I’ve already done a longer blog about this on my own website here. But I thought it might be useful to put up some bullet points I had here (assuming anyone’s speaking to me).
Long story short–I did poll work this election, which meant I was separated from all media for about 17 hours in a row (no wifi service in the polling place, and cells were verboten). But I knew things were going to go badly in NY. I am no spring chicken, and the vast majority of voters were older than me (we’re trending into the 60-90 year old range). There were people in their 30’s after 6 PM, but not many. And there was a lot of motivation about local races, meaning that many of the voters were there to vote Red.
That said, it would’ve been hard to think of good reasons to motivate Millennials or even Gen x’ers to think the election mattered. The two-party system is hopelessly shattered in most states–one party or the other dominates local politics and puts up back-benchers who are clueless. But that is a microcosm of my own focus.
Here’s the thing–on a National level, the Dems tried to sell the many accomplishments of Obama. And to be fair (considering the opposition), he’s got some accomplishments to brag about. But you can only make that case politically if you think the status quo is working. Clearly it isn’t for the many people who still don’t have fulltime jobs after the 2008 meltdown. Meanwhile, the GOP actually talks about what they want to do (rescind gay marriage, stop illegal immigration, dump Obamacare, cut the budget, etc). Voting for the Dems for Congress or the Senate in 2014 means voting for a holding action. You don’t get people off the couch to vote for a holding action, especially if the status quo isn’t working.
The other problem that the Dems have is the R (racism) word–check out the link I have for the ‘Tom Bradley Effect‘. Many white voters are reluctant to admit that they have problems with voting for candidates of color, and Democrat and Obama are permanently linked regardless of who’s on the local ballot. It’s not clear that the strategy of avoiding mention of Obama helped down-ticket Democrats (Clay Aiken isn’t going to Congress), but Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu‘s honesty on the issue probably drove many voters to embraces the GOP. She now faces a well-nigh unwinnable run off.
The only possible good news is that if Harry Reid was paying attention the last six years, he discovered that nothing can move through the Senate without 61 votes thanks to the ‘cloture’ hammer. Most insane Tea Party proposals won’t get anywhere. The bad news is that (come 2015) the Senate has a veto-proof 61 definite votes for the Keystone XL pipeline. The Koch brothers won that cherished prize.
Pretty bad Tuesday, all in all.
– If black voters voted for GOP candidates, there is zero doubt that the GOP would be at the forefront of get-out-the-vote drives among this population.
– White GOP voters vote for black GOP candidates without hesitation.
-Is there some deep ideological reason behind the Left’s disbelief in these two facts of life? Is the Left secretly invested in the posture that the GOP is a nest of racists? Is it too difficult to grasp that many people simply, plainly, and without prejudice, do not agree with their ideology?
What ideology might that be?
I responded to this question in another place.
But no matter; my perceptions are not at issue here; at issue are the perceptions of the millions who do not vote for Democrats. These people vote in disagreement with what they perceive this ideology to be. To get a complete answer, you’ll have to determine, if possible, what this general perception is.
Dear Naxos, I answer your questions with the following questions.
How many Presidents have been elected since the founding of this nation? How many were white and how many were black?
Since Blacks have gain the right to vote, how many black presidents have they voted for? And how many white presidents had black support?
Why did it take over 200 years for white Americans to vote for a black president?
Now what was this allegation again that blacks voted for Obama solely because he was black?
Exactly confuseddemocrat!!
I simply can’t understand why so many believe African Americans and many Hispanics voted for President Obama because he is a man of color, a true American that is half black and half white. The President expressed an opinion on the issues that not only black Americans agreed with, but that many white Americans also agree with.
I take offense at the fact that some republican white voters appear to think African Americans vote skin color and not issues, that they would vote for any black man on the ballot, if those who feel this way would stop, think, and maybe check the statistics, they would find the Herman Cain was more of a black man than President Obama, did run for President in the Republican Primaries and in many states where Primary voters can vote for candidate of either party, and…..he did not win the Black vote in any of the states where he ran…What happened there, he’s black, he’s a man, what went wrong? 🙂
Perhaps you are serious.
1) All but one (the current President) was White. One was Catholic (Kennedy). None were Hispanic, none were Asian, none were women.
2) Blacks have voted for one Black candidate. He was successful. Black candidates for president have a success rate of 100%.
3) All of the White presidents had Black support. All of the White candidates had women’s support, Hispanic support, Catholic support, Jewish support, Muslim support, and Asian support.
4) Blacks have not been candidates in 200 years of campaigns. This has occured but once. (This candidate won.) Women, Hispanics, and Asians have never been candidates.
The obvious questions are :
How many Presidents have been elected since the founding of this nation? How many were women, Hispanic, or Asian?
Since women, Hispanics, or Asians have gain the right to vote, how many women, Hispanic, or Asian presidents have they voted for? And how many white presidents had women, Hispanic, or Asian support?
When will white Americans vote for a women, Hispanic, or Asian president?
Perhaps you are serious.
1) All but one (the current President) was White. One was Catholic (Kennedy). None were Hispanic, none were Asian, none were women.
2) Blacks have voted for one Black candidate. He was successful. Black candidates for president have a success rate of 100%.
3) All of the White presidents had Black support. All of the White candidates had women’s support, Hispanic support, Catholic support, Jewish support, Muslim support, and Asian support.
4) Blacks have not been candidates in 200 years of campaigns. This has occured but once. (This candidate won.) Women, Hispanics, and Asians have never been candidates.
The obvious questions are :
How many Presidents have been elected since the founding of this nation? How many were women, Hispanic, or Asian?
Since women, Hispanic, or Asian have gain the right to vote, how many women, Hispanic, or Asian presidents have they voted for? And how many white presidents had women, Hispanic, or Asian support?
When will white Americans vote for a women, Hispanic, or Asian president?
Well written piece, MBE.
As I see it, we the people have decided that we can be exceptional at destroying everything that past generations worked for.
There won’t be time for I told you so when the planet decides its had enough of us…
MBX, I was listening to news last night while babysitting my granddaughter and they are indeed pushing the XL pipeline. The GOP thinks they have a mandate. I don’t. They were saying (get this) that it will create 5 million jobs! That is a BIG lie.
Nirek:
Yup, the pipeline has the necessary 61 Senate votes because eight or nine Dems had ridden off the reservation. That, together with the whole GOP voting for it, will make it impossible for approval to be vetoed by Obama (assuming he WANTS to veto it–he’s waffled on it for several years).
The question is whether a GOP Senate can score a vote to make regulation of fracking a federal issue (and thus meaningless). One of the issues in the NYS election was whether Cuomo will use his second term to back fracking (his GOP opponent was an advocate, and Cuomo didn’t argue the point very forcefully).