If former-President Barack Obama warns Democrats to stop ignoring the economy, and no one listens, does he make a sound?
Former President Barack Obama is hardly the first Democrat to sound alarm bells about the upcoming midterm election. With less than a month until Election Day, he isn’t likely to be the last.
Everywhere Democrats look this week, prospects for November appear to be dimming. The polls, which are probably still heavily favoring Democratic candidates and undercounting likely Republican voters by a wide margin, aren’t overly encouraging.
Not everyone is throwing in the towel, however: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently expressed her optimism that Democrats will keep the House majority in November.
Nearly everyone else seems convinced the Democratic Party is headed for a major midterm wipeout. Almost no one is in agreement as to the cause of the coming calamity, however. Even fewer are in agreement as to how to fix things before Election Day.
So, as usual, the Republicans are pouncing on the Democrats, who are, as usual, in disarray.
“Democrats Are Having Trouble Holding Onto Their Coalition,” concluded the New York Times politely on October 19, 2022
“It’s been a real ‘well shit’ few days for Democrats, for which one could either blame the New York Times or the underlying reality on which the New York Times reports,” is how Ben Mathis-Lilley earthily summed it up for Slate on October 18 in a piece entitled: “Democrats Grapple With Strong Chance That GOP Mega-Bozos Will All Win Their Races Because of the Price of Gas.”
“The typical U.S. household is spending $445 more a month due to inflation,” reported CNBC today, before offering advice on, “how to reduce the bite.”
It is a bite most Americans can ill-afford: “Inflation-slammed Americans are piling on credit card debt,” as CBS News is already warning.
At $445 per month, even Slate might need to admit it’s a bit worse than, “the price of gas,” before now and Election Day.
Nevertheless, Democratic Party analysts and progressive members of the mainstream press are doing all they can for Democratic candidates, but without much success.
“Economic Issues Outweigh Concerns About Rights in Midterm Vote,” declared Monmouth University, likely hoping to guilt voters out of their selfishness.
“Voters See Democracy in Peril, but Saving It Isn’t a Priority,” was the New York Times less circumspect version, adding; “A New York Times/Siena College poll found that other problems have seized voters’ focus — even as many do not trust this year’s election results and are open to anti-democratic candidates,”- in case readers somehow missed the title’s subtext.
The, “Republican women aren’t real women,” presumably because they support restrictions on abortion access, narrative is on full display.
“In Kari Lake and Tudor Dixon, the GOP offers a cynical alternative to Trump,” wrote Marisa Kabas for MSNBC. “Being a woman isn’t enough, but Republicans want you to think it is.”
Some of the narratives foisted by mainstream media outlets on Republican candidates like Herschel Walker in Georgia can’t, in good conscience, even be reproduced.
Suffice to say, Herschel Walker isn’t really who he appears to be or says he is, either- if mainstream media outlets are to be believed.
One very popular strategy- invoking the specter of Donald Trump, Trumpism, Ultra MAGA, “Mega-Bozos”, or whatever other names- isn’t working very well at all.
At least, it isn’t making any impact in the polls. There may be a simple reason for this: What popularity candidates endorsed by Donald Trump have managed to cobble together, they have done so in spite of almost exclusively negative press coverage.
“Perhaps most worryingly for Dems, voters have already learned pretty much all there is to learn about the stuff that would put them off about Republican candidates- namely their support for abortion bans, their 2020 election trutherism, and in many cases, the fact that they are, personally, major league bozos,” complained Mathis-Lilley for Slate. “That stuff is mostly ‘baked-in’ to polls at this point.”
Former President Barack Obama, like so many other figures on the left, has some excellent advice on how Democrats can turn things around. Whether popular progressives and members of the press will heed his advice is another story.
“And we spend enormous amounts of time and energy and resources pointing out the latest, crazy thing he [Donald Trump] said, or you know, how rude or mean, you know, some of these Republican candidates behaved,” said Barack Obama during a recent episode of “Pod Save America”
“That’s probably not something that, in the minds of most voters, override their basic interests: Can I pay the rent? What are gas prices? How am I dealing with childcare, et cetera. Right?” Obama said.
The Democratic Party might want to listen: Mr. Obama knows better than most what Democrats are facing this year.
The former President is currently on his way to campaign…in Nevada, which was, until very recently, a Democratic Party stronghold. Likewise President Joe Biden’s recent trip to campaign for Democrats struggling in deep-blue Oregon.
“The Democratic Machine in Nevada Might Be Faltering,” lamented Vanity Fair on October 17, 2022.
There is no “might” about it, and the problem goes far beyond Nevada. Democrats need to listen to President Barack Obama and course correct before it’s too late.
(contributing writer, Brooke Bell)