— Or how Al Gore and Barack Obama won —
Clinton fans seem as much, if not more, impervious to facts as Reagan zombies. Thirteen years on they still refuse to accept what team Gore discovered in 1999 and what Sally Bedell Smith reported in 2007 in White House Civil War.
The study reported that Gore’s favorability rating was 47 percent, down from 58 percent the previous December. Seventy-four percent of those polled were “tired of all the problems associated with the Clinton administration” –an alarming phenomenon that became known as “Clinton fatigue.” Only 29 percent of Americans would have welcomed four more years of Bill Clinton, and 52 percent said they liked Gore better. In a hypothetical race between Gore and George W. Bush, the Texas governor led 54 percent to 41 percent, up several ticks since January.
Independents just weren’t that into Bill Clinton:
To avoid associating themselves with the president’s excesses, both Gore and Hillary made strategic decisions not to campaign with Bill publicly, even as he campaigned for both of them–considerably more for Hillary than for Gore–at private fund-raising events around the country.
But facts suggest that it was worse than that and reconfirmed what Harry Truman observed long ago:
“Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time”
<Given a choice between a
While every election is multi-factorial and it’s lazy, if not disingenuous, to abstract a single cause, ignoring results, both positive and negative, is silly. Results mean the WH and Congress.
From 1932 through 1992, Republicans controlled the House of Representatives for a total of four years. First lost in 1946 and solidly recaptured two years later. Lost again in 1952 and regained in 1954.
Over that same period of time, Republicans fared better in the Senate. In the majority party for ten years. Six of those years coincided with the first six years Reagan was in the WH.
Equally interesting are the years in which Democrats lost House and Senate seats. Truman knew where of he spoke.
After retaking the Senate in 1986, Democrats added one more seat to their margin in the two subsequent elections. Modest gain to the DEM majority in the House were also posted in those three elections. (Even in 1988 when Dukakis lost.)
So, what happened after team-Clinton took over the party in 1992? One Senate seat gained that year. Nine lost (and the majority) in 1994, two lost in 1996 and no losses in 1998. In the House, Democratic seats were lost in all four of those elections with the majority also lost in 1994.
In 2000 when Gore won, the GOP Senate majority was reduced to zero (Jeffords later defection from the GOP made it 51 for the Democrats) but two more House seats were lost. However, team Clinton never fully relinquished its control of the Party and took over as soon as Bush v. Gore was settled by the SCOTUS. Six more DEM Senate seats and the majority were lost in the next two elections.
Then along came Howard Dean from the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party” with his 50 state strategy. Within two years Democrats were the majority in both the House and Senate. Al Gore stopped being forgotten. Those majorities were increased two years later and a Democrat was elected POTUS.
A very curious thing happened between election day 2008 and when Obama began announcing his cabinet choices. Team Clinton was baack. Dean and candidate Obama were gone “Republican like” lost in 2010. (Could have been worse if the GOP hadn’t gone with batshit crazy in the Maryland and Nevada Senate races.)
Since we saw the line-up of GOP wannabe POTUS candidates a couple of years ago, I haven’t doubted that Obama would get his second term. At the most simplistic level and on a comparative basis, crazy, empty-suited, or weak loses in Presidential general elections. Depending on the day of the week, Romney usually exhibits one of those characteristics. Only his skin color and rightwing billionaire donors are keeping him afloat at this time. Even Karl Rove appears to have shifted his efforts from Mitt to Senate races and probably correctly perceiving that Democrats have no game for House seats. However, after dumping a boatload of money in Ohio, the GOP super-pacs have already had to concede defeat to Sherrod Brown who doesn’t legislate or run as “Republican like.” Karl also appears to concede that “Republican semi-like” McCaskill can beat a rightwing loon challenger.
Yet, rightwing loon House incumbents seem set to be re-elected. How can that be?