Washington (CNN) – Republican strategist Alex Castellanos suggested Tuesday that if Martha Coakley loses Tuesday, it might actually help Democrats in the midterm elections.
"This may be a good day for Barack Obama in the sense that instead of waiting for November of this coming year to really lose his Democratic majority in the House, he may in effect lose it now," Castellanos said.
"Democrats may start moving away from him and he may have to govern in a more bipartisan way, moving away from the left more towards the center and some conservative ideals. It may center this administration."
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...What? Obama's has been the one trying to be more toward the center, and Congress has been completely divided toward the extremes for the most part already. Castellanos has it backwards.
"move away from the lefty?!" Excuse my French, but Jesus H Christ!
This is *not* the problem with this administration. The base of the party is disenchanted with Obama not being nearly progressive enough. And the GOP has said repeatedly that their aim is not "bipartisanship" or meaningful legislation made through compromise, but to "crush Obama." In other words, They. Hope. He. Fails.
A move "to the center" would be disastrous: nothing short of Obama giving the presidency to McCain will mollify the GOP, and backsliding on core campaign promises will only disillusion progressives further.
The Republicans are the party of NO – there is no center.
Oooooh....The really deep spin!
MA has done the country proud! They've done to the Democrats what they did to the Redcoats. Routed them. It will be interesting to see if Obama and the Democrats get the message. End the corrupt spending, end the corruption, stop the healthcare bill and start over with something simple that the people want. Fix the economy and put people back to work!
If anything, the President has been far too submissive toward the Right, and way too bipartisan. The GOP has clearly stated they only want to obstruct progress. It's time to leave the Right in the dirt where they belong, and force all legislation through just like Bush did. If the President wants to regain favor among Democrats and Independents, then he needs to deliver on his campaign promises, quit playing nice, and STAND UP to the Right-wing and quit trying to curry favor among them. All the Righties are giddy and peeing all over themselves at the thought of holding America hostage from advancement.
This is not a loss because the Democrats have been legislating too far to the left. This is a loss because they have failed to deliver real change. The health care debate exposed clearly the Democrats are one of two heads of the same party that rules this country, the party of money and status quo.
Progressives, those that fought for Obama feverishly, are disgusted with the pandering and sat this one out. The Democrats best hope for November is to swing to the left and give their base something to fight for. Something to trust. The base expects results and this is the tragic result of not fighting for the people. We are still a long way from true politics for the people. Listen to old FDR speeches.
The "center" has already gone way, way too far to the right. Obama came in to office to clean up a mess of historic proportions created by a radical right wing government. We need a good, hard, sustained turn to the left. The Republican resurgence has been built on lies and on shameless appeals to the worst instincts in voters. The real shame is that Democrats have been passive in the face of this onslaught of bluster and propaganda. But here is where I see a silver lining, though in a somewhat different way than Castellanos sees it: maybe this loss will get Democrats to wake up and start playing some assertive politics, calling the Republicans on every lie–there is an impossibly long list of republican lies to keep track of, for sure, but keeping it and countering the lies is a worthwhile and important task nonetheless.
Start to govern in a more bipartisan way? Really? The Republican machine doesn't really care which way Obama governs because if he says 'white' they'll quickly say 'black'. These people don't care about what's best for America and they are blunt about it. The Republicans care more about the Democrats loosing then America winning and that's a fact!
If the Democrats lose this race, they will have learned a good lesson, and they will become much more energized to get out the vote in November. Democrats will not desert. They will circle the wagons and win big. The lack of bi-partisanship has been the Republicans fault. Wasn't it McConnell who said, regarding the healthcare bill, "I don't care if they give us everything we want. We won't vote for it." Why ask that attitude to come to the table?
This is just the beginning of the end for Dems. Bye bye Bams & Co.
Thank you mr. Castellanos. Its a good one. It maybe bitter for Obama, but better for the Dems. The repubs have more to worry for november then te dems.
Typical Republican response........These clowns win(oops i mean buy or rig as usual) one minor election and now they're going to act like they just conquered the world!........What a bunch of petty, insignificant, children!........Here's a newsflash for all of you gloaters out there......They've already found evidence of voter tampering and pre-marked ballots favoring the Republican candidate.......Looks like they rigged another one and once again you deaf, dumb, and blind sheeple out there sit in your double-wides watching NASCAR, Fox Noise, and reality TV letting it happen right under your stupid,, no-clue, noses, but don't worry............Your Confederate flag curtains still look great though................Losers........You deserve what you get....No sympathy here!!!!
If Brown wins President Obama must really learn how to lead. He should shed the old guard with the archaic thinking, this is now the 21st Century. We need fresh ideas not old Chicago style politics. Many Americans are naive/gullible with thoughts that jobs would automatically. There is no incentive for big business to bring jobs backs. They currently have extremely low Manufacturing cost with the purchase price increasing. So, let us learn how government works and stop watching reality shows (which I also call dummy down shows). The two party system is outdated, therefore there is really no accountability.
Bipartisan what? We have been trying to do bi-partisan for 1 year. All the ELEPHANTS wanted in the policies were the same policies of the last 4 years. The DONKEYS CAVE IN and even gave them TAX CUTS and little money went out to INVEST in Green energy.
If the donkeys had a brain, 900 bllion dollars should have gone to GREEN ENVERGY investment to spur job growth.... plant now for tomorrow.
Move from Obama? No. Get together and find out what is THE RIGHT THING TO DO and SHOVE down the ELEPHANTS' throats the way they shoved it down the DONKEYS' throats.
THE DONKEYS ARE THE ONLY ONES AND THE ONES WITH CLOSER VISIONS TO CHANGE AMERICA.
It has never been the ELEPHANTS TO GROW THE ECONOMY AND THE DONKEYS need to LEAVE them BEHIND....
Lemons to Lemonaide have a cool drink Mr Pesident.
We'll see how many Democrats are die hard liberals and which ones have been coerced into joining the Obama bandwagon to derail the nation with Socialism. I hope to be congratulating the voters of Massachusetts tomorrow for standing up and defending the U.S. constitution and Americans' freedom by this dramatic show of patriotism. No, wait, congratulations already!!!
Down with a "health care reform" attempt which would illegally require Americans to purchase health insurance. Rarely. if ever, has such unconstitutional infringement upon our liberties been attempted by congress. Boot all the liberals out.
Tea Party ON Baby! Democrats better take notice, we are not going to take it any more!!!!
This should have been a cake walk for Obama. But instead he has failed. Failed to hold on to a Democrat Senate seat, "The Kennedy Seat" right in the middle of Democrat New England.
This means in only 1 year he has lost his re-election bid. He is more lame then Carter. More lame then Bush Jr.
A huge loss for Obama, HUGE !!!!!!
I'm so happy.
Yeah, like more tax cuts for the rich, more tax cuts for the rich, more tax cuts for the rich. What more do the republicans have.
It might surprise Alex Castillano that Obama is not a Leftist and he is more Center Right than Bush. What put this country in this position is the Bush years and unlike Republicans, Obama did not spend his time blaming Bush, he assimilated the position that we all find ourselves in, poorer, dumber, less private and having less voice in how our Legislators are servicing their constituents. If your income puts you in the top 3% of income earners you are way better off than you were before Bush. How many people want to go back to the "good old days" of Bush and a Republican Congress?
When he votes against everything your state stands for,then you'll realize what your mistake really means...Good luck when you look at his record and past.
You mean like what happened to Clinton...with the exception he didn't have two wars to deal with and an economic crisis?
Give it back to the GOP let them clean up the mess they created....!!
We can only hope so.
It's OK to govern from the CENTER – but he cannot forget where he came from either!!!