Let’s stop focusing on the intricacies of the tax cut package for a while. Obama’s mistake all along has not been any of his policies, in fact he has probably done the best that you could hope for by any president. Right from his first six months when he pulled out all stops to revive a dangerously tottering economy (and was successful) by passing an superbly crafted stimulus package, despite the howls from the tea party poopers. His admin came up with innovative ideas like cash for clunkers and housing tax credit to try various methods to provide a boost for the economy and all their efforts did work spectacularly as the economy starting going into growth mode within a year of his taking office and the stock market doubled since the passing of the stimulus package. Most Americans cannot even begin to fathom what the situation would be if Obama hadn’t taken the right steps to revive confidence in the financial markets and institutions.

But, he failed to defend it aggressively when the opposition tried to cover up the progress that he had made and tried to knock him down along with the economy by scaremongering on deficits and national debt. He failed to defend the healthcare package enough, which was a mixed bag but definitely a step in the right direction as something had to be done about the rising premiums. He didn’t fight the misleading distortions fabricated by the tea party that the stimulus package was a bailout and he didn’t castigate them for talking down the economy by haring on their ‘out of the blue’ and ill-timed concern for deficits (when the economy is in a depression? Common!).

Maybe his thinking was that it would be best as president to stay out of mudfights and be ‘presidential’. Alternatively, maybe he thought that it would be best to if the congress is divided, as it would put some of the blame on the republicans and force them to walk their talk and cast unpopular votes. He did campaign hard in the last month before the election but it was obviously too late and too little, and there was still not enough of a defence of his policies. That was a big letdown for the votes who got him in and for the voters who wanted to vote for his party again in 2010, as it is his duty, and a duty towards those supporting his policies and defending him, to educate the nation about his policies and actions and also point out the vicious untruths being spread out there to brainwash the unaware voters (to their credit they did a good job, because suddenly everybody was concerned about the ‘deficit’). Hell, it IS his duty to tell the American people who is lying and who is fighting for them, for the liars did not blink while trying their best to destroy the very economy that he was fighting so hard to rebuild. It IS his duty to tell after the elections that he was more concerned about the long-term deficits that his two-faced opposition and that is why he was not supporting extending the tax cuts for the rich and that was why he came up with a brand new healthcare plan. He has been working on the same issues that the voters found him lacking on, but obviously he was not able to communicate to them. That should have been message… of course, he did try a weak defense while admitting the ‘shellacking;, but immediately backed down when there were headlines saying ‘Doesn’t Obama Get it Even Now?’.

His policies cost the party in the elections, but he still had one more chance, which he didn’t take and that was the biggest mistake of his career. Instead of taking the opportunity after the election to strongly defend his policies and denounce the misinformation that many voters had about his policies due to the lies of the opposition. He should have said the things mentioned above and should have told the votes in no uncertain terms that the short-term economic revival and long-term deficits are key focuses for him and he will not accept any proposals from the Republicans which will derail the progress he has made on both.

He should have hit back hard when they were throwing baseless allegations at him that he was not focusing on job growth and instead was focusing on healthcare and 'big government'. He should have left no doubt in people's minds that his stimulus package had job creation (which is associated with economic growth) at the core, and included many proposals for governement investments that would not only add many jobs but would would also improve America's failing infrastrucuture (killing two birds with one stone). He should have emphasized his growth initiatives like 'cash for clunkers' and home buyer's tax cut which helped the economy and created more jobs, and that government investments are necessary in such disastrous economic times. When there is no defence, then the prosecution gets a walkover even if their allegations are bucketfuls of horse excretions. Now all that mud will stick to him forever and any gains that have been made by his proposals and policies over the past two years and the new tax cuts will get attributed to the republicans, for they will take credit for passing that law and helping the economy turn the corner. He would be though of as a clueless guy who focused on the wrong things and pushed his socialist agenda, till the republicans won the house and knockedsome sense into him, whereas the republicans/tea party were just talking down the economy all this while and trying to reverse the economic progress as they did not want Obama to suceed (and the country be damned).

