Martha Raddatz: “Not a lot of enthusiasm” for Biden on cross country trip

[Lief 🗽]

These sickos really are the enemy of the people. I hope President Biden does not take the "high road" and really opens up the first amendment laws so we can go after Martha and her ilk.

[KaiserDave]

These sickos really are the enemy of the people. I hope President Biden does not take the "high road" and really opens up the first amendment laws so we can go after Martha and her ilk.

Are you being sarcastic

[Mr. Smith]

There is enthusiasm for Biden especially compared to Hillary or even compared to other Democrats who ran. The only difference is that there is no cult of personality around Biden like there is with Trump.

I always hear about people flying Trump flags but not Obama flags or bush flags or Clinton flags , but this did not mean their supporters weren't enthusiastic.

With Obama, is was all about dat "HOPE" sign, graffiti'd everywhere you could look.

[Bootes Void]

There is enthusiasm for Biden especially compared to Hillary or even compared to other Democrats who ran. The only difference is that there is no cult of personality around Biden like there is with Trump.

I always hear about people flying Trump flags but not Obama flags or bush flags or Clinton flags , but this did not mean their supporters weren't enthusiastic.

With Obama, is was all about dat "HOPE" sign, graffiti'd everywhere you could look.

That was only in 2008 but after the election it died off it didnt stay for the four years like it did with trump

[Badger]

Of all the presidential candidates I have seen, I believe Joe Biden is the worst one. He is the first candidate I have ever seen who got this far without running on his own merits.

Joe Biden before 2020 ran for President multiple times and never got over 1% of the primary vote. In 2008, polls showed that the majority of people didn’t even know who he was, and he had been in Congress for 30+ years at that time. There is a reason for that.  Now, he is past his prime, and suddenly, he’s gotten further than he ever has?

Sweatband is sweating like a pig. Herp derp!

FYI, it is a long long long overdue that a zero quality poster like you goes on my ignore list. Bye Felicia! Dearly hope you slink off after Trump is humiliated at the polls in a month and never return.

[Hammy]

My enthusiasm for Biden is near zero. But Biden is not running to be the leader of some personality cult, or an entertainer--he is running to remove the plague that is Trump's administration from office.

I'll add that she made no mention of where this "cross country" trip actually went. Where you go in a state, or even the country, makes a monumental difference in what views you're going to hear--and if you go cross country you're going to travel mostly through the heart of hardline conservative ground.

[GP270watch]

 I don't care for Biden at all and probably have an equally low opinion of Harris but Trump is evil, corrupt, and moronic. Trump needs to be gone yesterday and I already voted Biden/Harris. I prefer Democrats like Warren, Barbara Lee, Mazie Hirono and Katie Porter, America would be a far better country with leadership like this.

 

[Alben Barkley]

Right, there's no enthusiasm for Biden.  That must be why he's constantly obliterating small-dollar fundraising records.

Maybe she was just looking for yard signs.

Except I've even seen way more yard signs for Biden than I did for Hillary. In some areas, even more than I did for Obama. There have been some rural areas where I never would have expected to see a sign for a Democrat, but I have for Biden lately. And suburbs that had a lot of Romney signs in 2012 have Biden signs now...

Anyway, notwithstanding the fact that it is very debatable at best if there is in fact less "enthusiasm" for Biden than there is for Trump (and isn't even debatable that anti-Trump enthusiasm at least is high), "enthusiasm" counts for nothing. A vote cast with "enthusiasm" counts exactly as much as a vote cast with no "enthusiasm." Otherwise, Bernie Sanders would be the Democratic nominee right now.

[xavier110]

I don’t sense a lot of enthusiasm for Martha Raddatz

[Mr. Smith]

There is enthusiasm for Biden especially compared to Hillary or even compared to other Democrats who ran. The only difference is that there is no cult of personality around Biden like there is with Trump.

I always hear about people flying Trump flags but not Obama flags or bush flags or Clinton flags , but this did not mean their supporters weren't enthusiastic.

With Obama, is was all about dat "HOPE" sign, graffiti'd everywhere you could look.

That was only in 2008 but after the election it died off it didnt stay for the four years like it did with trump

Depended on where you looked.

[Ljube]

Of all the presidential candidates I have seen, I believe Joe Biden is the worst one. He is the first candidate I have ever seen who got this far without running on his own merits.

Joe Biden before 2020 ran for President multiple times and never got over 1% of the primary vote. In 2008, polls showed that the majority of people didn’t even know who he was, and he had been in Congress for 30+ years at that time. There is a reason for that.  Now, he is past his prime, and suddenly, he’s gotten further than he ever has?

Republicans claim every Democratic nominee is the worst candidate ever. At this point that line is useless.

No, Obama was the best candidate ever.

[Xing]

At this point, anti-Trump enthusiasm really does seem to be enough. It’s why I think any of the Democrats would be beating Trump right now. I wouldn’t have guessed that it would work this way a year ago, but it’s been a hell of a year.

[wbrocks67]

I can't wait for the pundits to be talking about the lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden on election night while Biden leads the vote count in Texas.

