And after a couple decades of ostensible focus on these issues, the government can now negotiate the prices of ten—count 'em, TEN!—prescription drugs, education is still reeling from the damage of NCLB and Common Core, Social Security has not been meaningfully strengthened (let alone expanded), &c.
I saw an article a few yrs ago where Tom Daschle is so mad at Bush and the White House about how mean and nasty their ads in late 2002 are after Dems decided to be nice guys and not attack Bush for allowing 9/11 to happen LMAO
insane how Dems still don't fucking understand that being nice and praising the Republican President will obviously improve their approval which by definition hurts the Democratic Party
Republicans have been explaining out loud for 30 yrs how their only goal is to make the Dem president unpopular
"this fucking idiot allowed 9/11 to happen and then we decided to be nice to him by not mentioning this; and now, 12 months later, he's attacking us with ads saying we are terrorist lovers" LMAO
this is like a parody version of a spineless political party and it's what really happened after 9/11
(we just saw a less consequential version of this 72 hours ago where Dems decided it would be in bad taste to directly attack for gutting the FAA on his first day right after the first major plane crash in Decades; Dems decide to be nice guys and then trump comes out there and attacks them anyway)
Obama was very popular for his first 12-18 months; you know what Republicans did to chip away at that? They attacked him at every opportunity
because they knew this would lower his approval with R leaning voters - who will respond to R politicians attacking a Democrat - and help Rs win in 2010
Yeah this is exactly right. Dems try bipartisanship while Reps are nakedly partisan - after a while it shapes expectations amongst the establishment, eg the press will expect Dems to try to be bipartisan but don’t ask the same of Reps
yeah I mean there's literally not a single Republican from a difficult state/district who was elected in 2008/2012/2020 - the past 3 times a Dem President has come into office - who spent any time even pretending to work with that Dem President on any of Dem priorities which polled very well
Obama won Maine by fucking 20 points in 2008 LOL you didn't see Susan Collins working with him on passing Obamacare nor Collins working with Biden post 2020 on expanding Medicare or elder care etc (any of the infinite Build Back Better provisions which polled at 85% nationally)
I can tell you one thing for certain - Democrats from difficult states/districts would be racing to work with trump on any which of his policy priorities - some still are even though he's still historically unpopular for a new President in 24 - if trump was near Obama 09/10 approval levels
(and this is why Dems went along with everything Bush wanted after 9/11 bc of his Popularity; they were scared to oppose or attack him bc they knew that many voters they needed simultaneously approved of Bush; note how Republicans didn't give a damn about this with Obama in 09)
Dems act like stupid children who don't understand that going along with the R Presidenct - explicitly and implicitly signalling approval of him - will make their approval go higher;
Republicans since the 90s have publicly been explaining that the only goal is tanking the Dem President's approval
“Their strategies and impulses, their vision of how American politics works, no longer function in the present. Instead of adapting to the future, they seem to be sticking their heads in the sand, and waiting for the return of the past.”
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In a way they did that to Kerry by trashing his military service record
Republicans have been explaining out loud for 30 yrs how their only goal is to make the Dem president unpopular
this is like a parody version of a spineless political party and it's what really happened after 9/11
I’m well aware that it’s high time to kick Democrats in the a33.
are you starting to understand why Dems have lost to this guy
the way to stop that is for Dem Leadership to attack Bush; they did the exact opposite, going along with everything he wanted
because they knew this would lower his approval with R leaning voters - who will respond to R politicians attacking a Democrat - and help Rs win in 2010
But yeah it was largely to avoid giving Dems any sort of win
Republicans since the 90s have publicly been explaining that the only goal is tanking the Dem President's approval
instead they decided to applaud him and signal their approval
https://apple.news/AD9T9TH54QcSvXvme9GNjLQ
“Their strategies and impulses, their vision of how American politics works, no longer function in the present. Instead of adapting to the future, they seem to be sticking their heads in the sand, and waiting for the return of the past.”