Obama avoids "bitter . . cling" comment, popularity increasingly grows with rural and small town vot

Rural voters, who the OP asked about, are not the core of the racist rot in the country. That would be the bougie white suburbs, who are also the GOP's core base. Rural voters can be won over by offering them economic incentives via an actual modern welfare state and jobs guarantee.

In essence, offer something concrete to rural voters rather than the usual Dem condescension and half measures, and they will stick to that like white on rice.

The problem is, jobs that is possible to create would not be available in rural areas.
 
Of course he was right, but it was still the sort of dumbassery (to say it out loud) that OF COURSE the other side is going to gleefully glom onto.

Obama is a smart guy and skillful politician. He should have known better.

Yeah, it's one thing for an advertising exec to say in a private meeting that their new campaign for a particular cologne is targeted at aging, pot-bellied losers who are trying to regain their lost youth.

It's another thing to say that to the media at the product launch.
 
At the risk of getting political, this was no less accurate - and no less tone deaf - than Romney's 47% comment, except Obama said it publicly.
 
At the risk of getting political, this was no less accurate - and no less tone deaf - than Romney's 47% comment, except Obama said it publicly.

I thought both of those remarks were said at private fundraisers. So really, neither intended to say those things for the public.
 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8592990/Timeline-of-world-financial-crisis.html

– September 17, 2008: Lloyds TSB announces a £12 billion deal to take over Britain's biggest mortgage lender HBOS after a run on HBOS shares.

September 28, 2008: European banking and insurance giant Fortis is partly nationalised to ensure its survival.

September 29, 2008: The government takes control of Bradford & Bingley's £50 billion of mortgages and loans. Savings operations and branches are sold to Spain's Santander.

- The Icelandic government also takes control of the country's third-largest bank, Glitnir, after the company faces short-term funding problems.

September 30, 2008: The Irish government guarantees deposits in the country's main banks for two years.
Some of what was going on in Europe during the financial institution crisis.
 
The knock that Obama gets for selecting Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary is a bum rap because Democratic Presidents are hamstrung by the "need" to placate Wall Street with someone that is "credible" and are not radicals .
This is why Kennedy chose C. Douglas Dillon who was serving as an Undersecretary of State in the Eisenhower Administration at the time.
 
. . . maybe he wins Missouri, which he just barely lost to McCain. Otherwise Obama's election, the makeup of Congress, and his presidency unfold as they did in OTL.
I agree with his election and the makeup of Congress, but not his presidency.

The comment gave gist to the mill for the Fox News crowd. It was something rightwingers could really beat the drum about that Obama was a radical. When he in fact governed as a centrist.
 

upload_2018-11-7_12-37-22.png

Wisconsin

It looks as though they have reversed colors and are using red for urban Democratic-leaning areas. For example, Milwaukee is in the southeast of the state.

And it looks like they're using blue for more rural Republican-leaning areas.
 
View attachment 419104
Wisconsin

It looks as though they have reversed colors and are using red for urban Democratic-leaning areas. For example, Milwaukee is in the southeast of the state.

And it looks like they're using blue for more rural Republican-leaning areas.

Wrong! Obama won most of rural Wisconsin in 2008. And he also won Milwaukee and Dane (Madison) Counties, which are therefore deep blue on that map. What he lost are the Milwaukee suburban counties, which are therefore colored red.
 
. . . Yes, Obama did poorly in Appalachia in 2008, but that is part of a long-term trend--in 2000 Al Gore did worse there than Bill Clinton; in 2004 John Kerry did worse than Gore; in 2008, Obama did worse than Kerry; in 2012 Obama did worse than he had done in 2008; and in 2016 HRC did worse there than Obama had done. . .
I do like arguments and lines of reasoning about baseline, even if I think sometimes other stuff matters as well.
 
The knock that Obama gets for selecting Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary is a bum rap because Democratic Presidents are hamstrung by the "need" to placate Wall Street with someone that is "credible" and are not radicals .
This is why Kennedy chose C. Douglas Dillon who was serving as an Undersecretary of State in the Eisenhower Administration at the time.
Yes, this is a real problem.

What Pres. Obama should have done . . .



He should have played the FDR New Deal card much more than he did. For God's sake, don't feel you need to re-invent the wheel and sell it to the American people. Take something which has already worked, which people are already familiar with and comfortable with, and use that.
 
Of course he was right, but it was still the sort of dumbassery (to say it out loud) that OF COURSE the other side is going to gleefully glom onto.

Obama is a smart guy and skillful politician. He should have known better.
Than again, Trump based his entire campaign on saying stuff that, in my experience, most Republican politicians already believed to be true, but none of them were willing to say out loud.
 
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Wrong! Obama won most of rural Wisconsin in 2008. And he also won Milwaukee and Dane (Madison) Counties, which are therefore deep blue on that map. What he lost are the Milwaukee suburban counties, which are therefore colored red.
I welcome the fact that Obama won most of rural Wisconsin.

I am going to maintain a healthy skepticism toward Wikipedia or anything similar. Based on my own personal experience, one person summarizes a source. And then possibly two or three other people rewrite the summary for the sake of formal language. That is, all the piss and vinegar is for the sake of sounding like an encyclopedia, not on the accuracy of the information. This is on the writing of Wikipedia. So, yes, I do have healthy skepticism that images might be somewhat similar.
 
Than again, Trump based on his entire campaign on saying stuff that, in my experience, most Republican politicians already believed to be true, but none of them were willing to say out loud.

Trump really isn't a good comparator. What for any other politician would be a significant and perhaps career-threatening gaffe is an everyday occurrence for him.
 
I welcome the fact that Obama won most of rural Wisconsin.

I am going to maintain a healthy skepticism toward Wikipedia or anything similar. Based on my own personal experience, one person summarizes a source. And then possibly two or three other people rewrite the summary for the sake of formal language. That is, all the piss and vinegar is for the sake of sounding like an encyclopedia, not on the accuracy of the information. This is on the writing of Wikipedia. So, yes, I do have healthy skepticism that images might be somewhat similar.

Well, here's the same map--from the New York Times:

WI.jpg


https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2008/results/states/president/wisconsin.html

In fact, Obama won seven of Wisconsin's eight congressional districts in 2008, losing only WI-05 (Milwaukee suburbs).
 
Than again, Trump based on his entire campaign on saying stuff that, in my experience, most Republican politicians already believed to be true, but none of them were willing to say out loud.
He is an anomaly.

Trump in the White House is like a bumble bee in flight no one can properly explain how it happened (unless you factor in "external assistance") ! :)
 
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