Tendo City

Obama promised change. The first Republican Senator from Massachusetts in roughly 600 years counts as change, doesn't it?

Haha, yes that would be change. The Dems put up a horrible candidate so they shouldn't be too surprised about this.

And thus it is proven that Americans are complete idiots, happy to vote against their interests because of lies. Awesome.

A Black Falcon Wrote:And thus it is proven that Americans are complete idiots, happy to vote against their interests because of lies. Awesome.

If this were Facebook I would click the "like" button.

The only good news is that there are only two years left in the term, so he'll be back up for re-election in 2012... good luck getting re-elected. :)

A Black Falcon Wrote:And thus it is proven that Americans are complete idiots, happy to vote against their interests because of lies. Awesome.

Elitist much?

Hilariously, that's what Republicans have been saying about Massachusetts voters for decades. You can't blame anyone but the voters of America's most liberal state, can you?

I'm so lovin' the shoe finally being on the other foot. Maybe now we'll be able to explore health-care reform that won't send the country into bankruptcy.

Also, re: 2012, I think Democrats will be far more concerned about Obama's re-election. Two years is a long time, but he better hope the Republicans fail to find a good opponent to take him on, because so far, he doesn't seem likely to win based upon the merits of his own administration. Basically nothing has gone right for him in his first year.

I think Scott Brown himself will just become a piece in the political machine, to be honest. He's not as important as what his election represents: A dramatic statement of disapproval of Democratic policy from the most Democratic state in America.

The Democrats still have a majority in Congress and can still force the issue if they really want to, but I don't think they will. Midterms are this year, and the Democrats have to realize that if they can lose Uncle Ted's seat to a Republican, nobody's safe. They force the healthcare bill, and they'll suffer a political bloodbath for the ages.

Obama has his own re-election campaign to begin in less than two years, and though it's still early, the only way I see him being re-elected is if the Republicans nominate a real loser to be his opponent (and, knowing the Republicans, they might find a way). Obama has basically no success to call his own so far. He was elected because he was charismatic and faced a very unpopular opponent. It was easy to mask the fact that he is an inexperienced political lightweight, but that's very much on display now. Even with a political mandate and legislative majorities, he has accomplished nothing of any importance, and the general state of affairs is at least as bad now as it was a year ago. He can't win again by blaming Bush for everything. In fact, there exists the hilarious possibility he may be hoisted with his own petard.

I think the Brown election has just planted a bomb for Obama. On one hand, if he forces healthcare through, he's going to lose most of the independents who won him the election two years ago. On the other, healthcare is the keystone of his presidency. If he backs down, it will be a monumental policy defeat, and it may erase a critical amount of his mandate and political capital. No one will respect his political power.

It's going to be an interesting two years.

Well, the people have spoken. I think it's mainly a statement that they don't want this healthcare plan to pass. With some tweaking (i.e. making it more cost-efficient, as Weltall stated), it could still be forced through, though the Republicans haven't been very cooperative about healthcare reform thusfar. Obama's had a rough first year, though if he couldn't get across to a Democratic majority in Congress, I don't see how McCain could've done any better.

That aside, there's still a chance he could get re-elected even if he backed down from healthcare reform. He's perhaps put too much of his focus on the healthcare reform plan when it isn't that pressing a matter to most Americans (nor is climate change, for that matter). More Americans are concerned about the state of the economy and job growth. They're also curious as to how Obama will handle the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama was elected due to the people's frustration with Bush, who received the blame for the late 2000's recession. As such, people were hoping that Obama would turn the economic crisis around, and so it would be in Obama's best interests if he shifted his focus there and away from healthcare. Clinton's healthcare plan was shot down a lot quicker back in 1993, and yet he managed to not only be re-elected, but he presided over one of the best economies this nation has ever seen (how much of that was his own doing is debatable and is a tangent I will not delve into).

So yes, I do think Brown's election in the country's most liberal state is a big "FU" from the American people to the Democratic party (and personally, I think this shift from party to party is getting retarded; a year ago, the American people despised the Republicans), but this does not necessarily spell the end for Obama. I can't imagine he'll still have his Democratic majority a year from now, but if he can realize that the American people simply don't want a costly healthcare reform plan that will, from their perspectives, only benefit a small minority of people (who desperately need coverage, I might add), then he has plenty of time to shift the focus of his presidency, win back some public appeal, and get re-elected (a weak Republican opponent would certainly help; a weak Democratic opponent is the only reason Bush narrowly won in 2004).

Obama was perhaps too much of a political maverick (ironic that I'm using McCain and Palin's term to describe their opponent) and is now realizing that a president can only do so much on his own. I will give him credit for one thing though: unlike Bush, he can actually admit to having made mistakes. (He hasn't specified what they are, but an admittance is more than we got from Bush.)

I do wonder how much of this has to do with lies from the right about healthcare reform (people's fear of death panels and nonsense like that), and I must say the tea party protesters are some of the most ignorant, bigoted, disgusting examples of human beings I've ever seen. It's impossible to say what was going through each person's head as he or she entered the voting booth though, so I won't hivemind everyone who voted for Brown into that category.

I have some doubts about Brown. He voting record shows some big government leanings. I'm still skeptical.

Well, he is from Taxachusetts.

What I find hilarious about this Obama care bill is that the Dems are saying that it'll reduce the deficit, and at the same time, cost ten trillion dollars over the span of ten years. Seriously: Who the fuck is doing the math is Washington? Are people in Obama's administration dividing by zero?

Having the biggest military expenditure in the world is a huge reason why your country is living off borrowed money.

Not to mention the destruction of your country's currency thanks to hyper inflation and a supply that outweighs demand.