Obama: Don't go too far left in 2020

[Green Line]

They need to be going right if they want a shot at winning.  BidenBerg 2020

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

(source: https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/1195768140938002432)

Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable (and correct) take. Just people trying to stir up trouble.

[T'Chenka]

While Mr. Obama did not single out any specific primary candidate or policy proposal, he cautioned that the universe of voters that could support a Democratic candidate — Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans — are not driven by the same views reflected on “certain left-leaning Twitter feeds” or “the activist wing of our party.”

“Even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision we also have to be rooted in reality,” Mr. Obama said. “The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it.”

“I don’t think we should be deluded into thinking that the resistance to certain approaches to things is simply because voters haven’t heard a bold enough proposal and if they hear something as bold as possible then immediately that’s going to activate them,” he said.

100% accurate. It would really suck if Democrats blew this election, or a chance of taking the Senate, by lurching too far to the left.

"We didn't WANT Trump to destroy our country, but the other choice was universal healthcare, green energy and making sure the rich pay their taxes. What were we supposed to do? Better to become Russia than to become Sweden."

[Landslide Lyndon]

Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable (and correct) take. Just people trying to stir up trouble.

What Obama said is incidental for the alt-left. They just want an excuse to diminish him and his accomplishments because they think that this is the way to elevate their preferred candidate.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable (and correct) take. Just people trying to stir up trouble.

What Obama said is incidental for the alt-left. They just want an excuse to diminish him and his accomplishments because they think that this is the way to elevate their preferred candidate.

It was clear that Obama was a sh**tty President long before Bernie ran for President.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Let's not go so far as to call Obama a fraud or sellout, please. He may very well be mistaken here, but there is a reason why he is still the most popular figure within the Democratic Party.

While I appreciate his concern here, he can be proven wrong in the general election. Clinton doesn't get much credit for it, but running against Donald Trump, back in 2016, in an election that ended up not being focused on policy, allowed her to run a more progressive campaign than most Democrats since the 1980's maybe. And that certainly was not a very significant reason why she lost. That will still probably be true in 2020. Of course, Sanders and Warren do have to be a bit attentive with how they run their more left wing oriented campaign because this election is going to come down to whether American voters tolerate Trump more than they like the Democrat, how the Democrat will be characterized by the right wing smear machine, and outside factors beyond their control. I believe that they can run a progressive campaign and manage to avoid being undermined by much of that if they're careful, and vice versa for someone like Biden. I don't think ideology or policy will amount to much in this election either.

It's hard to know for sure, and maybe on November 3, 2020 hindsight will prove Obama to be right here. But for now, I do believe he is being overly cautious. And I don't think there is any way that he won't endorse or support the eventual nominee, no matter who they are.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable (and correct) take. Just people trying to stir up trouble.

What Obama said is incidental for the alt-left. They just want an excuse to diminish him and his accomplishments because they think that this is the way to elevate their preferred candidate.

It was clear that Obama was a sh**tty President long before Bernie ran for President.

Spoken like a true teabagger.

[Calthrina950]

Judging from the responses in this thread, I assume most people on here consider Obama to be an HP. Which I find to be a hilarious development. Perhaps most on here would have wished for Mitt Romney to be in office right now.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Judging from the responses in this thread, I assume most people on here consider Obama to be an HP. Which I find to be a hilarious development. Perhaps most on here would have wished for Mitt Romney to be in office right now.

I wouldn't go that far, though my opinion on Romney has softened a bit. And if he were President, I probably wouldn't be particularly happy, but it would not have given us a Trump Presidency.

Hopefully someday a Rick Sanchez inter-dimensional portal device can be invented and show us how that reality would have looked. I can't imagine that it would be quite as bad, though still bad in other respects. It's a pick your poison type of thing.

[T'Chenka]

Judging from the responses in this thread, I assume most people on here consider Obama to be an HP. Which I find to be a hilarious development. Perhaps most on here would have wished for Mitt Romney to be in office right now.

To make a comparison;, you can think that a Nerf gun is a lame toy because it isn't a Nintendo DS, but that doesn't mean you'd prefer a pet rock to a Nerf gun.  Obama is flawed and disappointng sometimes, but I'd take him any day over a Republican.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Judging from the responses in this thread, I assume most people on here consider Obama to be an HP. Which I find to be a hilarious development. Perhaps most on here would have wished for Mitt Romney to be in office right now.

You understand that people like jfern are totally unrepresentative of the average Democratic voters who still have a 90%+ favorable opinion of Obama, right?

[Calthrina950]

Judging from the responses in this thread, I assume most people on here consider Obama to be an HP. Which I find to be a hilarious development. Perhaps most on here would have wished for Mitt Romney to be in office right now.

