Comment

Obama's Dilemma: U.S. Foreign Policy and Electoral Realities

10
Interesting Times9/20/2011 7:48:58 pm PDT

re: #7 CuriousLurker

Okay, I feel a little bit better now that some liberals are up-dinging the Page. There for a while it was like, “ZOMG, why are only conservatives liking this??!11!” LOL

The funniest thing is when you look at a page with 0 dings, only to discover - upon checking the number - that it got a pile of updings from one group, and an equal number of downdings from another :)

As for the article itself, this part bugs me:

About 47 percent of the public voted for someone other than Obama. It was certainly a solid victory, but it was neither a landslide nor a mandate for his programs.

I get what he’s saying, but it reminds me of Bush’s obnoxious “I have political capital and I’m gonna use it!” swagger after the 2004 election - where his margin of victory was a lot smaller than Obama’s. Apparently, it’s typical of the media to grossly overestimate GOP/rightwing mandates and grossly underestimate liberal ones. Never mind political labels - look at the specific policies the public supports.