Aielyn said:
As an Australian, I'd like to say that, if you think Obama is "extreme left", then you are completely and utterly wrong. By the standards of most of the world, Obama is a right-winger. He's closer to centre than the Republicans by a fair margin... but the Republicans have moved so far to the right that I'm pretty sure that, if they were in Smash Bros, they'd have already been KOed. There are few Democrats who could legitimately even call themselves left-wing (with Elizabeth Warren being the only one I know off the top of my head). What's more, the election result is pretty obviously an example of republicans being lying manipulators and democrats being too spineless to stand up to the republicans. Even from Australia, it's obvious that Democrats have spent their whole time running away from what should be a strong platform - lower deficit, lower jobless rate, stronger economy, better healthcare coverage at a lower cost (both to the individual and to the government), etc. And all of that with a hostile House that refused to compromise on anything. Rather than actually emphasising these points to the electorate, the Democrats let the Republicans define the terms of the election, and ran away from Obama's record. And they should have been emphasising that, if voters get out there and support them, they can achieve even better things if given the chance. Instead, all of the talk was about how they needed to minimise their losses. In short, the Democrats lost the moment that they decided that it was a matter of trying to "hold onto the senate" rather than going full-force towards reclaiming the house. The Labor party here in Australia did a similar thing - instead of talking up their achievements at the last election, and emphasising a bold vision for the country, they instead let the Liberal party (the Liberals are a conservative party) define the terms of the election, and seemed to keep trying to reduce the gap between the two parties, with things like anti-asylum attitudes. They lost, massively, as a result. |
Not going to lie. I dont focus too much on global politics. I know america is more conservative than other countries as a whole. Democrats and repulicans here have not moved to the right though. We just started farther on the right when the nation was born. Since the begning of our nation all government policies and political parties have moved to the left. Its the only direction they could go, we we're as right as we could get in the begining. No pun intended.
But Obama, and the dems that supported him, are as far left as i have ever seen. I even live in CA one of the most left states there is. The reason that the dems failed is that their policies have failed. America is a country with 350 million people, it can not be controlled by a centralized government in washington that is too far removed from the people. The dems, the federal government, and big government repubs are feeling the backlash of voters who do not feel their voices heard. The federal government should not be dealing with many things that they are. Most things should be left on a city, county, or state level. That way when a government program fails, it wont be a failure for the whole country. It also makes it easier for people who live close together to get problems solved for their area as they dont have to deal with convincing an entire nation to change poliies or views, only their surrounding neighbors.
for the bold and underlined- Its the fact that those policies have failed that the dems lost. Obamacare did not lead to lower costs or more coverage. it lead to higher cost and less coverage. the economy is not better, unemployment is down yes, but that is a non statistic do to the way they calculate it. we have more people not working now than we should, they are just not counted as unemplyed since they are no longer looking for work. the defict is not lower, its far higher than it has ever been. Not sure were you are reading that health care, the economy, or deficit has improved. Besides them failing at their own policies, they have left our allies in need. look at ukraine, look at israel. I dont know how safe europeaons feel with russions knocking at the door.
