize prosperity, but to entrench the state permanently deeper into every life. It’s the America public that has to do some soul searching. It would behoove the GOP to clarify the issue. By my rough calculations, less than half of the public has a political memory of the 70s. That has to change.
HitNRun on November 12, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Obama’s got 2 years of investigations before the Democrats thinking about 2016 will turn away. Joe’s weakness is obvious. Hillary’s people will demand her turn and many will look for another magic minority. Obama will either have to endorse someone or get out of the way.
rhombus on November 12, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Dems ran on a strictly no-soul platform. Not gonna happen.
theperfecteconomist on November 12, 2012 at 10:32 AM
The President has all but promised to forgive their college debts. If he follows through, the Dems will benefit greatly. We can’t afford that, but since when has that been a problem for liberals?
We could capture the youth vote if we articulated our ideas better. Most college students are frustrated by slackers skating by, are aware of their worsened job prospects, and believe strongly in individual choice. But somehow we always end up talking about restricting individual choice and helping the old and rich. The closest we come to an issue that speaks to young people is the national debt – but that’s a remote, impersonal subject to them.
hawksruleva on November 12, 2012 at 10:32 AM
Spot on djl @10:25
cmsinaz on November 12, 2012 at 10:35 AM
The only “I told you so” I can offer is that I think we should have allowed the dems to have the taxes on the rich the past two years. It would have removed their SINGLE election platform (beside ‘we got Osama.’) The economy would have tanked leading into the election and we would have prospered in November. Plus the deficit would have continued to grow.
Now- with Obama still in office- the republicans will cave- the tax hikes will cause a recession and we will pull out of the dip by 2016. And the deficit will grow.
We got caught playing ‘responsibility small ball’ while the dems were playing pure politics with their demagoguery.
Bensonofben on November 12, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Well, Hitler did build the autobahn, Mussolini made the trains run on time, Lenin managed to skip socialism and went straight into communism, Stalin beat Hitler, Castro created the world’s best health care, and Mao was a fashionista.
darwin on November 12, 2012 at 10:44 AM
The 2012 Democrat platform was tax-funded abortion on demand. That’s all they bring to the table. And since they won, they don’t need to change anything.
Where is their plan for entitlement reform? Where are their budgets? They haven’t passed one in 3 years(!). Where is their plan to do anything serious? It doesn’t exist. The “life of Julia” thing is their platform. Vague platitudes regurgitated by Leftist comedians while mocking conservative caricatures. No rational thought/adult trade-offs required. Perpetual adolescence is their plan.
visions on November 12, 2012 at 10:44 AM
Um, Obama won even though the cult had worn pretty thin. He won with deft organization (both times, actually), and a take-no-prisoners approach to the opposition, and that’s how the Democrats can keep winning even with Hillary or (no joke) Biden.
After all the evidence showing how the electorate is shifting ethnically, culturally and philosophically, why does anybody still think Obama did it all with smoke and mirrors?
Seth Halpern on November 12, 2012 at 10:46 AM
The electorate don’t demand such plans.
Kataklysmic on November 12, 2012 at 11:06 AM
Burn it! BURN IT ALL DOWN!!!
JohnBrown on November 12, 2012 at 11:17 AM
Even Bill Clinton had something of a personality cult, and when he stepped down, Al Gore lost. And Gore was the undisputed successor to Clinton, while there is likely going to be a bloodbath among Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic nomination.
Many astute political observers said before this election that whoever lost would be told their party had to do some major soul-searching and reevaluation, while the winner would be whistling past the graveyard.
rockmom on November 12, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Old white people? Not going to happen. The democratic party will have black or latino presidential nominees for the rest of our lifetimes. Hillary missed the window.
slickwillie2001 on November 12, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Well, Obama has proven that the only thing that maters now is turn-out of non-voters. His campaign completely gave up on actually persuading the electorate to choose him, and focused solely on choosing the electorate. That is something all his successors will be compelled to heed.
Count to 10 on November 12, 2012 at 11:44 AM
Not the one Obama chose to get to the polls, anyway.
Count to 10 on November 12, 2012 at 11:46 AM
It’s probably less about looting for most of them and more about using the state to satisfy their desire for the appearance of moral superiority.
Count to 10 on November 12, 2012 at 11:47 AM
It is free and very stupid AmeriKa.
Schadenfreude on November 12, 2012 at 12:48 PM
The stupid are on the left, in the center and on the right.
Schadenfreude on November 12, 2012 at 12:48 PM