Besides I think Democrats are going to have PLENTY of distractions of their own without ANY help from Republicans...

The husband of the presumptive Democrat POTUS candidate being caught with his pants down with underage girls, for example...

Michale

{{cough}} Reverend Jeremiah Wright{{cough}} {{cough}}

'nuff said...

Glad ta see yer still around, JFC... Was getting worried... :D

Michale

. . . but look at that shiny object!

The Republicans will keep StormFront Scalise and use him to distract the Democrats from their economic messaging. The GOP has branded themselves as The White Power Party, so there's no downside to keeping him.

Pelosi's "We have to pass the legislation to know what's in it" or Greg Ormand's "I'll tell you who I will caucus after I win the election" notwithstanding.... :D

They ran on those things and did them (though not as well as they should have) and the GOP opposed it every step of the way.

Just like Democrats opposed Bush every step of the way.. It's what the Minority Party does... It's their function..

Getting mad at the Minority Party for being obstructionist is like getting mad at the sun for rising in the east and setting in the west..

"Water is wet, sky is blue, women have secrets"
-Bruce Willis, THE LAST BOY SCOUT

Water is wet... Sky is blue... Minority Party obstructs..

The only beef here that I can identify is that Republicans obstruct more effectively than Democrats...

Tell ya what.. Let's revisit the OBSTRUCTIONIST issue again this time next year. Let's see if the label still applies to Republicans.. Or if it has magically transferred to Obama and the Democrats..

I'll lay 10K quatloos that it will be Obama and the Democrats who are "obstructionist".... :D

Michale

It's not whining, it's logic...

First off, Obama and the Democrats did not win "soundly" in 2012... They barely scrapped by...

Compare and contrast that to the nuclear shellacking of 2014... Not only at the Federal level but at the state and local levels as well..

The GOP won seats in California...

The GOP won the Governor-ships in the blue of the blue Maryland AND the BLUEST of the Blue in Illinois..

Only one possible explanation fits the facts..

The American people are sick and tired of Democrats running roughshod over Republicans AND the American people, pushing their OWN agenda over the will of the people..

With only a couple exceptions, the will of the American people is paramount..

ANY politician elected to office should put, sans the couple exceptions noted, the will of the people BEFORE their Party Agenda..

Would you agree with those statements??

Assuming yes, then how can the actions of Obama, post nuclear shellacking, be reconciled with the accuracy of the afore statements??

Americans care about the economy first and foremost.. Americans care about Immigration around 10%....

It all comes down to the will of the people.. Obama and the Democrats have ignored the will of the people for 6 years.. And some Democrats are even beginning to see it..

Chuck Schumer's recent speech says it loud and clear...

If you believe that the will of the American people is sacrosanct then you simply HAVE to believe that Obama is taking the absolutely WRONG approach...

Michale

Yea, cuz Obama did SOOO much for Democrats during the mid-terms, eh?? :D

I know, I know... It's smart politics for Democrats to jump on the "EVERYTHING IS AWESOME"... But, as shocked as it is for me to say it, politicians ARE human beings...

When they get screwed over, they tend to get pissy... It's human nature.. :D

Overall, I hear what you are saying in this commentary..

Things ARE measurably better by quite a few measurements...

Except one.. Except the most important measurement..

The feelings of Joe and Jane Sixpack..

Do THEY feel their lives are better....

No they do not...

THAT is the only measurement that counts in American politics...

Politicians can crow about this stat and that stat until the cows come home...

But if middle class Americans have to go home and choose between paying the mortgage and paying the electric bill, they are just going to shake their heads sadly when they hear politicians go on and on about how awesome the economy is...

"Dats da fact, Jack!!!!"
-Bill Murray, STRIPES

Another point..

It's your claim that the economy is doing pretty awesome... And it has done so even with the Republicans being so obstructionist...

So, logically speaking, maybe we need MORE Republican obstructionism to make the economy go even better!! :D

One final point...

The biggest and most obvious boon to growing economy has been the huge freefall drop in oil prices... This huge boon has been caused in no small part by the US's domestic oil production.. America's Fossil Fuel program has made the US economy better and has strengthened US National Security...

How can the Left reconcile that fact with the Left's environmental and anti-fossil fuel stance??

Michale

Michale:
The GOP did not "roll over" after consecutive Dem romps in '06 and '08, despite the fact that what Dems did in '08 and '09 (health care, stimulus, Wall Street reform) were actually the issues they ran on. They didn't hide that behind spinelessness such as "I'll tell you what I'll cut after I win the election" or any other such [expletive deleted] nonsense. They ran on those things and did them (though not as well as they should have) and the GOP opposed it every step of the way.
Saying Obama wasn't heeding the will of the voters in '14 by moving forward with his own agenda, despite having won soundly in '12 and not getting GOP support afterwards is really nothing more than whining. Put your big boy pants on. This is politics, not beanball.

My actual comment on this post:
I could not understand Dems this cycle. In competetive races, they did more to put an arm's length between themselves and the "toxic" prez than anything else. Yes, Obama is toxic to those who would not vote for him, his policies, or his supporters anyway (black man in the WH; damned liberal, hippie, homo, commie, [expetive deleted] freaks]. He has astounding support among those likely to support him, demographically. The Dems challenge in a midterm is getting their base out. How, exactly, is a white person in the south going to get the "Obamo-coalition" to the polls while keeping the prez at a distance? Truly, a strategy for morons who deserved to lose elections (Gore-like, in fact).