I would welcome President Obama to North Carolina
Submitted by Elaine Marshall on Fri, 08/06/2010 - 2:35pm
Sam Stein's post on Huffington Post calls into question whether or not I'd like to see the President come to North Carolina. The post is well intentioned, I am sure, but my comments are taken a bit of context and blown up to a bigger story. The truth is:
I would welcome President Obama to North Carolina.
I would take the opportunity to thank him for endorsing legislation that would help small businesses and save 4,500 teacher jobs in North Carolina. I would also speak with him about ending the War in Afghanistan, and how Washington as a whole isn't responding to the needs of ordinary Americans.
There is no doubt in my mind that anytime the President comes to our state it is a great thing. I would love to see President Obama come to North Carolina to discuss the issues and talk about what he is doing to try and fix the economy.
Consider the record straightened.
Thanks,
Elaine.
I don't want that two-faced Obama coming to NC
Elaine and campaign,
You don't have to invite Obama to NC.
I dare say that there are many Elaine Marshall voters who are sick of the Obama administration's triangulating nonsense.
You dispatched the DSCC's chosen corporate shill, and you can dispatch the corporate shill of a President we're having to endure.
Elaine and campaign, don't buckle under for Obama, the DNC, the DSCC or anyone else.
Obama hasn't fought for anything remotely progressive since he was elected.
I want you to be as far from Obama as possible. Keep him out of your campaign.
Obama can help for sure
I too am disappointed in many of the President's acts (and in action), but he could still be a big help to Ms. Marshall in November. Considering he only won the state by 13,000 votes out of 5-million cast, I would say it's going to be hard for any challenger in an off-year. We need turnout of the same folks who turned out in 2008 to vote for Obama to come out again and send a clear message that they haven't disappeared. Even if he hasn't become the hard-core progressive many of us had hoped he'd be, Obama is still worth a big bump in turnout just by showing up.
Syd
The data disagrees
Marshall won more votes in 2008 than Obama did.
Elaine and campaign, you don't need Obama.
Hindsight
This election (aren't they all?) hinges on turn out. A motivated Democratic base will flatten an uninspired Republican base. The flat-earth baggers will show up no matter what ... 15% of the voting public at best. Who's going to show up beyond them? I'd take every voter Obama can motivate to get out to the polls.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Not a great assumption
Obama will not motivate positive voters to the polls this year.
The polling, while turning a little positive of late, still shows Obama as a negative drag on the NC ballot.
Further, the Presidential race is decoupled from the rest of the partisan on NC ballots. Turnout coattails are a little harder to judge in NC because of that.
Elaine Marshall's solid victories in years considered "GOP years" are proof that she needs no strong federal Democrat at the top of the ticket -- or campaigning for her -- to put her over the top.
It's not about need
it's about desire for every vote that can be gotten.
Elaine doesn't agree with everything Obama does, especially the war in Afghanistan, so the opportunity to stand beside him is one in which she can define herself as her own person. Obama won't hurt her, except possibly among the radical left (you :)) and I doubt even you would hold his presence against her.
He's a masterful fundraiser ... that alone is worth the trip.
She's been around the block enough to know that her fate in is her own hands. The only risk I see is that this becomes a distraction. That said, she's already getting buzz from the debate (67 people have read this post in less than an hour ... and it's also flying at Huffington and all over social media.
PS I'm of the opinion that when liberals take shots at Marshall for being too conservative, it's all upside for the campaign. Bob Orr used to joke that he wanted me to attack him during the 08 gubernatorial campaign in order to bolster his wingnut credentials.
:)
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
I wish I could agree more
Obama will hurt her. Among the middle she always wins.
And if I'm the radical left, Hera help us.
Perhaps I am a little tired today of so-called progressives celebrating the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.
Nothing like a "Democratic" President moving the Supreme Court to the right (Kagan is no Justice Stevens) to further sour me on this charlatan we call Obama.
You are the radical left
Sorry, dear friend. And we are in deed in need of divine intervention.
:)
You know I love ya.
PS Would a notch farther left on the Supremes nomination have meant rejection?
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
It's all relative anyway
Re the Supreme Court thingie: Glenn Greenwald has a data-driven argument against conventional wisdom's "political moderation"
Bottom line: Sotomayor got more votes than Kagan.
Here's the Friday divine intervention.
The best part of the clip starts at about 1:15.
That is some serious crazy
Maybe we can see some campaign advertising like this:
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Heh
Elaine Marshall
The mom North Carolina always wanted
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Well said
Among the things O hasn't done, many are the result of Republican obstructionism. He's the perfect person to help explain why Burr is such a freakin' disaster.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
I don't like everything Obama is doing, but I'd welcome him
to North Carolina and I think he'd be an asset to any Democratic candidate. Jane and I will host a fundraiser for you ... bring him along as a surprise guest!
:)
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Jebus, even I would attend that one
If President Obama comes to your house James, count me and my pocketbook IN!
I'd be thrilled if Obama were to campaign for Marshall
I read a piece in the NY Review of Books (we pay for it) entitled Why Has He Fallen Short? by Frank Rich, a columnist who is surely left enough for brave anonymous usernamehere and whom I deeply respect.
It seemed to be a very comprehensive and fair analysis of Obama's many strengths as well as his shortcomings. His analysis of why Obama has failed to implement policies that progressives like is interesting. Rich says that "...the biggest flaw in Obama’s leadership has to do with his own team, not his opponents, and it’s a flaw that’s been visible from the start. He is simply too infatuated with the virtues of the American meritocracy that helped facilitate his own rise." This leads him to put faith in the wrong people - or more importantly, not to consult enough with the right people.
