The Upcoming Electoral Map
(Get used to it Repugs.)
Keep pissing off women.
Keep pissing off Hispanics.
Keep pissing off blacks.
Keep pissing off Asian-Americans
Keep pissing off Islamic-Americans (a rock-solid Republican block until G.W. Bush)
Keep pissing off students and other young people.
Now consider The Most Overlooked Voting Pattern:
If a young person votes for the same party three times in a row,
that person will be overwhelmingly likely to vote for that same party forevermore.
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Alan: After reading the following article, be sure to check out the "Comments."
The Insiders: Oh no, the Democrats could pull out of their dive
I had a nightmare last night that things suddenly got better for the Democrats. I’ve been worried that their health-care debacle is happening too soon — it’s not close enough to the 2014 elections to suit me. Anyway, this has affected my sleep. President Obama is the luckiest politician on Earth. Here is how his fortunes could change:
President Obama at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council annual meeting. (Drew Angerer/Bloomberg)
First, the stock market on steroids could continue to bolster the 1 percent. It is ironic that Obama’s policies have been great for the privileged few who hold giant positions in the stock market. The Democrats can’t admit it, but some of the paper wealth created by the Obama administration’s conveyor belt of money from Washington to Wall Street does trickle down to the masses. The more paper gains, the more trickle down, and the better the economy feels. All indications are that new Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen understands this, and won’t take her foot off the gas before the November 2014 elections.
Next, Obama’s unwitting position as an oil tycoon makes Bush and Cheney look like complete amateurs. Although Obama is doing nothing to help it, the United States is experiencing the greatest oil boom in at least the last 50 years. The whole world has noticed the flood of cheap energy in the United States. The United States’ new-found oil wealth is already evident in several states and may show up soon across the country, from lower gasoline prices at the pump (something rank-and-file voters feel in real time) to a major expansion in the petrochemicals business. Can you imagine Obama or any other Democrat running for office and pledging to expand the petrochemical business in the United States?
So by next summer, we could see a bloated 1 percent, stuffed with stock market gains, spending money on everything from luxury purchases to new home construction, and the 99 percent getting some relief at the gas pump. We could also see new jobs being created by the petroleum industry. Yes, Obama and his Democratic allies, who piously promise to end income inequality and deliver the planet from the destruction wrought by cheap oil, may be the political beneficiaries of both.
Meanwhile, Obamacare could experience something of a dead-cat bounce. The takeover of the U.S. health-care system has been such a disaster so far that the absence of new calamities going forward might make Obamacare appear more benign than many expected. And let’s not forget, people will sign up for Obamacare not because they love it or because the able and reassuring so-called navigators rode to the rescue, but because word will spread that Obama’s IRS will come after you if you don’t buy the Democrat’s health insurance. A few stories circulating about the IRS pursuing those in noncompliance with Obamacare will be a great marketing tool. The ultimate protection racket is about to be unleashed.
The bottom line is that all these potential outcomes could converge around November of next year, saving the Democrats from the down draft that many are currently predicting. It would help if Republicans had a plan beyond just hoping for the worst.
Follow Ed on Twitter: @EdRogersDC
12:00 PM PST
"It is ironic that Obama’s policies have been great for the privileged few who hold giant positions in the stock market."
Rogers apparently doesn't know that the Fed is a private corporation chartered by the government, and that once appointed the chair is independent of the executive branch, and that the current Fed policies were put in place under Bernanke, a Bush appointee?
Once we recognize Roger's ignorance on this basic matter, let's turn to whose policies have left the Fed with the burden of propping up the economy by the admittedly inefficient mechanism of monetary policy. It is the Republicans who keep shrinking the fiscal side of macroeconomic growth promotion. Economists not blinded by supply-side ideology have provided us with studies that show that this prolonged unemployment is bad not only for individuals, families, communities, and the economy, but by retarding growth and taxes revenues actually is bad for the deficit too.
Republicans deserve to lose, and our future depends upon it.
And there is the Republican soul laid bare. Ed is cheering for failure of the ACA, regardless that such an outcome would deny access to affordable health care for millions of our fellow citizens. Why? He thinks it helps his party politically.
Here's a thought, Ed. Instead of rooting for failure, why not offer a better solution? That would help your political fortunes immensely more.
That is the only thing your party is capable of doing these days – blame Obama for everything – isn’t it, Ed?
Mr. Rogers is the ultimate "insider." He knows how the levers of power are exercised and how those with access to power and influence can manage the system so they come out better than OK regardless of which party is in power and regardless of whether it has a D or an R behind the names.
Also note that if something is going good it is not because of anything President Obama did but that if something is going wrong it is his fault almost entirely; and that if anything is going for him and his party it is to be discounted as an accident of nature. Evidently, Mr. Rogers thinks that the old adage of a broken clock being right twice a day applies to the Obama Administration.
Come on, Ed, cut him some slack; you have a good paying gig providing very predictable and biased commentary in the paper of record in DC; in a perverse way you owe your current prosperity to the fact a Democrat is in the Oval Office. granted you might be making more from your consulting clients if you had more access to the White House and a Republican President but beggars cannot be choosers and you might have to wait another six years or more for your big payday.
Obamacare is being sold by and administered by these same corporations; so if you want to hang some blame onto President Obama for attempting to become the health czar please do not leave out his un-indicted co-conspirators; Aetna, HCofA and the other for profit companies who will see increases in revenue and profits from all the new insured citizens. Executives at these companies are the cats who swallowed 25 million new canaries and will be thanking Barack Obama every fourth quarter when bonuses are paid out.
First, it's only your opinion that the Democrats are in a "down draft" - last I checked, they won the 2012 election as well as a big Va mayoral race. The ACA roll out is absolutely rocky, but the majority of Americans are still supportive of the underlying policy (check gallup).
Second, are you really being critical of the stock market gains? Your argument for trickle down economics was weak and lacked any data or fact.
Third, the global economy is based on fossil fuels, so when commerce/economy/trade increase, it makes sense that more oil is consumed. President Obama has done more to further alternative energy sources than other presidents. Additionally, he doesn't have personal family ties (or family wealth) to oil.
Do you read your articles before you print them?