February 18, 2010
If you haven’t seen it already, I wanted to share this rather telling graph (put out by Organizing for America) about the state of job loss in this country…
Show this to all those Obama naysayers that continue to claim that Obama’s plan has fared no better than Bush’s. I don’t think this trend could be any clearer.
I suppose one could argue that the unemployment rate would’ve bottomed out at some point, but is it all a coincidence that the rebound began after President Obama quickly pushed his economic plan through Congress? And yes, I do understand that slowing down the job loss is not the be all and end all. However, instead of continuing to wallow in the hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, the country is at least moving in the right direction faster than anyone could have expected, even if the pain of this severe economic downturn will continue to linger for months or years.
This graph was also released on the heels of a New York Times/CBS News poll that found that only 7% of Americans attribute the state of the economy to the Obama Administration, while 31% blamed the Bush people (significantly more than the 23% who blamed Wall Street and the financial institutions!). The poll also reveals the trust that the American people still have in Obama, with 60% of respondents expressing that Obama understands the problems and needs of people like themselves (compared with 42% for Congressional Dems and the lowest total, 35%, reserved for Congressional Republicans).
Since Day 1 of this administration, the Republican Party strategy has been: “Screw Obama at any cost!” Yet as Americans continue to support the President over Republicans by those kind of margins, I wonder if they will ever realize the need to actually put some effort into governing…
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Congress, Economy, Labor, President Obama | 
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Posted by Travis Serebin
February 16, 2010
Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) announced yesterday that he has decided against seeking a third term in the United States Senate.
In his statement, Bayh explained, “To put it in words I think most people can understand: I love working for the people of Indiana, I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress.”
While Bayh dismissed any idea that he is frustrated with the partisanship of Congress, considered with the increasing number of Democrats and Republicans hanging it up as of late, many of them with seemingly safe re-election races, it could be a poignant message about the state of Congress currently. Chris Cillizza, writing for the Washington Post, already predicts that the number of House retirements this year will exceed the totals of 2004, 2006, or 2008. We can only hope the new members will be more motivated to work together.
My immediate reaction to Bayh’s announcement was that this is not such great news for the Democrats. Bayh was golden for the Dems in traditionally red-leaning Indiana with his moderate views, impressive fundraising, and a powerful name (not only did the current Bayh serve two terms as Indiana’s Governor, but his dad served three terms in the U.S. Senate). These factors likely combined in the poll released just last week that showed Bayh with a 20 percentage point lead over his Republican challenger, a former Senator himself. Bayh’s retirement leaves Democrats really on the defensive, already potentially conceding seats in North Dakota and Delaware, where they have not found adequate candidates.
Even if you now consider Indiana to be a long shot, the possibility of the Democrats losing control of the House or the Senate still seems remote. Though from what I can remember, this is what 2006 looked like for the Republicans at this stage, and then a number of bad breaks, mostly self-inflicted, led to a previously improbable sweep of both chambers by the Democrats. Let this be both a reminder and a call to action to Democratic officials and party supporters alike that 2010 is going to be a critically important year. While we have gotten used to enjoying great electoral success as of late, George Bush is gone, and it is time that the Democrats in Congress find something to run on and that we, as the wheels that move the masses, prepare to convince everyone that the Democrats still need more time to make this all right.
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Posted by Travis Serebin
January 20, 2010
Democrats lost an important Senate seat in the Massachusetts race Tuesday. Indeed, it was painful to watch the seat of the great progressive Ted Kennedy go to a Republican who will oppose our efforts towards a health care system that benefits all Americans. This loss will surely add more obstacles to our struggle and delay legislation.
But we must not lose sight of the bigger picture. We lost a critical election, but that does not mean the fight for progressive issues ends there. It is just an election after all. Issues, ideals, values and the hope for universal health care extend beyond that. Elections come and go, we win and lose. That is just how it is. We cannot win every election and we should be prepared to lose many important ones. And then we have to be prepared to move on.
We can’t let the media characterize this loss as a loss for health care. The support for change remains with many, even perhaps a majority, of Americans. We will carry out the work of Ted Kennedy, even with a Republican in his seat.
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Posted by Molly Rivera
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) revealed this afternoon during a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee that she will vote in support of the health care overhaul bill currently being debated. After months of attempting to solicit bipartisan support, this is a huge victory for Democrats and President Obama, who has personally appealed to the Republican Senator in recent weeks. Could this defection lead to more breaks in the iron curtain of Republican opposition to health care reform in Congress? Not likely… but we can certainly hope.