Perhaps Marshall will be one of the right people?
Besta é tu se você não viver nesse mundo
http://zabouti.tumblr.com
He could do a lot worse
than to let Mrs. Marshall bend his ear for awhile. I love this idea. Great framing Z.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
I can't believe we're
even having this conversation. Just a little archival reminder from two years ago:
Usernamehere, I too love you to death. Yer a smart cookie and I've learned much from you. But I believe you might just have a pea under your mattress in the form of uber-mega-purity. Seriously, if you were standing at the door instead of St. Peter, there'd be tumbleweeds blowing through the streets of Heaven. ;)
p.s. that mattress thing isn't a "princess" reference, I just like the story.
Not purity, just data
I love you all too, and I esp love the sarcastic luv from zabu.
While my argument my be infused with emotion, it is based in data and every sound political science theory.
Obama's campaign may have done great things in 2008, but the economy is in the crapper and the jobless rate is sky high.
Further, to buckle up with any part of the DC establishment in this anti-incumbent environment is sheer lunacy (that goes for both parties).
Combine anti-incumbent fervor with crappy economy and dashed expectations. How does that equal hugging the POTUS (even if it wasn't Obama with his high expectations)?
The idea that the Obama can somehow outweigh those negatives by somehow turning out AA voters in NC...it's just implausible.
Marshall has a formula for winning. A strong formula that has proven successful in varied environments. She should stick with it, and not gamble on bending Obama's ear.
Obama is the only person...
...that could convince me to vote for Burr.
If Secretary Marshall wants to destroy the last fleeting thoughts that she could be anything other than Obama's lapdog (see Key Hagan)...by all means bring in Obama.
Obama will get out the vote, the independent and moderate vote for Burr.
No problem
I have no problem with Secretary Marshall having a chat with President Obama. In fact I'd love for her to address this issue with him.
Does anyone happen to know how much VP Biden's fundraiser for Secretary Marshall raised?
If your dedication to progress is so fragile
as to be contingent on whether the President of the United States visits North Carolina on behalf of a candidate, it's hard to imagine you'd vote for progress anyway.
Anyone who says they would vote for Burr under any circumstance seems to me to be fundamentally challenged in the accountability department.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
I think anti-incumbent fever is running high
more-so than "let's blame Obama." Rightfully so, in my opinion.
My most visceral disappointment with Obama is his reluctance to get us out of Afghanistan now. He didn't put us there, and I'm sure there's something to be said for propping up the Afghan government, but the harsh reality is that when it's over, no one except those who served there and the families of those who die there, are going to remember. I challenge any of our elected politicians to point to a single significant sustainable accomplishment there. Other than sacking Hussein, I can't think of anything in Iraq either.
Regardless, to vote for Burr because of a distaste for Obama would be, imho, cutting off one's nose to spite your face. I will say Sen. Hagan could take a lesson from Burr on how to handle constituent correspondence. His replies, like them or not, are usually specific to the topic and straightforward. Hagan's, conversely, are either bullshit and bat-feathers or so fluffy one doesn't know what the heck is being said. She's been in office long enough to get that straightened out.
I'm going to vote for Marshall because I'm not going to vote for Burr...and I'm going to vote. I'm not passionate about Ms. Marshall because I don't see anything to be excited about. I've earlier asked here for her campaign to tell us what Ms. Marshall's personal civic passions are to get an idea of what she really believes in. Is she a long standing member of the Sierra Club? What charities does she annually give more than a token to? Is she a KIVA lender? No response. So...I don't know any more about her than her bio...which tells little about who she might be if she becomes our Senator.
More and more I'm turning to the idea that the Senate is nothing more than a bunch of preening windbags who have staff because the Senators can't find their own asses with both hands. My only hope of changing that is to get rid of those who are there now. That's Burr.
Stan Bozarth
Civic passions
Stan, Sec. Marshall's passions are not overly ideological or political. She is a lifelong supporter of 4-H because someone in that organization saw promise in a farm girl from Maryland and encouraged her to get an education. She wants young people in rural areas to get the same opportunities she had. She is passionate about helping young women succeed and helping successful women become leaders. She has been an active supporter of most organizations in this state that share those goals.
When she owned a small business that needed a loan, the bank told her to come back with her husband to sign for it, even though her business would be responsible for repaying it. She went to law school to take on what she felt were unfair practices like those. Later, Marshall joined a grassroots group of women who believed mammograms and pap smears should be covered by insurance companies.
She's taken on lobbyists, insurance companies and Wall Street, positions that didn't make her too popular with a lot of powerful people. Most recently, she decided to look into sports agents who dangle expensive gifts in front of kids who are talented enough to play big time college athletics--and she did it in the middle of a political campaign without thinking about the political consequences because she thought it was the right thing to do.
If you're looking for a political purist or someone to make a statement, she's probably not your cup of tea. If you're looking for someone who is willing to roll up her sleeves and do the hard work to try to make this society a little better than she found it, then she should suit you just fine.
I am passionate about her because in 20 years of working on political campaigns, I've never met a person who has worked so hard, accomplished so much and asked for so little recognition. We should all be so lucky as to have her serve as our United States Senator.
I'm Thomas Mills and I work for the Elaine Marshall campaign.
well
it won't hurt and those that feel it's NOT a good idea for President Obama to come to the state - would do well to walk lightly with that opinion, just saying.
I would have no problem with
I would have no problem with Secretary Marshall a chat with President Obama. In fact I'd love for her to address this issue with him.