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Obama's State of the Union Address Was Remarkable, If Forgettable
Tweet Share on Facebook January 28, 2010 Comment (51)By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
"Let's seize this moment – to start anew," said President Barack Obama in the closing of his State of the Union address.
Wait. What?
It was a startling admission. The last year did not work. Through the colossal failure of healthcare and the lack of focus of creating jobs and building the economy, the president how wants to hit the reset button. Given the challenges Democrats face electorally in 2010, not to mention Obama's cratering poll numbers, it may be his only option; one that necessitated, as one journalist told me, "a finger in the dam speech."
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Democrats Only Want to Hear About Jobs in the State of the Union
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2010 Comment (7)By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Tonight, we'll hear a laundry list of proposals from the administration--from education to renewable fuels, and, of course, healthcare reform. Politically, however, only one topic will matter: jobs. After a year of making healthcare reform his top priority, yet with nothing to show for it, Democrats are clamoring for President Obama to demonstrate that his eye is on the ball.
"All I care about is jobs," Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm told Politico. "That's topic No. 1--and topic No. 20."
Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Blue Dog Democrat from California's Central Valley, an area with punishingly high unemployment and foreclosures rates, echoed Granholm's comments. "I want to hear what he's going to do about foreclosures and the economy. I want to hear what he has planned for my state. He's barely been visible there, and as far as I'm concerned, 'The Jay Leno Show' doesn't count."
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Fallout From Scott Brown's Win Reaches N.C. Democrats
Tweet Share on Facebook January 21, 2010 Comment (11)By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Having worked three Senate races in my home state of North Carolina, I closely follow any news from the Tar Heel State. So I was interested to read U.S. News's Paul Bedard tweet yesterday that on the morning after Scott Brown's stunning come-from-behind victory in Massachusetts, "North Carolina Demos use Brown's victory in Massachusetts to raise money." Bedard's tweet linked to a fundraising appeal headlined "NC Democrats See Fundraising Opportunity in Mass Sen. Loss."
"Like many of you I went through a full range of emotions last night--from sadness, to anger to disbelief. But that was last night," North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Director Andrew Whalen wrote. "We will not allow the right-wing fear tactics and drivel to slow us or cloud our vision."
You have to give North Carolina Democrats credit for seeking to turn lemons into lemonade (or donations).
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Brown vs. Coakley Shows Obama Has Become a Political Albatross
Tweet Share on Facebook January 18, 2010 Comment (187)By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Coverage of the Martha Coakley-Scott Brown Senate race brings to mind Yogi Berra’s famous quip, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Not because of Coakley claiming that Boston Red Sox great Curt Schilling was somehow a New York Yankees fan (more on that later) or even the apt comparison with the 1991 Harris Wofford-Dick Thornburgh special election which largely centered on health care (as Politico’s Alex Isenstadt noted).
Seeing President Barack Obama reverse course and make a last minute/last ditch effort to save the Coakley campaign brings back memories of November, when Obama put his prestige and political capital on the line in an unsuccessful attempt to save the gubernatorial campaigns of New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and Virginia’s Creigh Deeds.Combined, those two elections were a stinging rebuke of the Obama Agenda–higher taxes, government control of health care and out of control spending. Since November, Obama’s poll numbers have only fallen. Coupled with the “perfect storm” that is Martha Coakley’s candidacy–a bad candidate running a bad campaign in a bad year for Democrats–and it may be shocking, but not altogether surprising that Scott Brown is in a position to win.
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Don't Blame Rasmussen for Obama's Lousy Poll Numbers
Tweet Share on Facebook January 15, 2010 Comment (18)By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Seeing Andrew Breitbart tweet a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by two Democratic pollsters should be enough to pique anyone's interest. It certainly piqued mine, so I read (and recommend) Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen's piece "Don't Shoot the Pollster." Citing a complete dismissal by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs of a Gallup poll last month showing President Barack Obama's approval rating falling to 47 percent, Caddell and Schoen decry the recent trend of attacking the integrity of any pollster whose survey presents data one political side or the other disagrees with. They argue, as the piece's subhead says, "Attacks on Scott Rasmussen and Fox News show a disturbing attitude toward dissent."
