It is still Obama's race to lose,

[MadHound]

A few months ago I wrote that the only candidate who could beat Obama is Obama. That maxim still holds true. The 'Pugs are in utter disarray, divided against themselves. If a Tea Party candidate such as Bachmann or Perry gets the nod, they will pull in the votes from the right, but they won't pull in the money to get the votes they need from outside the right. If a moderate such as Pawlenty or Romney gets the nod, then they will get money rained upon them, but the radical right including the Tea Party will stay home in droves.

This seems like the perfect set up for Obama, and it is. All he has to do is not beat himself.

Sadly, since I wrote that analysis, Obama has gone out and done just that, beaten up on his own self. The debt ceiling debacle is but the latest in Obama's stumbles and missteps. He has proceeded to alienate the left, and left moderates and independents thinking that he is a weak president. Worse, on the number one issue of the day, jobs, he has handcuffed himself by allowing the 'Pugs to make the debt and deficit front and center in the economic debate. Thus, in this current atmosphere of budget cutting, Obama cannot implement the one thing guaranteed to jump start the economy and secure his reelection, a WPA style jobs creation program.

It is still a year and quarter out from the elections, but time is growing short for Obama. He needs to significantly turn the economy, and his own electoral fortunes around. They are now intertwined. If he can get the economy moving again, then he will be reelected. If not, well, he did say he wasn't concerned with being a one term president. With the Super Committee sucking all the oxygen out of the room for the next few months, it is going to be difficult for Obama to seize the momentum. If he signs off on cuts to SS and Medicare, he'll really have problems.

The ball is in his court, let's see if he can put it in.

[kelly1mm]

1. Intrade has Obama's reelection chaces at 49.3%, down 3% in the last week. nt

[Motown_Johnny]

2. not a great week to trust the markets

[kelly1mm]

5. I look at intrade for a reality check to polls/posts here in that real people put real

money on the line. Look at how many posts here before the 2010 election were touting a democratic landslide? How many recent posts have claimed that the repubs are a dying party and that Obama is a shoe in for 2012?

[MadHound]

3. It's not that any of the Republican opposition is so strong,

It is because he has been weak. He needs to get in touch with his inner LBJ or Truman and get out and fight for something meaningful. The public loves a fighter, even if he loses. But a great compromiser, not so much.

[Enrique]

4. I think Obama's strategy assumes the opposite

especially this part of your post:

It is still a year and quarter out from the elections, but time is growing short for Obama. He needs to significantly turn the economy, and his own electoral fortunes around. They are now intertwined. If he can get the economy moving again, then he will be reelected. If not, well, he did say he wasn't concerned with being a one term president. With the Super Committee sucking all the oxygen out of the room for the next few months, it is going to be difficult for Obama to seize the momentum. If he signs off on cuts to SS and Medicare, he'll really have problems.

I think Obama has given up on that. He's going the other way, his strategy isn't to make the economy better, which he thinks is out of his hands, but to work it so he doesn't get blamed. It worked with the debt deal. People are blaming the GOP for the default and for the stock market troubles. He's going to hug the GOP the rest of the way, imo.

[MadHound]

6. Then he'll lose,

He'll turn off the left, who will stay home, and fail to energize the moderates and independents. And thus, he'll lose.

[FrenchieCat]

7. Good! He loses, and then You win!

I'll just be glad he can get some rest.

You and yours have been tearing him a new asshole since he was inaugurated,
and now, you will have won! :applause:

Yeah for all of the "causes" you pretend to so deeply care about
till you had to rag on the Democratic president for 2.8 years!!
They lose too!

So rest assured, and not from the lack of efforts, that you will end up with exactly the administration that you worked hard to install and that you so richly deserve!
Barack Obama will lose an election, but it is the American people who will lose much more, and you and yours will have won! As for Barack Obama, he will put the below achievements down as his legacy, and then some, come your whine or moan!

I'm resigned to him losing, so I'll have to settle to watch this country destroy itself instead. I've prepared myself, and he'll still go down in History as a damn great President.

Passed Health Care reform that none of the other Presidents were able to do, and which prevents insurance companies from denying insurance for pre-existing conditions, and allows children to remain covered by their parents' insurance until the age of 26, and provides subsidies for over 30 million poor who cannot afford insurance. Also expansed Medicaid to all individuals under age 65 who are up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Killed Osama Bin Laden, something that Clinton nor Bush were able to do. Withdrew the majority of troups from Iraq and set a timetable for Afghanistan. Repealed DADT which had been installed under Clinton. Signed Financial Reform law, established Credit Card Bill of Rights, eliminated subsidies to private lender middlemen of student loans, increased pell grants and created the first ever Bureau of Consumer Protection. Cut the cost of Medicare prescription by 50%. Extended same sex partners federal employee benefits and appointed more openly Gay officials than any other President. Passed the Stimulus and saved 3 million jobs lost by the last fucked up Republican President. Lifted restrictions granting Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island. Created more Private sector jobs via incentives in 2010 than Bush had created in 8 years. Allowed first ever Disclosures of White House Visitors to the public. Reversed 'global gag rule'. Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, giving the FDA the authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of tobacco for the first time . Reduced Crack Cocaine sentencing to same as powder Cocaine. Cut down on Nuclear arsenal via Start Treaty. Increased average fuel economy standards from 27.5mpg to 35.5mpg, starting in 2016. Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers. Issued executive order to repeal Bush era restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Did this in less than 2.6 years, while the crazy Right and the Righteous childish Left had their foot
up his ass the whole time.