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Establishment Democrats and Liberal Media Upset by Obama Bashing at Democrat Debates

Establishment Democrats and Liberal Media Upset by Obama Bashing at Democrat Debates

“From health care to immigration to trade, key accomplishments of the Obama administration came under fire”

Wednesday’s debate was striking in the amount of time the candidates spent fighting not only with each other, but going after Obama’s record. At many times, it seemed like Biden was the only person who was standing up for the former president.

This did not go unnoticed by other prominent Democrats.

Alexander Bolton writes at The Hill:

Democrats express alarm over debate’s negative tone

Democratic lawmakers were left shaken and worried by Wednesday night’s bruising presidential debate, which left some fearing the fight will hurt the party and result in a damaged nominee.

Senate Democrats are frustrated that candidates are spending too much time and effort attacking each other for relatively small policy differences, while not focusing their ire on President Trump.

They worry the intraparty food fight is overshadowing what they see as the main goal: Drawing a clear contrast between the Democratic candidates and Trump on health care and other key issues.

“I’m of the view that we have always been a party of ideas,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.). “I think everybody should sort of consider that.”

She said there is “concern” within the caucus of the increasingly vicious attacks, particularly against the front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden…

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) blamed the debate moderators for much of the negativity.

“I think these debates are really silly,” he said. “Just the incessant focus on these relative minor divisions between candidates might make for good TV but I don’t think gives people an accurate portrayal of the stakes of this election.”…

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) called the attacks hurled back and forth among the presidential hopefuls “awful.”

“It’s not who I am, it’s not what I believe in, I don’t think it helps anybody — to attack each other and try to annihilate each other,” he said. “It’s just awful. The whole scenario is bad.”

“Run for something, don’t run against something,” he added.

I attribute some of this to overconfidence. Democrats are so convinced that 2020 is already in the bag that they are competing with each other for the ultimate prize.

Jeff Zeleny and Kevin Liptak of CNN note the alarm over the criticism of Obama:

Obama allies exasperated as Democrats put his legacy on trial

He’s the most popular figure in the Democratic Party by far, revered by liberals, moderates and even some Republicans.

But former President Barack Obama — who has remained largely silent amid a rancorous Democratic primary — came under a harsh spotlight as candidates vying for his onetime job picked apart aspects of his legacy during Wednesday night’s debate.

The skeptical examination of the party’s de facto leader left several veterans of the Obama administration outraged that more attacks were trained on the former President than the current one. And Obama has privately expressed some disapproval of what he views as unrealistic proposals from some Democratic candidates, according to a source familiar with those conversations.

From health care to immigration to trade, key accomplishments of the Obama administration came under fire and faced a sometimes-unflattering re-examination by candidates eager to keep their campaigns alive by trying to prove their progressive credentials.

Their direct target wasn’t Obama himself, but rather his former vice president, Joe Biden, who leads a large pack of Democrats looking to distinguish themselves in the party’s crowded presidential primary fight. Biden has tied himself closely to Obama, casually referring to his former boss as “Barack” in a bid to illustrate their closeness and benefit from his popularity.

This election is going to be more difficult for Democrats than many of the candidates seem to believe. Especially when it is so apparent to voters that they are willing to abandon their own past.

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Comments

2smartforlibs | August 2, 2019 at 9:02 am

In the propaganda machines eye Obama could do no wrong so how could the party find fault with him?

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to 2smartforlibs. | August 2, 2019 at 4:01 pm

    Yes.

    That same Lame-Stream Media gifted Barrack with a Nobel Peace Prize for nothing and for doing nothing even before his presidency got going.

    RE: Establishment Democrats and Liberal Media Upset by Obama Bashing at Democrat Debates – Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

    The Dem candidates at all levels, from county to state to national have absolutely nothing to lose by telling the truth about the ONE, and everything to gain by telling that truth.

      notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital. | August 2, 2019 at 4:51 pm

      Oh Dear Me!

      The Step-N-Fetch President is not “pleased.”

      “Obama Angry That Democrat Candidates Are Attacking His Presidency and Obamacare
      —Ace of Spades

      This might drive this narcissist to do that which he previously refused to do: Endorse Joe Biden, one of the few Democrats who still considers Obama a successful and progressive president.”

Remember when Bammy was gonna be the “Leader of the Resistance”??? HA!!!

    TrickyRicky in reply to Tom Servo. | August 2, 2019 at 10:27 am

    I’m not so sure that BHO is not up to his eyeballs in the Resistance, behind the scenes, fluffing his mentor and paymaster George Soros.

      Tom Servo in reply to TrickyRicky. | August 2, 2019 at 12:30 pm

      I’m sure Valerie Jarrett is all about the Resistance. Obama is in the basement in his boxers, smoking doobies and playing NBA Allstars on his xbox.

      notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to TrickyRicky. | August 2, 2019 at 4:03 pm

      Er…..fluffing?

      Isn’t that a “Hollywood” movie set job???????

obama was the worst president of my lifetime, beating out even Jimmy Carter. Carter was in way over his head, but at least he loved America. obama had nothing but hate and contempt for America. obama is going to be exposed soon.

    maxmillion in reply to CKYoung. | August 2, 2019 at 10:41 am

    I agree with everything you say, but please elucidate upon what you mean by “going to be exposed soon.”

      Petrushka in reply to maxmillion. | August 2, 2019 at 10:51 am

      I’m speculating that some deal has been cut to expose Spygate without putting anyone in prison. Something like a mass plea bargain.

It’s how to keep the Wookie from running. She thrives on blind adulation. But having to wear the mantle of the Obama legacy while her entourage starts going to prison and Trump reminding everyone how much she hates America, I don’t think she has the stomach for it. It’s going to be “will she or won’t she” for months and then she won’t.