To make a comparison;, you can think that a Nerf gun is a lame toy because it isn't a Nintendo DS, but that doesn't mean you'd prefer a pet rock to a Nerf gun.  Obama is flawed and disappointng sometimes, but I'd take him any day over a Republican.

I sure hope that this is the case. Sometimes, it seems like Obama gets attacked much more harshly than he should. Of course, he has his flaws, but he's not the "regressive has-been" that some on here seem to think that he is.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable (and correct) take. Just people trying to stir up trouble.

What Obama said is incidental for the alt-left. They just want an excuse to diminish him and his accomplishments because they think that this is the way to elevate their preferred candidate.

It was clear that Obama was a sh**tty President long before Bernie ran for President.

Spoken like a true teabagger.

People can encompass contradictions.  The world is complicated - someone can be good at something important yet terrible at something else equally important. Obama did a lot of good, and compared to his predecessors and successor was a good President (and a good human being) in many ways, even if I disagree with many of the choices he made and think he made some major mistakes. Many, but not all, of my disagreements come from the way I think the status quo should change, and that Obama instead continued the status quo.

Trying to set my personal views on how things should work aside (I'm a social and economic leftist, Obama is a socially liberal technocrat), here's where I think he made some big mistakes:

-he was a decent leader for the nation, but a poor leader for the Democratic party.
-on too many fronts, he strove to avoid conflict, even when doing so made the problem worse over time.
-By making the choices he did, both real wealth inequality and popular anger over it gained ground, helping to fuel Trump's rise.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Dems are riding on the same platform as Obama, campaign finance, immigration reform, DC statehood and gun control. And I think Robert's wants to protect integrity of CRT, then see Dems add 2 more justices. He is alot like Owen Robert's who flipped on the New Deal, when FDR wanted to CRT pack

[TML]

If what he means is "we need to stay corporatist in order to win," then no thanks.

[Pericles]

I really regret voting for this fraud 3 times (2008 primary, 2008 general, 2012 general).

Tbh from your perspective would Hillary have been any better?

[Hatman 🍁]

As judged by the posts in this thread, Obama's comments were very divisive indeed. Good luck Democrats!

[Higgins]

ok boomer

Millennial POS.

[Higgins]

Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable (and correct) take. Just people trying to stir up trouble.

What Obama said is incidental for the alt-left. They just want an excuse to diminish him and his accomplishments because they think that this is the way to elevate their preferred candidate.

It was clear that Obama was a sh**tty President long before Bernie ran for President.

Comrade, Comrade, oh subhuman Comrade scum, what you fail to realize is you’re just as evil as the Neo-Nazis you despise. You and they are two sides of the same coin. Obama was probably the best President of the last 50 years. But because he wasn’t Mao, and because he didnt hate white people, he’s trash to you.

[T'Chenka]

Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable (and correct) take. Just people trying to stir up trouble.

What Obama said is incidental for the alt-left. They just want an excuse to diminish him and his accomplishments because they think that this is the way to elevate their preferred candidate.

It was clear that Obama was a sh**tty President long before Bernie ran for President.

Comrade, Comrade, oh subhuman Comrade scum, what you fail to realize is you’re just as evil as the Neo-Nazis you despise. You and they are two sides of the same coin. Obama was probably the best President of the last 50 years. But because he wasn’t Mao, and because he didnt hate white people, he’s trash to you.

LMAO!

I actually laughed so hard I started coughing.

Trump TOTALLY isn't like Hitler AT ALL, but Sanders is clearly Mao incarnate. Got it. Lololololol.

[President Johnson]

I also find it hilarious how Obama gets attacked by the left now. If he said the opposite, moderate Democrats wouldn't slam him the way leftists do.

[Landslide Lyndon]

As judged by the posts in this thread, Obama's comments were very divisive indeed. Good luck Democrats!

If by divisive you mean they triggered the 1% of Democrats who think Obama is a failed president (and other assorted Jill Stein voters), indeed they were.

[Mr. Smith]

I also find it hilarious how Obama gets attacked by the left now. If he said the opposite, moderate Democrats wouldn't slam him the way leftists do.

Yes, yes they would. Complete with claims of helping the Republicans, or being "unrealistic".

[Koharu]

I think Obama was a good president and I respect what he accomplished, especially with Congress against him most of the time, but I disagree with this statement. It's why I used a GIF of him saying no. Also, he was the one who got many people thinking about more left-wing options.

[Hammy]

This is coming from the man who had a Senate supermajority and squandered it by letting Republicans decide what proposals he'd take, all in the name of that mythical bipartisanship. Nothing he says on "going too far left" is valid.