Biden is literally hitting nearly $400M in fundraising a month and nearing a double digit advantage nationwide in the polls and they are *still* trying to make this a horse race. It's truly amazing. They're so mad it's not.

[Tekken_Guy]

Maybe it's because people want a "boring" president.

[Non Swing Voter]

I remember when there was "not a lot of enthusiasm" for Ralph Northam.  How'd that go (and Trump wasn't even on the ballot)?

[MT Treasurer]

At this point, anti-Trump enthusiasm really does seem to be enough. It’s why I think any of the Democrats would be beating Trump right now. I wouldn’t have guessed that it would work this way a year ago, but it’s been a hell of a year.

Even though this should be obvious to everyone at this point, to many people it somehow still isn’t, which is honestly just staggering. It’s also why I think that come 2022 Democrats Biden supporters fall into the same trap as Republicans in 2017/2018, especially if there’s a Democratic trifecta: Wildly overestimating the "mandate" and implications of their (decisive) victory in 2020.

I think (and already told you) that you were almost certainly wrong about thinking anti-Trump enthusiasm alone wouldn’t work for Democrats in 2020, but I don’t think you’d be wrong if you predicted that it won’t get Biden very far as President.

[Sbane]

Of all the presidential candidates I have seen, I believe Joe Biden is the worst one. He is the first candidate I have ever seen who got this far without running on his own merits.

Joe Biden before 2020 ran for President multiple times and never got over 1% of the primary vote. In 2008, polls showed that the majority of people didn’t even know who he was, and he had been in Congress for 30+ years at that time. There is a reason for that.  Now, he is past his prime, and suddenly, he’s gotten further than he ever has?

LOL Trump has accomplished a lot hasn't he? He might even make Biden win in a landslide!

[politics_king]

Believe me. I want Biden to win, but he better get some results or I expect a primary challenge or sensible opponent in the General for 2024. Even if he runs again or it's Kamala. No one is in the clear, just get Trump out of the office.

[Coldstream]

Unfortunately for “Dems in disarray” pundits, an unenthusiastic vote is worth as much as an enthusiastic one.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

ok Karen

[Bootes Void]

Believe me. I want Biden to win, but he better get some results or I expect a primary challenge or sensible opponent in the General for 2024. Even if he runs again or it's Kamala. No one is in the clear, just get Trump out of the office.

I doubt a primary challenger against Biden would succeed unless if Kamala ran or Biden shows alot of age in his first term( he'll be 81 in 2024). I do think he will do what he sets out to do in the policy issues however

[Progressive Pessimist]

I'm sure "not a lot of enthusiasm" is something Raddatz has been hearing her entire life.

Damn! That's savage!

[beaver2.0]

On the contrary, I live in a solidly Atlas red region.  I've seen more Biden signs than any candidate since Obama '08.  Maybe things are different in the country, but if it's like this in suburbs across the country that's not a good sign for Trump.

[SevenEleven]

Biden being extremely boring was always one of his main selling points.

[Del Tachi]

Also, people need to stop comparing every candidate to Obama.  Obama harnessed an historically high level of enthusiasm.  His entire candidacy was "enthusiasm."  He was a massive national -- even international -- celebrity and hailed as "first black president" from the moment he delivered his 2004 address.  He was on the cover of TIME in 2006 as "THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT?"  The hype was unbelievable.  That was the entire point of his campaign.

Did Ronald Reagan have Obama-tier enthusiasm?  No.  People like him but they weren't going gaga for him like they did for Obama.

Did Clinton?  Nope.

Did either of the Bushes?  lol no.

Did Eisenhower, Kennedy, or Johnson?  People just saw them as "sensible and likable" they weren't enthusiasm candidates.

Obama was a once-in-a-lifetime political talent who created unbelievable amounts of organic enthusiasm.  In my memory this was for two reasons -- first black president, and because his integrity, bipartisan appeals, and proud intellectualism made him such a tremendous contrast to Bush.

Trump and Sanders have both achieved high levels of enthusiasm by investing heavily in personality cult politics and holding huge rallies.  That's not something I want from Biden, or from any presidential candidate.  Those personality cults have been really harmful to American political discourse and life.

No, it is fundamentally the case that Democrats only seem able to win the White House with very charismatic or likable candidates.

All recent Democratic presidents appear to fit this mold:

JFK - a young, handsome World War II vet taking leadership of America at the dawn of a new decade

Carter - a Southern Baptist preacher with a "down home" morality to lead the nation out of the Watergate nightmare

Clinton - a slick talking Washington outsider and Baby Boomer who famoulsy "didn't inhale"

Obama - an insanely charismatic, cosmopolitian cat to rehab GWB's "cowboy America" on the world stage (first Black president too, to boot)

For Republicans it maybe isn't as important (although Reagan is definitely charismatic in the same way Obama was), but only because the Republican Party since the 1960s has been much more ideologically-animated by the conservative movement.  Democrats have such a disparate, diverse coalition that they need charismatic leaders to unite and win.