Bruce Benidt
Jon Austin
tcarideo
Ellen Mrja
Mike Keliher
Joe LovelandDid yesterday’s election tell President Obama to go more to the right or more to the left? Spinners are making the Arachnid Hall of Fame these last 24 hours. Obama’s done, the Right will Rise Again. Or, these were local elections and they were about the individual candidates and blahmeblahblah. Or, the votes show that Obama needs to go more to the left.
Of course, we see what we want to see. Liberal Air America’s Bill Press was crowing, with many callers agreeing, that the election should tell Obama to be Obama. Stop tacking toward the center, hitch up your pants and make the change you talked about in the election. I think this is a creative take on the elections — and it may be true that that’s what many voters and non-voters are feeling. I am. I want to see more, and more-radical, change. That is what I voted for. As an analysis by Peter Baker in The New York Times said, “(Obama) will have to decide how much of the political capital earned in Grant Park (a year ago when he was elected) he will expend to push a nation outside of its comfort zone.” I want more pushing.
Many are arguing that the switch of many independents from voting D to voting R shows a rejection of Obama’s approach. Could be. Independents who think Obama is too centrist aren’t likely to have voted for Republicans. They’re more likely to sit it out — and many people who voted for Obama a year ago sat out this election: Blacks, the young, suburbanites, voters without college degrees and voters with family incomes of less than $50,000, according to Dan Balz of the Washington Post. Could be that many in these groups want to see more progress on getting affordable health care, on protecting our economy and jobs and national security from the predations of Wall Street speculators (wherever they live and work), on changing the rules of the game from being rigged for the rich, and on and on.
A lot of Obama voters stayed home yesterday. What does that tell the president? I haven’t yet seen any analysis that goes beyond the expected spinning. What’s your view, Crowd?
– Bruce Benidt
Filed under: Communications, Government, Journalism, Messaging, PR, Politics | Tagged: election results, political spin
Axelrod may have been right. The races were more state without much of a message about national politics. You expect him to say that, but he actually might be right. Corzine is greasy, grimy, gopher guts (I have to revert to a kid’s song). But honestly, I can’t believe it was that close there. The other race appeared mostly to hinge on turnout and just a better candidate. The real proof for what voters have to say about Democrats will be next November. A lot can happen between now and then……good and bad.
On the other hand, from my favorite paper, the WSJ, this analysis today.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013004574515652271599392.html
Also interesting:
http://www1.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/11/what_the_voters_told_us_last_n.html
Mike: I absolutely agree with you. I think that the vast majority of pundits and spinners are reading far more into this off off off off year election (what, 2 governors, 2 special elections for the House, and a couple of referendums, all in a total of maybe 5 states?) than can possibly be there. It isn’t that these people are right or wrong, it is that there simply isn’t sufficient data from these elections to say ANYTHING (other than speculation, of course–and, in this case, speculation that cannot be supported by any meaningful data, because the data cannot be significant).
All of that said, this is the best commentary I have found: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-3-2009/indecision-2009—reindecision-2008-and-beyond
Why is it that the best political commentary comes from the comedians? What does that say about our times?
Real Clear Politics nailed it: We know who voters chose more often than not. The rest is crap.
Comedians provide good political commentary because, even when they have an agenda or a bias, it’s not nearly as important to them as calling out the hypocrisy, the bullshit, the shallowness and the egotism. And they speak English, not Pundit-ese. People downplay that, but the power of speaking plain and clear English is immense.