Democrats Worried About Obama Track Record
Democratic governors said Sunday they worry about President Barack Obama's track record on fighting Republican political attacks and urged him to better connect with anxious voters. Some allies pleaded for a new election-year strategy focused on the economy.
"It's got to be better thought out," Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said. "It's got to be more proactive." And, he said, Democrats must hit back just as hard as they are hit by Republicans.
Eight months before the first midterm elections of Obama's presidency, most Americans are frustrated with - even angered by - persistent unemployment and gridlock in Washington. Democrats fear voters will punish the party in power.
The titular head of his party, Obama has watched his own popularity drop over the past year. He will bear at least some responsibility for the outcome in November, and Democrats are looking to him for political fixes.
In interviews at the National Governors Association's weekend meeting, several Democratic governors faulted the White House for losing the communications war against Republicans over what Obama has accomplished in his first year.
"We fought back only sporadically and pretty ineffectively," Rendell said, adding that "right out of the box, we lost the spin war" on the $787 billion economic stimulus bill passed in 2009.
Several Democratic colleagues agreed, and lamented that voters thought Obama focused too much on overhauling the U.S. health care system. Others fretted that Obama may appear to be out of touch with the concerns of Americans.
"I think he's got more work to do on that," said Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, an Obama friend and ally.
Even as they raised concerns, Democratic governors insisted that the White House has started turning things around. "The stars are aligning," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell.
During a reception honoring governors at the White House, Obama thanked Republican and Democratic governors alike for helping to stabilize the economy.
"Each of you in your own respective states saw how brutal it was," the president said. "It is worth reminding ourselves of how urgent the situation was and worth this organization taking extraordinary credit for helping to right the ship."
Earlier in an interview, Gov. Mike Beebe of Arkansas urged Obama to focus more on the economy and limit his actions on the health care system to changes that would bring down the cost of medical treatment in the United States.
He called Obama's poll numbers "terrible" in Arkansas because voters don't think he's focused on their top priority, the economy.
"People are unhappy," he said. "Now, in fairness, he didn't create this problem, but they want to see him fix it."
While praising the White House's communication's efforts, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered this advice to Obama: "Rapidly decide what we're doing on health care and then move to jobs and the economy."
"We need a national economic strategy," he added.
Among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, Patrick said he and Obama faced the same vexing political issue in 2009: They were so busy dealing with an economic crisis that it was hard to stay in touch with voters.
"If you don't know what happens at the point where policy touches people, you've got a problem," the Massachusetts governor said.
Patrick said he will connect better with voters on the campaign trail, making sure they know that he understands their plight. He suspects Obama will do the same while campaigning for Democrats.
Fine line to walk
Obama has other challenges.
Patrick said Obama must walk a fine line between pushing back on Republican criticism and not looking overly partisan. "If you don't hit the bully back, you're just going to keep getting hit," Patrick said. "On the other hand, people don't want that tit for tat."
He said he hasn't been in touch with the White House communications team but noted, "I'm sure they're struggling with that."
Markell said Republican lawmakers have effectively put Obama on his heels by blocking Democratic initiatives.
"The challenge has been to get through the clutter of 'No,'" he said.
Rendell told ABC, "They just need to take a deep breath, look at what happened and revamp their strategy." Easy for him to say. Later, the Associated Press asked Rendell what, specifically, Obama should do to right his political ship.
"I don't know," he said.
Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado suggested that the White House set too high expectations of how quickly the stimulus plan would create jobs.
"If there was a communications issue," he said, "it was, perhaps, over the pace at which jobs would come back."
© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "It's got to be better thought out," Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said. "It's got to be more proactive." And, he said, Democrats must hit back just as hard as they are hit by Republicans.
Eight months before the first midterm elections of Obama's presidency, most Americans are frustrated with - even angered by - persistent unemployment and gridlock in Washington. Democrats fear voters will punish the party in power.
The titular head of his party, Obama has watched his own popularity drop over the past year. He will bear at least some responsibility for the outcome in November, and Democrats are looking to him for political fixes.
In interviews at the National Governors Association's weekend meeting, several Democratic governors faulted the White House for losing the communications war against Republicans over what Obama has accomplished in his first year.
"We fought back only sporadically and pretty ineffectively," Rendell said, adding that "right out of the box, we lost the spin war" on the $787 billion economic stimulus bill passed in 2009.
