I'm voting for dems up and down the line. Easy.  What say you all?

The dude raised more money than any candidate ever, most from corporate bundlers, out-raising the GOP candidate, for heaven's sake, and "liberals," ignore it more strenuously than anything I've seen in modern politics.

Look, this is not a water-under-the-bridge issue. Policy now was predictable from markers like pro-Iowa Goldman Sachs contributions and insurance company imagery Xeroxed from 1994.

As people who know me understand, I am a die hard Obama guy. For every example of an accusation of sexism hurled at Obama, I'll one up you with an example of racism.

But then again, that's pretty easy to do ...

That will get us nowhere.

It has gotten Obama nowehere.

But, IMO, Obama is a fairly conservative guy.

For years we've watched fiscal conservatives, libertarians and christian fundamentalist squabble amongst themselves as to what conservative viewpoints should be prioritized (it's not like the prostitution accepting libertarians and the evangelicals see eye to eye on things).

I'm pretty sure ed. people will still see the outcome the way they saw it a while back as the the third Bush administration.

Look, I get it.  He hasn't been perfect.

There is much to do.

Yes, there sure is.  

We need to continue to fight.

Who is this "we" you refer to?  Because legions of Dems have been calling, writing, faxing, knocking on doors, sending letters to the editor, and so on, and the result is more or less the same: they're not listening.  Obama has begun almost every fight by conceding that whatever the best solution is, we can't do that - which seems kind of odd from a guy whose campaign mantra was "Yes, We Can," don't you think?  Unless... he intended that to extend only to getting him elected, because afterwards, it became, "Well, No, We Can't, and Here's Why."  And I have to say, he's pretty much given us the-dog-ate-my-homework kinds of "reasons."

The problem with sentiments like McEwan is that the approach you take with your friends and the approach you take with your enemies should be different. For years we've watched fiscal conservatives, libertarians and christian fundamentalist squabble amongst themselves as to what conservative viewpoints should be prioritized (it's not like the prostitution accepting libertarians and the evangelicals see eye to eye on things). But at the end of the day, the maintain a unified front when it's time to vote and, more importantly, they don't spend the majority of their time bashing each other. They bash us liberals.

First, let's get one thing straight: Obama is not a liberal.  I am most definitely a liberal, and Obama and I are not of like mind.  Okay, well, if he is a liberal, I guess that makes me, what, a socialist?  Communist?  

Second, I don't know how old you are, but the Dems have been notoriously bad at being unified for enough years now that it is just ridiculous for you to ascribe this "disarray" to the current crop of dissatisfied Dems.  We're still kidding ourselves that it's our "big tent" approach that makes it so hard to come together.

You'd think we'd learn from that. McEwan's quote makes the point. She treats Obama no differently than she treats Bush and thinks that's a good thing. It's not. It's horrible. When your allies disagree with you, you handle it in ways that don't hurt the overall alliance.  It's completely possible to attack Obama's policies without giving the GOP ammunition to win and really screwing things up. It's more than possible. We watch conservatives do it every day.

Get off the fainting couch and stop clutching your pearls in one hand and your Emily Post in the other.  I'd venture to guess that the last think Melissa McEwan wanted to find out is that Obama's no better than Bush on so many issues, has extended so many of the most odious Bush policies and extended the reach of executive power...just like Bush.  Is tht okay now, because it's Obama?  I should applaud Obama's willingness to treat women's health issues as expendable because it's Obama?  I should find Obama's interest in "fixing" the social safety net programs really endearing because it's Obama?

Come on, man, that's just sick.

We're just too arrogant and righteous to take a lesson from the masters of strategy over on the other side of the aisle.  

What's arrogant and righteous is thinking that just because he won an election he can ignore - that the Democrats in Congress can ignore - what the people are telling them they want them to do.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. To hear some people tell it, Obama and the dems have done nothing for 2 years.

I'd buy that logic and that let's-embroider-it-on-a-pillow-or-make-a-Hallmark-card-out-of-it expression if there had ever even been an interest in taking a stab at perfect.  Perfect is another one of those things that came off the table because it just wasn't practical or American enough.  Or something.  And if I never heard that expression again it would be too soon.  

Obama and the Dems have done plenty, mostly as a result of the whining of Republicans to weaken and move to the right a lot of legislation the GOP was never going to vote for, and a desire not to anger the corporate hacks with the big checkbooks who help them get elected.  

Too bad what they did looks kinda sorta Republican, and you really don't even have to squinch up your eyes too much to see that.

Hey, your vote belongs to you, and you're as entitled as anyone to vote for closet Republicans who are never going to vote for or propose anything remotely liberal - GO TEAM! Rah-rah, so knock yourself out.  But don't act all surprised when the quality of your representation at all levels continues to circle the drain - that's what happens when you're willing to vote for anyone, no matter what they do, or what they don't do, just because they have the right letter after their names.

Ridiculous.

Well, congrats: you started your comment with a warning about what we were going to read, and "Ridiculous" just puts the exclamation point on it.

He had a great opportunity for real reform and blew it.  The hell of it is that so many of us saw it coming in the primaries and that had nothing to do with sex, race, Hillary, John Edwards or sour grapes, but, had everything to do with political philosophy.  Many of us can smell a Republican from extreme distances.

If Democrats lose their majorities in Congress the blame lies at Obama's feet and nowhere else.

No blame for disgruntled liberals who will probably vote straight Democratic anyway.

The conservatives are insane but what else is new? Obama did not fight them like he should have and the result is a demoralized base, an energized GOP and a possible bloodbath in November for the party.