Brent Budowsky: President Obama blew it, but he can still lead Democrats to a landslide victory in 2012 by understanding the sources of the third great realignment in more than a century, which should have been realized after his election in 2008.
How Democrats Exploit Occupy
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Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer: The 99% Spring is the latest effort by those close to the Democrats to take advantage of Occupy, but the results were less than spectacular.
Can New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez Fix GOP Ladies’ Problem?
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Victoria Defrancesco Soto: Its going to take more than seeing a fellow woman on the presidential ticket to woo Independent and Democratic leaning women, but then again didn’t the GOP already learn that lesson?
What Is Happening with Republicans?
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Bill Fletcher: The “circle of clowns” of Republican candidates seems increasingly intent on proving that they are the voices of ignorance, fear and irrationalism. I cannot get over it.
Latinos in the South, A Political Piñata
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Victoria Defrancesco Soto: The 2010 mid-term election demonstrated that immigration issues could be a potent political force within the GOP. Candidates across the country, and in particular in the South came into office by espousing harsh anti-immigration policies.
Reid Rocks, Pelosi Rolls
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Brent Budowsky: It is far too early to predict the 2012 elections. But I suggest that Reid is rocking, Pelosi is rolling and Democrats are rising
Republican War on Birth Control Will Boost Democrats in November
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Randy Shaw: Considering that polls show that 99% of all women and 98% of Catholic women who have had sex have used contraceptives, Democrats should follow Senator Barbara Boxer’s lead and aggressively frame the November elections around this issue.
How Obama Can Win Big
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Brent Budowsky: Obama 2.0 is singing on key to the real America, talking about matters they care about, battling for policies that will better their lives, championing the American notion of fair play and taking to voters a narrative that is clear, consistent and compelling.
Can America Withstand Its Own Political Rhetoric?
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Anthony Samad: The Republicans need a vehicle with a big enough horn to get the public’s attention. They need to raise the ideological rhetoric just to have a chance. Regardless of what it does to the nation. The rhetoric bomb is coming under hood and sheets. The question is, will the nation stand for it.
The Top 10 Best and Worst of U.S. Politics in 2011
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Randy Shaw: Occupy Wall Street’s emergence in September raised progressive spirits, as has the unexpected rise of Newt Gingrich as the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination. Here’s my list of the top ten best and worst political events that occurred across the nation in 2011.
What Will the Democratic Left Do in 2012?
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Lawrence Wittner: Contrasting the administration’s all-out effort to save Wall Street with its indifference to Main Street, many progressives wonder if they have gained anything worthwhile with Obama’s election.
Republicans to Veterans: No Thanks
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Hans Johnson: Provoking some of the growing anger against Tea Party Republicans is the tone of callousness toward people of color, women, and the sacrifice of veterans who voice frustration at the toll of cuts and barriers in the democratic process itself.
Economic Issues, Not Faith or Religion, Drive Latino Votes
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Pilar Marrero: Moral issues rank very low in Latino Voter’s minds when making a voting decision while issues like the economy, jobs, taxes and minimum wage are far more important, a new poll released today shows. That finding totally contradicts the famous Ronald Reagan belief, said in the eighties, that “Hispanics are Republicans. They just don’t know it yet.”
Looking Beyond Election Day
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Robert Reich: Political elites are worried about thunder on the right and the left, but they show scant understanding of what these growing anti-establishment forces signify. Meanwhile, the nation drifts.
Friday Feedback: “Occupy” Occupies Burlingame
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Friday Feedback: The Democratic Party, like the Republican Party receives THE MAJORITY of its funding from corporate sources. Democrats have supported the insane wars and the THREE NEW NAFTAs.
Back to the Future: Why Republicans Hate the 1960s
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Steve Hochstadt: Republicans avoid talking about their leadership and power in Washington for the past 30 years, because they are fighting to undo the changes in our political system that came earlier, during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
From Teachers to Truck Drivers, We’re All the Working Class
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Berry Craig: Historically, labor-haters like Gingrich have tried to divide workers by skill, race, gender, religion, ethnicity and nationality. Today, the wedge issues include abortion, school prayer, guns and gay marriage.
“Bipartisan” Plotters Targeting Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid
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Carl Bloice: Several Democrats said during the day that the presentation had the support of a majority of the six Democrats on the panel, leaving the impression that at least one, and possibly two, of the party’s lawmakers had not signed on — possibly Becerra and Clyburn.
Occupy Movement, Labor on Collision Course with Obama
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Randy Shaw: If President Obama and fellow Democrats agree to a deficit reduction deal that cuts Medicare, Social Security, and other programs serving the 99%, expect an electoral calamity for Democrats in 2012.
Let Us Now Occupy Reality
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Robert Illes: “Occupy” is in the third stage of Gandhi’s meme about how non-violent resistance, and civil disobedience works. We have seen the movement ignored. Then we saw it ridiculed. Now we’re seeing it being fought. The next step: “… then you win.”
The Wall Street Occupiers and the Democratic Party
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Robert Reich: Will the Wall Street Occupiers morph into a movement that has as much impact on the Democratic Party as the Tea Party has had on the GOP? Maybe. But there are reasons for doubting it.
Reason for [Not] Being a Republican
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Ted Vaill: The party of Lincoln has become the party of the Old Confederacy. There is no way Abraham Lincoln would be a Republican today – he would be a Democrat.
Big-Drama Obama
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Brent Budowsky: The Truman metaphor is right for Obama, but it must presage a sustained battle for jobs, and not another brief theatrical scene in an incoherent drama with an inconclusive ending.
Race and Anti-Obama ‘Hysteria’
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Berry Craig: The hysteria about Obama, although some of it may be related to philosophical objections to central authority, is largely rooted in race.
Obama’s Jobs Plan: Will He Offer Policy Miniatures or Give ‘em Hell?
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Robert Reich: The winner of the 2012 presidential election will be the person who comes off as the toughest fighter for average Americans. Earth to Obama: Remember Harry (Give ‘em Hell) Truman.
Hispanics Aspire to Better Education
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Pilar Marrero: When it comes to seeking solutions for problems related to education and the low high school graduation rate, Latino voters are not so attached to ideological solutions (read: liberal or conservative) and freely choose from both options, sometimes in contradictory ways.
Prettying the Porker’s Puss, Republican Style
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Berry Craig: This union-card carrying Hubert Humphrey Democrat from Kentucky — where Steve Beshear, our second-term-seeking, union-endorsed Democratic governor is up two dozen points over his Scott Walker-wannabe Republican challenger in a recent bellwether poll — hopes Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s “way forward” will include a recall election that will unemploy him, too.
Now Obama Must Lead
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Brent Budowsky: America is a nation without leaders in an economy without jobs. We are a nation of citizens who hunger for action in a political system that refuses to act. We yearn for a president who will speak for the people of the nation with conviction, clarity, courage and compassion.
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Labor Must Choose Between Occupy and the Democrats
Shamus Cooke: The labor movement has a foot in both worlds; one in step with the Occupy Movement and the other with the Democrats, who are working to crush Occupy outright.