Several Democratic colleagues agreed, and lamented that voters thought Obama focused too much on overhauling the U.S. health care system. Others fretted that Obama may appear to be out of touch with the concerns of Americans.
"I think he's got more work to do on that," said Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, an Obama friend and ally.
Even as they raised concerns, Democratic governors insisted that the White House has started turning things around. "The stars are aligning," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell.
During a reception honoring governors at the White House, Obama thanked Republican and Democratic governors alike for helping to stabilize the economy.
"Each of you in your own respective states saw how brutal it was," the president said. "It is worth reminding ourselves of how urgent the situation was and worth this organization taking extraordinary credit for helping to right the ship."
Earlier in an interview, Gov. Mike Beebe of Arkansas urged Obama to focus more on the economy and limit his actions on the health care system to changes that would bring down the cost of medical treatment in the United States.
He called Obama's poll numbers "terrible" in Arkansas because voters don't think he's focused on their top priority, the economy.
"People are unhappy," he said. "Now, in fairness, he didn't create this problem, but they want to see him fix it."
While praising the White House's communication's efforts, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered this advice to Obama: "Rapidly decide what we're doing on health care and then move to jobs and the economy."
"We need a national economic strategy," he added.
Among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, Patrick said he and Obama faced the same vexing political issue in 2009: They were so busy dealing with an economic crisis that it was hard to stay in touch with voters.
"If you don't know what happens at the point where policy touches people, you've got a problem," the Massachusetts governor said.
Patrick said he will connect better with voters on the campaign trail, making sure they know that he understands their plight. He suspects Obama will do the same while campaigning for Democrats.
Fine line to walk
Obama has other challenges.
Patrick said Obama must walk a fine line between pushing back on Republican criticism and not looking overly partisan. "If you don't hit the bully back, you're just going to keep getting hit," Patrick said. "On the other hand, people don't want that tit for tat."
He said he hasn't been in touch with the White House communications team but noted, "I'm sure they're struggling with that."
Markell said Republican lawmakers have effectively put Obama on his heels by blocking Democratic initiatives.
"The challenge has been to get through the clutter of 'No,'" he said.
Rendell told ABC, "They just need to take a deep breath, look at what happened and revamp their strategy." Easy for him to say. Later, the Associated Press asked Rendell what, specifically, Obama should do to right his political ship.
"I don't know," he said.
Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado suggested that the White House set too high expectations of how quickly the stimulus plan would create jobs.
"If there was a communications issue," he said, "it was, perhaps, over the pace at which jobs would come back."
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And BTW, we, the American people need to get involved, and no I don't mean hanging out at tea parties or showing up at town halls packing heat. Get involved at the local level. Volunteer to help your city/town council or your county commissioners. Write/call your political leaders and tell them what you expect. Run for office at any level. Be part of the solution not part of the problem.
The last administration not only spent trillions invading the wrong country based on imaginary (literally) intelligence reports, but allowed North Korea to openly develop nukes in the process. They also forgot every economics lesson learned from their last Great Depression in order to create a new one. If we now have to spend more to dig ourselves out of this hole, the Republicans shouldn't have dug it so deep.
The heathcare issue should be fashioned as follows:
1) Create fee for service health clinics for those with no insurance and staff them with new graduates from medical schools with a lower salaries coupled with debt forgiveness for a certain term of service. The uninsured could then get medical treatment at these clinics. Hospitals would no longer non-emergency treatments. This treatment would be referred to the clinics.
2) Tort Reform to bring down malpractice insurance costs as well as taking a doctors license to practice if malpractice claims are excessive.
3) Prexisting conditions would be covered under normal insurance policies but costs associated with those high risked policies would be backed and reibursed by the Federal Govenment. See Texas Risk pool as a template.
4) Reduce the amount of time a medical patent is effective in order to bring generic drugs to market in a more timely fashion.
5) Prohibit advertising of drugs or at a minimum, deny the deduction of advertising expense. Drugs should be prescribed by doctors for a specific condition and not advertised to the public to increase demand.
This is exactly what makes Democrats look weak! That for some reason they are starting to tremble at the notion that Republicans have ramped up a message that President Obama is out of touch with Americans. This is the farthest from the actuality, but the spin is making even Democrats believe.
The farthest from reality? Are you kidding? The polls show without a doubt that the American people do not want the current health care legislatio yet Obama is still pushing it hard and saying it will be passed one way or another. You call that being in touch?