Cognitive dissonance is something that happens to a person’s mind, when beloved fantasy collides with reality. During the 2016 election, DJT ran on the major policies the Democrat and the Republican politicians have promised us for decades. Since he won, he has been pursuing those policy goals with vigor and has achieved success to a surprising degree.

Meanwhile, the Democrat Party, at both the State and national levels, continues the failed Clinton strategy of character assassination, and is now requiring its candidates to run on very unpopular policy positions.

For example, they try to pretend that it is outrageous and racist for DJT to say exactly the same thing their own politicians say. DJT quoted none other than Elijah Cummings when he tweeted that Baltimore is “rat-infested,” and yet the Democrats, and some foolish Republicans, now claim the term is racist.

The Obama administration poured money into Baltimore, to no good effect. The DJT administration is poised to pour in more money, using a different policy framework and different funding mechanisms. Both groups from time to time have recognized that Baltimore has problems. When my family does something like this, we call it “agreeing at the top of our lungs.” The thing is, real, positive solutions seem to wait untill the shouting dies down, and people can talk rationally. That DJT can make progress in this atmosphere is nothing short of amazing, to me.

If the Democrats (and some foolish Republicans) want to talk rationally, they are going to have to admit that, love Barack as much as they may, his policies met with little success, and DJT’s policies are a distinct improvement.

I attribute some of this to overconfidence.

Perhaps. But the D’rats complaining that the candidates are tearing into each other seem oblivious to the whole idea here. The Presidency is the road to fame and fortune, and only one of the candidates will have a shot at it. It does Booker, say, no good personally if Warren is the candidate. He has no motivation to do anything except elevate himself, most likely at the cost of tearing her down. The rest of the Dems wouldn’t care quite so intensely who the final candidate is, but they don’t much care as long as somebody defeats Orange Man Bad.

Now, it could be overconfidence that the Dems at large don’t seem all that interested in selecting the best candidate to fight the dragon. Perhaps they believe that any one of the nebishes we’ve seen in these debates can do it, so there’s no need to select the strongest. But I don’t think the Dems are quite that out-of-touch.

Everyone hear about Luca Brasi Holder warning people not to dare criticize the sainted Obama?

An odious and vile sycophant-lackey, to the end. I mean, God forbid anyone utter a bad word about the most manifestly narcissistic, arrogant and incompetent President in U.S. history.

    The big takeaway on barry is that he is the ULTIMATE – ULTIMATE Uncle Tom: after 8 years of this moron, blacks were worse off on the democrat plantation than they ever have been. And barry got rich. And the beast he tows around became a fashion armpit.

    My fellow black Americans living in the democrat ghettos: wake up.

“Hey, you guys assured me that my Affirmative Action card protected me from criticism for the rest of my life.”

Mark Michael | August 2, 2019 at 1:19 pm

I watched the PBS NewsHour after the two Democratic presidential debates. The commentators – Amy Walters & the other lady (whose name escapes me at the moment) & others on the show were clearly very worried about how the candidates assaulted each other.

They worried openly about how Pres. Trump will use their own words against their eventual winning candidate. They bemoaned how so little time was spent running down Pres. Trump and instead attacking each other.

Frankly, it’s hard to remember, since I’m getting old and forgetful plus the ideas are foolish fantasy ideas, but I recall things like “Medicare for all will bankrupt thousands of small hospitals across America. Medicare pays way too little for the services they require”; “abolishing private insurance – when 150 million Americans have private insurance – is taking things away from middle-class Americans!” Similar statements were made about the free college tuition, repaying everybody’s college loans, reparations for blacks who can trace their ancestry back to slavery.

Pres. Trump was in the heads of these commentators – they were thinking about how he painted the competing GOP candidates in 2015 and 2016 – and how the names stuck.

Oddly, they never discussed the obvious names that Sen. Elizabeth Warren will encounter if she’s the Dem nominee – pioneered here at Legal Insurrection. She seemed to be one of their favorites…so this calls into question their attachment to political reality.

Give him all the same Fisher-Price Nobel Prize they bought off Uncle Tom Obama with. That’ll shut them up.

Regarding the article’s speculation about Dems being overconfident, I don’t think that’s really as much an issue as it is that they now know how far they can push with electoral fraud, after the mid-term elections last year.

Many point and laugh at the clown show that was the Florida elections, but IIRC there were a total of 17 contested races, and all of them were won by Dems with last-minute votes. I don’t have the math to run the numbers, but the odds of all 17 close races all flipping Dem (giving them the House of Representatives) seems pretty darn long to me, something along the lines of multiple lightning strikes on the same person at the same position.

With the non-event that was the midterms, as far as any uproar about voting shenanigans go, the fraud squads to steal the election are either primed or are being primed, giving plenty of time for the potential candidates to tear one another down for the top Dem slot.

“From health care to immigration to trade, key failures of the Obama administration came under fire”

healthguyfsu | August 3, 2019 at 2:29 am

Notice how the invocation of racism accusations are conspicuously absent from the rebukes of Obama criticisms when it is dem on dem.

Obama was somewhat subtle about his racism and divisiveness. There’s nothing subtle about Harris and Booker.

BerettaTomcat | August 3, 2019 at 12:38 pm

The Left and Right finally can agree on something — the natural-born British East African was a terrible President (or usurper if you are on the informed Right). The Left sees him as not being far enough to the Left; the Right sees him as far too Left.

Clearly the Democrat base wants to field a candidate dramatically to the Left of our worst, most failed occupant of the White House ever. A recipe for four more years of Trump.