“C’mon guys, just a little further to the right and we’ll start winning! Ignore the last four times we lost by doing this and remember the one time it worked in 1992!”
And only one candidate (Clinton) won by going to the right. Obama ran as a progressive (and governed as a centrist-technocrat) while Biden ran on a progressive platform (which he couldn’t get passed because of Manchin and Sinema).
Again, nonsense. He ran in 2008 in things like direct homeowner bailing outs, then passed things like HAMP, which tried (and failed) to inventivize lenders to refinance bad loans. Even in 2012, when he made less bold and specific promises, he made income inequality the center of his campaign. He always ran as progressive, not a centrist.
So, is there any candidate you won’t retroactively call a centrist in order to justify moving even further to the right from where the party is now?
You are so married to the idea of moving to the right and only the right that you are unwilling to admit that the situation has changed. In the last three elections (I know, in your mind it’s still the 90s and nothing has changed, but humor me) we have run three centrist candidates. Two lost, one won but it was a squeaker.
Moving to the right and only the right has hit a wall. You’ll advocate for it forever, regardless of the actual political reality. After all, the alternative is a nightmare hellscape where people are paid a living wage for their labor and healthcare is more than a means to extract every last dime from people before they die.
He ran on a public healthcare option, bailing out homeowners, regulating banks, closing Gitmo, ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Saying he appealed to centrists is revisionist nonsense.
I will give him credit for trying fairly hard to get his agenda through, especially in the first 2 years. He kept trying to find ways to get student loans forgiven without Congress, even when the courts repeatedly blocked him, and he did try to get some parts of Build Back Better that got cut in 2021 into the Inflation Reduction Act. He certainly tried harder than Obama to deliver on his platform.
He then abandoned the populous economic platform in 2024 and tried to pretend that letting most of his agenda get blocked by his own party was a huge accomplishment. He also tried to get to Trump’s right on immigration, materially supported a genocide, and refused to step down despite clear cognitive issues, so all-in-all, 2024 was a bad campaign.
He then abandoned the populous economic platform in 2024 and tried to pretend that letting most of his agenda get blocked by his own party was a huge accomplishment. He also tried to get to Trump’s right on immigration, materially supported a genocide, and refused to step down despite clear cognitive issues, so all-in-all, 2024 was a bad campaign.
Not as far as centrists are concerned. They got everything they wanted. They got their genocide. They got to betray immigrants and trans people, they got to have a presidential election without a primary, they’re still getting their genocide, they’re still getting republican immigration policy, and they’re still getting anti-trans hate. Plus, they get to blame the left they spent the entire campaign alienating and saying they didn’t need.
I once read a tweet that was something to the effect of, “The number of Democrats needed to pass meaningful legislation is always (N-1), where N=The Current Number of Democrats in Congress.” I think about that a lot.
Trust me guys, this time the Republicans will finally be done with Trump!
“C’mon guys, just a little further to the right and we’ll start winning! Ignore the last four times we lost by doing this and remember the one time it worked in 1992!”
Democrats won the majority of elections since the 90s.
And only one candidate (Clinton) won by going to the right. Obama ran as a progressive (and governed as a centrist-technocrat) while Biden ran on a progressive platform (which he couldn’t get passed because of Manchin and Sinema).
This is what got him elected and re-elected. Appealing to centrists
Again, nonsense. He ran in 2008 in things like direct homeowner bailing outs, then passed things like HAMP, which tried (and failed) to inventivize lenders to refinance bad loans. Even in 2012, when he made less bold and specific promises, he made income inequality the center of his campaign. He always ran as progressive, not a centrist.
Those are centrists things
Yeah, if you say it enough times, maybe it’ll become true. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s the cool thing about reality… you don’t have to wait for it to come true
Obama won because he appealed to centrists
centrists have a 27% approval rating for a reason.
Which is better than progressives approval rating for a reason.
Got numbers for that or are you lying yet again?
Yeah I got them from the same source as OPs “27%”
Obama won by running to Clinton’s left.
This is still centrists which is why he won.
So, is there any candidate you won’t retroactively call a centrist in order to justify moving even further to the right from where the party is now?
You are so married to the idea of moving to the right and only the right that you are unwilling to admit that the situation has changed. In the last three elections (I know, in your mind it’s still the 90s and nothing has changed, but humor me) we have run three centrist candidates. Two lost, one won but it was a squeaker.
Moving to the right and only the right has hit a wall. You’ll advocate for it forever, regardless of the actual political reality. After all, the alternative is a nightmare hellscape where people are paid a living wage for their labor and healthcare is more than a means to extract every last dime from people before they die.
I’m not advocating for the move to the right. Just pointing out it is a result of low leftists voter turnout.
He ran on a public healthcare option, bailing out homeowners, regulating banks, closing Gitmo, ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Saying he appealed to centrists is revisionist nonsense.
Those are liberal policies not leftist. Saying Obama was a leftist is revisionist nonsense.
No, this was the liberal policy.
Well, and because it was a pack of lies from the start.
I will give him credit for trying fairly hard to get his agenda through, especially in the first 2 years. He kept trying to find ways to get student loans forgiven without Congress, even when the courts repeatedly blocked him, and he did try to get some parts of Build Back Better that got cut in 2021 into the Inflation Reduction Act. He certainly tried harder than Obama to deliver on his platform.
He then abandoned the populous economic platform in 2024 and tried to pretend that letting most of his agenda get blocked by his own party was a huge accomplishment. He also tried to get to Trump’s right on immigration, materially supported a genocide, and refused to step down despite clear cognitive issues, so all-in-all, 2024 was a bad campaign.
Not as far as centrists are concerned. They got everything they wanted. They got their genocide. They got to betray immigrants and trans people, they got to have a presidential election without a primary, they’re still getting their genocide, they’re still getting republican immigration policy, and they’re still getting anti-trans hate. Plus, they get to blame the left they spent the entire campaign alienating and saying they didn’t need.
and 10 other DINOS, machin and sinema were just the lightning rod for critcisim, for the ones that are afraid of getting primaried.
I once read a tweet that was something to the effect of, “The number of Democrats needed to pass meaningful legislation is always (N-1), where N=The Current Number of Democrats in Congress.” I think about that a lot.