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Bye bye, Barack

Bye bye, Barack: Maybe former President Obama got the message when he spoke to African Americans in Philadelphia. The thrill is gone. The racialist policies just don't work anymore. People are tired of hearing sermons from former presidents with mansions and….

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Bye bye, Barack - American Thinker https://t.co/AHRr0k3fhX

— Silvio Canto. Jr. (@silvio_canto) November 7, 2024

 Maybe former President Obama got the message when he spoke to African Americans in Philadelphia. The thrill is gone. The racialist policies just don't work anymore. People are tired of hearing sermons from former presidents with mansions and First Ladies who sent their kids to expensive private schools. 

We saw on Election Day the end of Obama as a candidate. His "emerging majority" did not emerge, as David Weigel pointed out:

Republicans ended election night confident that they would win the presidency, flip the Senate, and perhaps narrowly hold the House of Representatives. In Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s most famous supporters were talking about winning the popular vote, a mandate that MAGA couldn’t grab in two prior presidential campaigns.

The apparent result means the defeat of a strategy that nearly all Democrats embraced after the 2016 election: Delivering populist labor, tax, and healthcare policies that they thought could win back Obama-Trump voters and stop any more losses with non-white voters.

That was not enough for swing voters, who never stopped crediting Trump with pre-COVID economic growth while absolving him for his handling of the pandemic. And that angst cut across racial lines -- along with anger at progressive crime and immigration policies that Vice President Kamala Harris abandoned before running.

To be fair, maybe no one could have saved the Democrats from the failure of the Biden presidency. Maybe it was too much to expect that a former president would save a candidate trying to defend a candidate who couldn't answer a complex situation.

Nevertheless, the Democrats need to look for new faces and different speakers at their next convention. The Obama coalition based on identity politics, green energy and taxing the rich is history. I have a feeling that Governor Josh Shapiro is not going to ask the Obamas or Clintons to speak on his behalf the next time around.

P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

1972: Nixon reelected in landslide!

In 1968, Richard Nixon was elected with 42% of the popular vote in a very divisive presidential election.    In 1972, President Nixon enjoyed one of the greatest landslides of all time.    He got 61% of the popular vote beating Senator McGovern by 18 million votes.     

The campaign was dominated by the war in Vietnam.  However, President Nixon withdrew most of the troops and the war not the issue that the Democrats expected.    Also, Senator McGovern was branded as a liberal and flopped in most of the country.

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Happy # 82 Johnny Rivers

We say happy birthday to Johnny Rivers.    He was born John Henry Ramistella in New York City on this day in 1942.   

Rivers recorded a very popular live album with covers of "Memphis" (Chuck Berry), "Mountain of Love" & "The Seventh Son".    It was great dancing music.

After that, he had a string of great songs like "Secret agent man", "Poor side of town" and "Summer rain".    

In the 1970's he came back to the charts with "Rockin' Pneumonia and Boogie Woogie Flu".

His songs always bring a memory of this or that.     

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FDR re-elected in 1940 & 1944

President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented 3rd and 4th terms on this day in history.    

By 1940, the big issue was the growing crisis in Europe rather than the economic depression that elected him in 1932.   By 1944, he was the commander in chief of a nation at war.      

FDR died a month after he was inaugurated for a fourth term in 1945.

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What a weekend to remember Reagan!

Back in November 1980, I was almost packed to move to Mexico.  My company was transferring me to the bank branch in Mexico City.  It was an exciting time, especially as I went through the last details of my Mexico work visa and other matters related to the change.

I was also a volunteer on the Reagan-Bush team.  On Friday night, I recall working a phone bank and hearing all the senior people talking about a close election.  A few days before, we had seen Mr. Reagan debate President Carter, but the impact of “there you go again” was still unclear.  I guess we did not see the impact of that debate until election day.

On election day, I voted early, went to work, and then listened to the radio for any detail I could find.

At 7:00 P.M., I tuned in to the TV, expecting to stay up all night, as I had in 1976, when the Ford-Carter election literally went into early morning.

Around 7:00 P.M., the Eastern results came in, and Carter looked weak.  By 9:00, the Southern results started projecting a Reagan victory.  By 11:00, the Western results made it a landslide.  

The Reagan-Bush team got 489 electoral votes and almost 44 million votes.  It was amazing, to say the least.

Of course, the next part was even better.  The GOP picked up Senate seats and ended up with a majority for the first time in years.

The GOP won open seats in Alabama, Alaska, and Florida.  The real fun was defeating our favorite liberals, such as Frank Church of Idaho; Birch E. Bayh II of Indiana; George S. McGovern of South Dakota, the 1972 party nominee; and Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin.  It was not a good night to be a liberal Democrat between the coasts!  I guess we were seeing the beginning of what we would later in the red states!

Over time, I’ve tried to read as much as possible about that election of 1980, especially the last week, where millions of votes moved to Reagan.  Victor Davis Hanson explained it in a good post back in 2012:

Finally, in late October, Reagan capitulated to Carter’s preconditions and met him one time, face to face, without Anderson present.

In other words, until the very last week of the campaign, Reagan had an uphill fight. True, he eventually won a landslide victory in the Electoral College (489 to 49) and beat Carter handily in the popular vote. Yet Reagan only received a 51-percent majority.

What had saved Reagan from a perfect storm of negative factors – gaffes, additional conservative candidates on the ballot, a single debate, and a biased media – was not just the debate. Voter turnout was relatively low at only 53 percent. If Reagan’s conservative base was united and energized, Carter’s proved divided and indifferent.

One way or another, millions of voters that year made up their minds late.  In the end, I had a wonderful time celebrating the results and watching some of those liberals like Church and McGovern go down!

A few days later, everyone in Mexico was curious as to how Reagan did it.  I had a lot fun explaining the victory south of the border.

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Election night 2012 and we are still a very divided country

Yes, you can put me down as one of those who predicted a Romney victory.  

Am I disappointed?  Yes!  Am I disappointed that we did so poorly with the US Senate?  Yes!  Yes! 

So what happened?

Let's give Pres BO credit for getting his voters out.  At the same time, he also ran a very negative campaign that divided the country with class warfare rhetoric.

Also, the election is basically a tie on the popular vote!   Pres BO is the first president reelected with lower numbers, i.e. 49 vs 53% in 2008 & less EV's too.

The question is where do we go from here?  

We have a very divided country and a president who has shown no desire to work with those he disagrees with.

Am I pessimistic tonight?  No but we are in for a very tough time.  

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