home

Edwards Rips Obama's Reagan Comparison

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 02:03:43 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit
Via Jerome Armstrong, Edwards rips Obama. Unfortunatrely thre story seems mangled up. Indeed it provides a quote for Obama which I wish he would have said, but I am pretty sure he did NOT:
"When the country was so sick of a blue state president, Carter, Reagan was able to tap into it by being 100% red-state," said Obama. "Reagan knew the electorate was so sick of a blue-state president and blue-state policies, they we're willing to go 100% red. Reagan didn't mince words. He ran on a 100% red-state message. When Reagan won with a 100% red state message, Reagan had a 100% red-state mandate. Reagan knew transformation was all about mandate. Reagan ran a clear red-issue campaign. He never reached out to blue. Reagan was able to bowl over any resistance in Congress because he had a clear 100% red-state mandate. When you have a 100% red-state mandate, no one is surprised by what you do. Reagan, therefore, was able to get all the changes he wanted. Reagan was for those reasons...transformational."
But Obama never said that, which is a shame. At least it would have shown he gets it. Unfortunately, as I wrote before, Obama is no Reagan.

< Nevada: Court Rules Strip Caucuses Can Proceed | Not Getting Reagan >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Edwards Rips Obama's Reagan Comparison | 10 comments (10 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

    quote (none / 0) (#1)
    by eric on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 02:43:58 PM EST
    Where did that quote come from, anyway?  I have seen the video and that wasn't the quote.  It was, as I heard it:

    I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what is different is the times. I do think that, for example, the 1980 election was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. They felt like with all the excesses of the 60s and the 70s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think he tapped into what people were already feeling. Which is we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."



    yes I was perplexed (none / 0) (#2)
    by along on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 03:17:10 PM EST
    by that long quotation too. I can't find a full transcript of the Reno Gazette-Journal's Obama interview anywhere. It IS possible that he said it. The RGJ's video clip is clearly edited in several places; it's a 49-minute composite of what is reported to be an "hour-long" interview, and those frequently go over the allotted time.

    But you would think that they would include a remark such as this in the video.

    oh I see, (none / 0) (#3)
    by along on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 03:35:12 PM EST
    Steve M explained it over at MyDD. Nevermind.

    Parent
    That Was A Stupid Move By Edwards (none / 0) (#4)
    by MO Blue on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 03:46:13 PM EST
    Would have liked him to address Obama's remarks on Reagan but not by using inaccurate information. Point now lost IMO.

    Stupid.

    Jimmy was from Georgia (none / 0) (#5)
    by Judith on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 03:54:36 PM EST
    a red state.  Reagan was from California...a blue state.

    California (none / 0) (#6)
    by along on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 05:02:08 PM EST
    was red from 52 to 88, excepting Johnson's win.

    Parent
    wow (none / 0) (#7)
    by Judith on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 07:11:27 PM EST
    didnt know that.  Find it hard to believe, frankly.  How do you calculate that?  Seriously?

    I see you dont object to Georgia being red state at the time - hard for me to see California and Georgia ever being the same...:-)

    Parent

    We have historically elected (none / 0) (#8)
    by DA in LA on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 07:19:43 PM EST
    Republican governors and presidents.

    Parent
    sorry, didn't see this (none / 0) (#10)
    by along on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 03:45:49 AM EST
    till now. I'm going by California's electoral vote in Presidential elections:

    California Presidential elections results
    Year     Republican               Democratic
    1992     32.61%  3,630,574      46.01% 5,121,325
    1988     51.13% 5,054,917     47.56% 4,702,233
    1984     57.51% 5,467,009     41.27% 3,922,519
    1980     52.69% 4,524,858     35.91% 3,083,661
    1976     49.35% 3,882,244     47.57% 3,742,284
    1972     55.00% 4,602,096     41.54% 3,475,847
    1968     47.82% 3,467,664     44.74% 3,244,318
    1964     40.79%  2,879,108     59.11% 4,171,877
    1960     50.10% 3,259,722     49.55% 3,224,099
    1956     55.39% 3,027,668      44.27% 2,420,135
    1952     56.83% 3,035,587      42.27% 2,257,646

    This table can be seen toward the bottom of this Wikipedia page, in the sub-section headed Politcal Culture.

    As for Georgia, I agree that it's generally a red state, but it must be noted that it did go big for Kennedy and Carter (twice) which California did not do.

    Parent

    are you just measurin who was (none / 0) (#9)
    by Judith on Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 07:26:06 PM EST
    Governor?  That isnt what makes a state blue or red.

    Never mind -

    Parent

    Edwards Rips Obama's Reagan Comparison | 10 comments (10 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment