An Insight Into Why Democrats Have Soured On Obama

Maureen Dowd, a smug lefty New York Times hack, wrote an interesting article this weekend. It was interesting because it shows us two perspectives on why the Democrats have soured on Obama. Those perspectives are from the left wing of her party and the liberal wing (they are different). Commentarama readers will find her reasoning strangely familiar.

The article begins with Dowd’s own views on Obama. Dowd represents the left wing of the Democratic Party, as her views are in lockstep with Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos et al. These are the party shock troops and opinion makers. Without them, the liberal wing would meander around cluelessly looking for something to whine about. Indeed, losing these people will sap the party of its energy, its financial strength, and the people it needs to get the sheep to the polls. And lose them Obama has.

How do we know? Well, Dowd’s tone more than anything. Indeed, the article is snotty if not downright nasty about Obama. For example, Dowd begins by taking digs at his race: “How did the first president of color become so colorless?” and by slipping in a basketball metaphor about him being in “buzzer-beating mode.” To you and me, these comments may not sound like a big deal, but to a leftist like Dowd, these would normally be considered “racists” comments if made by a conservative, and I think her use of them is no accident. I think she’s looking for a way to insult Obama on a personal level, and she’s opting to begin her article with a “you were supposed to be exotic, a noble savage, but you turned out to be just like everyone else,” and the basketball reference is usually considered an attempt to denigrate a black target as stupid.

I think this is Dowd’s intent because of what she writes next. Check out this quote:

“‘You know, are there, you know, things that I might have done during the course of 18 months that would, you know, at the margins have improved some of the tone in Washington?’ Obama asked. ‘Probably.’ Uncharacteristically valley girl, the usually eloquent president must have, you know, had a hard time acknowledging that.”

Note that not only does she not clean up his quote, as she and the rest of the MSM usually do, but she actively points out how poorly he speaks. Indeed, she mocks him by equating him to a valley girl, another object of derision for feminists and a way to attack his manhood -- just like her first comment was a way to attack his “blackhood” (see Spike’s Lees’ comment on Obama needing “to act like a black man.”). She even throws in her own “you know” for good measure, indicating that she thinks she’s a superior speaker.

She then attacks his strategy in a very dismissive and condescending way. First, she frames the problem: “Obama has been bleeding independents.” She then makes him sound stupid by creating a disconnect by saying that Obama’s plan for dealing with the independent problem is to ignore independents so he can focus on the base. In other words, she’s saying “he doesn’t get it” without actually using those words. Then she presents Obama’s reasoning: he thinks he has time to recapture female independents after the election because of his support for abortion rights and health care reform. But she dismisses this by telling us about her sister Peggy, who Dowd identifies as one of those independents, and by giving us a quote from Peggy that contradicts every one of Obama’s assumptions. Finally, she finishes with a blanket statement that Obama better rethink his plans: “While Obama’s out in the country trying to save Congressional Democrats, he should also think about how he’s going to save himself.” In other words, his plan stinks.

But even more interesting is Dowd’s story about her sister, Peggy. Peggy supposedly is one of the “independents” that Dowd thinks Obama needs. In truth, Peggy is your standard liberal Democrat who likes to think of herself as an independent despite her consistent liberal/left views. Indeed, Peggy claims that she was a Republican who fell out of love with Bush. But check out her reasons: she hated Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, and she hated Bush’s “disdain for bipartisanship.” Moreover, she was a fan of Teddy Kennedy, and she has nothing but disdain for the Republicans and for how ObamaCare was “watered down.” Also, “she lights up at the mention of his vice president, Joe Biden.” Those views are entirely consistent with a liberal Democrat who has deluded themselves into thinking that they’re an independent. That’s the sheep portion of the Democratic base. These are the people the wolves like Dowd push around.

And what does Peggy think of Obama now?

Peggy believed that Obama was a "dazzling young newcomer who could change Washington." Now she’s considering voting for Mitt Romney. She thinks Obama has done a good job of “managing W’s messes in Iraq and Afghanistan,” but this hasn’t swayed her to stay with him. And what’s really bothering her? Let’s let Peggy tell you herself:

“He promised us everything, saying he would turn the country around, and he did nothing the first year. He piddled around when he had 60 votes. He could have pushed through the health care bill but spent months haggling on it because he wanted to bring some Republicans on board. He was trying too hard to compromise when he didn’t need the Republicans and they were never going to like him. Any idiot could see that. . . and then the bill was watered down.”

Sounds like little Markos from the Daily Kos doesn’t it. . . “he was too bipartisan!” (And here I thought she hated Bush for disdaining bipartisanship?) And wait a minute, haven't we been told by the MSM that Obama has accomplished more than any other president ever? Doesn't she realize how much he's done? And to compare the smartest man ever to "any idiot"? Hmmm. She continues:

“He hasn’t saved the economy, and now he’s admitting he’s made very little progress. You can’t for four years blame the person who used to be president. Obama tries to compromise too much, and he doesn’t look like a strong leader. I don’t watch him anymore. I’m turned off by him. I think he’s an elitist. He went down to the gulf, telling everyone to take a vacation down there, and then he goes to Martha’s Vineyard. He does what he wants but then he tells us to do other things.”

So what does this tell us about liberals, i.e. the center-left? They have stopped listening to Obama, as I’ve said several times. They no longer see him as “cool,” they see him as elitist, aloof, stupid and weak. The vacation issue struck a chord, even with them. They do blame him for not fixing the economy and they no longer buy the “it’s Bush’s fault” line or the “it would have been so much worse” argument. Moreover, they don’t credit him with health care reform, they see it as a betrayal. There is no mention of financial regulation, any jobs bills, his attempts to give back-door amnesty to illegals, his appointments of women to the Supreme Court, or anything else the Democrats have tried in vain to tout as achievements. . . as we predicted. Nor is there any distinction between “good Democrats” and “bad Democrats,” or any credit for “trying.”

For Dowd to get this snotty and dismissive at Obama and to treat his assertions with such disdain is a clear sign of a relationship that’s entered the final phase of the breakup stage, and is evidence the Democrats have lost the far-left. For Peggy to tell us that she sees him as a failure and that she's now turned off by him, tells us she’s already broken up with him and is looking to move on to her next crush, and is evidence the Democrats have lost the center-left.

What a shame.