Six years ago, then-candidate Obama was encased in sophisticated artwork that conveyed his campaign message of “Hope and Change.” Leading up to the 2014 elections he may have not abandoned change, but he certainly has abandoned hope as his guiding principle to help maintain the U.S. Senate in the hands of The Undertaker and his fellow Democrats.
Faced with a fusillade of political analysis from left, right, and center, forecasting anywhere from a drubbing to an unmitigated disaster for Democratic candidates in November, Obama and his team had to develop a plan of action. Led by John Podesta (we don’t know for sure he developed the strategy, but it reeks of him and he is the only one with the talent and brains at the White House to develop it), Obama has committed to what appears to be a four-point strategy to attract elements of the Democratic base to turn out to the polls for the upcoming Congressional elections. The campaign is targeted at these special interest groups, but they are intended to overlap and collectively infect the psyche of the all of their essential voters.
1) Race - This is principally aimed at the Black community, but can attract elements of the Hispanic community and others who sympathize with the idea that Republicans are racist. Despite their denials, Obama and his Attorney General are ginning up racial divide, by using their race as what has been described by Brit Hume as “a shield and a sword.” A sympathetic person could fall into believing their code word verbiage is not really racially motivated. But why then did Steve Israel (Democratic Congressional Campaign Chair) invoke the Idea when he stated "To a significant extent, the Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism." This is just one of many examples. There is obviously a concerted effort to whip up racial sentiments.
2) War on Women – You all know that the Democrats have fostered this false canard for years. The new constant drive to perpetuate the falsehood that woman are getting 77 cents of pay for every dollar that a man gets may have been stated as false and misleading by many sources, but it has not stopped the White House and their allies from repeating it over and over. It will not attract many married women or ones who know they are getting paid more equally than that, but it is aimed at young, unmarried women who are a core group for Democratic candidates. Who cares if it is a lie; if they vote our way it becomes the truth.
3) Minimum Wage - This is class warfare at its finest. The minimum wage or as some like to call it “Living Wage” has appeal to many. First, the untrained, unsophisticated worker who has no clue how raising the minimum wage may negatively impact their employment prospects. Second, the underemployed, young college graduate who wants to get paid at least something while they are suffering through the Obama economic malaise.
4) Koch Brothers – They represent two things that are negative to the Democratic base. The Kochs are financially successful, white Republicans which can be caricatured to represent all Republicans. They also spend their money on campaigns and the base of the Democratic Party has a romantic attitude about campaign finance laws being duped into thinking that Democratic campaigns are run on the nickels and dimes of the poor and downtrodden. Never has anyone who is behind the scene been so focused upon as part of the electoral process since Boss Tweed ran New York City 150 years ago. Though Tweed held some elected offices, his power came from his behind-the-scene appointments. Someone arriving in this country might think the Kochs were Speaker of the House and Senate Minority Leader from how frequently they are invoked by Democrats and their flacks. But they provide a double-whammy of dismay for the base of the party that Obama and his cohorts want to whip up, and for them they need a boogeyman.
What you don’t see on this list is an appeal to their environmentalist. First, they don’t really need to as these people get inflamed at the death of a beetle and immediately send out another enraged fundraising appeal. Second, the Administration has been pandering to them continuously with the halting of the Keystone pipeline and the screeching about the Armageddon upon us from climate change which is “decided science from all creditable scientists.’
Though this may not be the totality of the points of their tactics, the campaign as it is devised is not wholly disparate from what Putin is doing in the Ukraine. Its elements are different; one campaign is to maintain power while one is to obtain power, but they are the same in their core. Each wants to create a divisive environment that will disrupt the population and influence them toward their side, all in the desire to gain power and control.
We will see how the campaigns adjust over the next six plus months, but this is going to be one ugly election. No hope here, but hopefully change.
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