They won't. They've spent the last 6 years stonewalling and being as ineffective as possible with no real ideas other than hating Obama to put forth. They can't really just flip the switch to become productive, plus have shown a penchant for misinterpreting the results of elections. Also, the Democrats made a big mistake and forfeited any shot of holding the Senate, in all likelihood, by running away from Obama at all costs, to the point where a Democratic candidate in Kentucky refused to answer whether or not she voted for him. This isn't to say that Obama is the key to success, but the backpedaling and running away from the president demonstrates a lack of backbone and conviction, leaving the candidates hemming and hawing about how they aren't like Obama. He's the head of your party who won two terms as president, nobody's buying that he didn't have any influence upon you, so stop pretending he didn't and find a way to fight back and make it work for you as a candidate. Same shit happened with Clinton and I still think Gore's fatal mistake (aside from being completely colorless in his personality) was keeping Bubba out of the picture.
1) I think both parties consistently do not interpret elections correctly. They always tend to give themselves and their party lines too much credit. 2)Agree that you have to own your party's leader, which is Obama. 3) Disagree on Gore's "fatal mistake." He won the election everywhere but in the courts.
I think the Democrats have a degree of anxiety and fear that the Republicans do not. I don't see much of the "I earned political capital" statements by Democratic candidates, but I do see the lack of conviction in themselves to go scorched earth for their policies as the Republicans do. I think the Democrats, generally, not always, understand election results, but often lack the balls to make the results work for them in the manner they could/want. I think Gore doesn't need to worry about the courts if he has Bubba on board, but failed to understand that Clinton's standing after the impeachment proceedings and mid-term elections wasn't as bad as was interpreted (People liked the drama, but had feigning interest in seeing him removed from office.).
If you didn't hear Democrats talking about "political capital," you really aren't paying attention. Do you want me to back up a dump truck of evidence to the contrary? I can.
Sorry, I didn't add the part "they didn't have" to my statement about political capital, i.e. when they won fairly decisive victories at the polls, unlike the narrow victory Bush won in 2004 and claimed a mandate. Like I said, they correctly understood the nature of their victory, only to piddle it away.
In a nutshell, that Democrats do say they earned political capital, but, generally, are correct. However, they then suck at trying to spend that capital.
IMO, elections results are rarely a mandate for anything. Most people vote their pocketbook. And if the economy is bad, they vote against whoever is IN at the time.
I spent three hours last night looking at every race or measure on my ballot and figuring out who to vote for. It was irritating, but c'mon, if you're gonna vote. Do states other than North Carolina vote for judges? Because between the NC Supreme Court, the Appeals Court, and the District Court, there are about 75 judge races I have to vote for, and the candidates give you nothing to go on at all "I cannot comment on [x] because a case related to [x] might come up in court and I must be unbiased."
We vote for some. Amendment on the ballot this time about voting for Tennessee SC judges or appointed by governor.
You can look at who appointed them, and you can look to see if they were recommended to be retained by their peers. There is only one judge I didn't vote to retain, and it was because she apparently was found to be lacking in law knowledge when reviewed and was the only in which she wasn't endorsed to be retained. I try not to get to political about it, and just evaluate them based on what their peers say.
Yup. I pretty much do what my lawyer friends say in the judicial elections. Usually political affiliations are thrown out the door there.