Polling is both a science and an art, they write; a science because of the sampling techniques used, an art because of the construction of that sample. As they remind us, "The possibility of manipulation--or indeed, intimidation--is great."
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Obama’s Vaunted Foreign Popularity Fails Again
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2010 Comment (10)If there's one narrative that has been drilled to our collective head, it's that President Barack Obama's popularity overseas would pay big dividends for the United States. That it's become accepted conventional wisdom isn't shocking—Candidate Obama turning out record crowds in Berlin (becoming David Hasselhoff for a day) only confirmed the notion.
We're also told that where George W. Bush was popular—Africa, for example—Obama's popularity would exceed Bush's and usher in a new era of international cooperation. Indeed, when President Obama visited the West African nation of Ghana last July, a country where Bush enjoyed great popularity, Obama was treated as a hero. Not surprisingly, Obama returned the affection, offering praise not only to the people of Ghana but also the new government that took power last February. American relations with Africa, we were told, entered a new, more hopeful era.
So far, it hasn't been as advertised.
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The Gilbert Arenas Twitter Lesson: Think Before You Tweet
Tweet Share on Facebook January 11, 2010 Comment (6)By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
"Arenas spills his side on Twitter," reads the headline of a recent ESPN.com story on Gilbert Arenas of the NBA's Washington Wizards, with a subhead of "So much for keeping quiet." Following reports of a locker room gun incident between him and fellow Wizard Javaris Crittenton, Arenas let the world know, via Twitter, that "i wake up this morning and seen i was the new JOHN WAYNE. lmao media is too funny."
Arenas's joking about the gun incident, which has since led to his indefinite suspension, caused teammate JaVale McGee to call Arenas's tweets "reckless." His father, Gilbert Arenas Sr., told his son, "Don't even Tweeter right now."
And while Arenas's Twitter account is now canceled, bizarre tweets from celebrities and athletes are not unusual; in fact they may be the new norm.
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Dorgan, Dodd Retirements Are a Very Big Deal
Tweet Share on Facebook January 7, 2010 Comment (6)By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
"If Dorgan and Dodd spur a stream of Democrats, it will prove a real problem. But let's wait for the pattern to develop before pronouncing judgment on it," Robert Schlesinger wrote earlier today on the issue of Democratic retirements. Dorgan and Dodd, however, are already a part of a stream of Democratic retirements.
As I wrote last month, Democratic retirements in the House of Representatives have already created a problem for the Democratic Party. When Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Committee of Science and Technology, announced he was stepping down, he was following several others, including Reps. Brian Baird, Dennis Moore, and Gordon's Tennessee colleague, John Tanner. Add to that the defection of Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith, who last month joined the Republicans, and you've got your stream.
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C-SPAN Demands Democrats Open Secret Health Reform Talks
Tweet Share on Facebook January 5, 2010 Comment (14)By Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
If there is one institution in Washington whose integrity is unquestioned, it is C-SPAN. The network calls it straight down the middle by not calling it at all, and is treated with the same respect by Democrats, Republicans, and independents that it treats the Democrats, Republicans, and independents who call in every morning. From gavel-to-gavel coverage of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, uninterrupted coverage of important congressional hearings and airing of various political press conferences and seminars, C-SPAN provides an important service to every American voter—bringing your government to you and providing the sunshine open government necessitates.
Unfortunately, the network can cover only those congressional meetings held in the public. Voters hoping to follow the process of the House and Senate working out the differences of their respective healthcare reform bills are left in the dark. C-SPAN will not be covering the House-Senate conference on the legislation because there will not be any such conference. As reported by the Associated Press, Congressional Quarterly, USA Today, the Washington Post, and, not insignificantly, Peter Roff with U.S. News & World Report, House and Senate Democrats will negotiate the legislation in private, far away from the prying eyes of Capitol Hill Republicans and far away from prying cameras.
Enter C-SPAN.