Instead, he got the wrong advise that he should take this opportunity to show the voters that ‘he gets it’ and show his willingness to move towards the center and win back the moderates. So he meekly parroted the tea party quacks, and abandoned any defence of his policies, and immediately started pushing out the proposals of his deficit panel within a few weeks of the election. Heck, the panel was set a long time ago and instead of using that as an opportunity to tell the public that the panel was set up long before these butter brains knew what that meant, as he was always concerned about long-term deficits and that they are ready with their findings now. However, his lack of any spine in standing up for his work made him look like a person who had no clue that the deficits were an important factor to be considered for long-term economic stability and that the election of the republicans and the hammering of the message by the tea party finally made him see the light. His quick willingness to negotiate with the republicans and pass the tax cut package again sheds him in the same light and the credit for retaining the tax cut and all the good middle class benefits will be snatched by the republicans. They will again claim this step as something Obama had to take because they took the house and they forced him to take the right steps for the economy.

Obama is probably happy that he has the votes of the republicans on record that he can use against them, but he doesn’t realize that because he did not stand up and educate the American public about the good that he has done, which is now bringing fruit, the republicans will claim the credit for the recovery gaining steam over the next two years (thanks to Obama's policies) as they will point out that a lot of it happened after they took over the house and pushed Obama to take the right steps.

Not setting the record straight before the election, or even after it, is the biggest mistake that Obama has made so far. He will find out that the hard way that it is very difficult to change the hard-set perception that many people now have of him, and lost credibility (even that lost due to lies) cannot be regained easily and when a lot of mud gets thrown at you then some it does stick unless you make an effort to clean it up.

2010 US Elections, Election Strategy, Tea Party Expose, US Politics Obama mistake, 2010 election lies, tax cut deal, republican deception, tea party lies

There is no way that somebody as smart as Obama could not envision the surefire path to decimate the tea-party and dunk the tea bags in hot water. The blatant lies that the tea party was propogating, right from day one, can be exposed very easily by anybody who’s smarter than a fifth grader. I’ve seem his 2008 campaign and they did not let mud stick on them for too long and let it rip at the opposition if need be. I understand things have changed and he is in power, so he has to be more accomodating and also needs to keep relationships intact to get support for his policies. It must not have been too difficult to figure though, what he needs to do to win. It was way to obvious for too many, and for his seasoned campaign managers, that the despicable distortions of the right had to be debunked before too many people started believing that to be the truth. I’ve been laying out what he needed to do to win this election, in my previous articles, and I can’t believe there aren’t others who found it so obvious.

1) Defend the stimulus – how the economy was saved from disaster

•        How it is necessary to have an economic revival to reduce deficits, and a short-term stimulus is very important for reviving the economy
•        How the bill is not a bailout and how it involves investment in America’s infrastructure which also helped save 3 mil jobs
•        Most major economists agree that stimulus was required, and in fact many of them say that it was too less

2) Point out opposition hollowness and duplicity on deficits and the economy

•        They want to cut taxes for rich yet keep shouting about the deficits, neither are they willing to admit cutting spending on any specific item
•        How an economic revival is a prerequisite for deficits and how the repubs don’t have any plan for reviving the economy and getting the jobs back

3) Defend Healthcare and again point out hollowness of the tea party/GOP again.

•         They don’t have any plan to fix the increasing premiums, at least I have a plan even though I admit it’s not perfect
•        Republicans are just saying what the big healthcare companies want to hear, as they have received huge donations from big corporations. The truth is they have been bought out by the big pharma and big insurance companies and that is the only interest thye have in mind even though they put on this facade of foaming at the mouth due to the 'government takeover' of healthcare. Hello, this is plan based on the policies one of your most conservative brethren, Mitt Romney, so pipe down you fake foamers.

4) Point out hypocrisy on financial regulation – wall street nearly bought down the market and the country, and the republicans don’t want to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Spreading blatant lies again about the bill promising bailout for companies, instead the bill provides measures to end taxpayer bailouts.

5) Point out all the steps and policies for economic revival taken up and how the steps are slowly taking effect, markets are up by 50%. He has to say "I understand jobs are not coming back completely, but we have been through a major recessions and it will take some more time to come completely out of the woods. Republicans have no plan, they are the party of no and they just want to stop any progress as they do not want the current administration to succeed at any cost, even if that means destroying their own country’s economy".

The fact that he did not say these things or even run any kind of campaign, shows that either he is too dumb or he is playing a very deliberate and seemingly (to him) smart game. The advantages of a divided congress is that he can share blame with the republicans and force them to cast votes that he can use against them later on. He’ll play nice with them for another year to get some of his agenda moving, and as soon as 2012 arrives he’ll take off the kid gloves. 

This may work, but by not defending himself against any of the accusations fired by the republicans and not cleaning his sullied reputation he is making the classic mistake that most politicians continue to make and yet nobody ever learns from them (such as Kerry and senior Bush to name a couple). You CANNOT let the opposition destroy your credibility and your image. Bush won in 2004 because they were successful is casting Kerry as a ‘french poodle’, who was wimpy and waffly. By not standing up strongly for his policies and actions and not defending them vigorously against the baseless attacks of the right, he has let the mud stick on him and has let the lies become the truth for too many people. If there are accusations flying fast and thick from one side and if there is no response from the other side, then there is a presumption of guilt. Once a perception about a perception becomes very strong, it cannot be shaken off no matter how much you try later. You got to fight the wrong accusations before they become the accepted truth. People respect a person who stands up for himself and believes in his actions. By 2012, even if the people realize the disgusting truth about the tea party, they would be too disappointed in Obama’s lack of interest in fighting for the truth in 2010 and will look for someone who can fight harder for himself/herself.

He had a sliver of opportunity after the election to point out the discrepancies and blatant lies on which the republicans and tea party had won the election, but he again got cowed down by those very same stupid voices saying ’He still doesn’t get why he lost the election. He’s is denial …’. He should have had the guts to say ‘I lost the election because a lot of lies were passed off as the truth, and I did not do a good job of correcting these distortions’. He has very little time to change course and start showing spine or else we’re looking at a one-term lame duck president.

2010 US Elections, Tea Party Expose, US Politics Obama 2010 election, 2010 democrats loss

In a rally, President Obama said that this election is a "choice between the policies that are getting us into this mess versus policies that are getting us out of this mess". The voters, on the other hand, are asking questions such as "how will we pay almost a trillion dollars for healthcare? Why did we bail out wall street with a stimulus package? Why aren't we doing anything about jobs?" This basic disconnect is the reason why the democrats are losing now and have lost in the past too. They never answer the questions head-on and dive into this heady complex sermons that go nowhere. Look at this article, this article and this article to see what I mean. Obama made statements which sound like typical politicial sound bites and statements which address nothing and is still trying to rally people using 2008 slogans like 'Yes, we can!' and "GW Bush is responsible for the mess we're in."

It's obvious from the article that David Axelrod is the genius behind the 'we're in the mess because of the failed policies of the previoud admin' brainwave. Wow, we couldn't ask for anything better, after two years of running the country, to say that 'it's not my fault, he messed it up'. What is still inexplicable is "why is is so hard to understand that you have to defend, clarify and explain your policies to the people, especially when they are expressing serious concern about most of them". Why does the democratic campaign run away from basic principles such as standing up for your work and strongly refuting blatantly false allegations cooked up by the opponents? Well, it's too late to think about that, but the first we ought to do Wednesday morning is to give David Axelrod the boot and hire somebody with basic smarts such as Tom Perriello.

Why Tom Perriello? This is how easy he makes it look .. when asked about the stimulus package, he said "Let's all act like grown people here. We all know that the stimulus package was necessary to preven the economy from going into depression." and for the healthcare he said "Look, we had to do something about healthcare, as the premiums were going through the roof. This is not a perfect package, but it is a step in the right direction and if we think about new ideas instead of just criticising it blindly we can come up with make it better.".

That's it takes to win an election ... of course, you may ask why is Tom Perriello not leading in that case? The problem is that Tom Perriello's head-on campaign was too little too late, and due to the national democrats 'roll over and stick head in sand' approach while the tea party was ravaging Obama's policies and distorting them and brainwashing the general public with calculated misinformation, some of the mud stuck and has been difficult to wipe clean by just one lone man. But the fact that he is still within striking distance in a race which he won by just 737 votes in a bumper year for democrats shows that honesty and conviction in your actions is always looked up by the American electorate.

I've covered the elements of a simple campaign strategy that can make it a 'slam dunk' for the democrats in this article, but apparently the democrats are hellbent on making it very difficult for them. We cannot tolerate this absolute incompetency in terms of campaigning skills and we have to make sure that the president pays attention to a broader base of advise in terms of campaign strategy and he listens to what an 'average Joe' like us thinks of his campaign and incorporates our inputs.

2010 US Elections, Election Strategy, US Politics Tom Periello, David Axelrod, Campaign Strategy, Obama policies, Stimulus package, healthcare bill