Obama to Boston Crowd: ‘Fired Up!’
17 January 2010 4:05 pm by Taylor Marsh
Obama comes to the rescue of Martha Coakley in Boston.
Will it work? Ben Smith tweets what I’ve been hearing.
Charlie Cook’s predictable pronouncement, via Mike Allen:
“This past Thursday, Jan. 14, The Cook Political Report moved the open Massachusetts Senate seat rating from lean Democrat to toss-up, having moved it from solid Democrat to lean Democratic on Jan. 7,” Cook wrote. “We continue to see this race as very much of a toss-up, with Republican state Sen. Scott Brown holding onto a very narrow, single-digit lead over Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley.
“Given the vagaries of voter turnout, particularly in lower participation level special elections, this race could still go either way, but we put a finger on the scale for Brown. Last-minute Democratic attacks on Brown have driven his negatives up some and slightly diminished the incredible intensity of support that Brown enjoyed, but it looks more likely than not to hold.”
During Obama’s speech a man with a sign reading “Jesus loves babies” (see video below) briefly disrupted the crowd, as Pres. Obama kept saying, “We’re doing okay.” Not too long after that, a young girl started yelling, but Obama just kept on going. The speech was long, winding, and rambling (it’s still going on), but there were a couple of good lines like, “Bankers don’t need another vote in the United States Senate. … We’ve had one year to make up for eight.”
Obama using the opportunity to also make his own case, also making the case for not “going backwards.” If presence is punch, maybe this will do it. But nothing about this visit is a sure bet.
Obama, including the moment where he’s interrupted by the heckler.
Could be much too little much too late.
Let’s not forget either that Obama lost the MA primary to Hillary by 15 points despite the Kennedy/Kerry/Partick endorsements so not sure just how much clout the president has with democrats in MA.
Really too bad – Coakley is by all accounts a dedicated, capable public servant who deserves higher office.
Well win or lose, the GOP is fired up – and who even knew there were any republicans in MA to fire up?
Barack Obama has not united this nation. If anything he had divided it even further. Not his fault – we are a red/blue divided nation and the only people foolish enough not to realize that were my fellow democrats who voted for Obama in the primary because they actually believed he could unite the country.
Yes – as if the right wingers were suddenly going to be converted to common sense at the hands of all powerful Obama! Give me a break.
Those people were naive and misguided and I hope they learned their lesson.
Hi Taylor,
Scott Brown is a complete closet teabagger!!!
Having got that out of my system,
I think this is key. Yes it is important that President Obama showed up. A couple things I will be looking for are: 1) How much of a motivator will it be to get people to the pulls. 2) If it works and Coakley is elected with a sizable percentage, how can we determine how President Obama showing up translated into votes. (Which is Crucial because he may be needed to carry some other midterm candidates accross the finish line….a certain Majority Leader comes to mind) and worst case senerio 3) If Coakley loses substatially either due to low voter turnout or a Republican uprising, Could this damage Obama since he put his prestige as President on the line.
Heya dafederalist. I think cchicago has part of it, because Obama’s presence will also energize the right, no doubt about it.
People will spin it in whatever way benefits their point. The obvious being if Coakley wins, Obama’s king; if she doesn’t, Obama’s “prestige” didn’t do what was needed.
I don’t think voters in MA who weren’t going to vote can be dragged to the polls by Obama or Bill Clinton, frankly. The climate is too personally charged, with emotions running very deep for any star politician to matter. The one pol who *might* have mattered *could possibly* have been Hillary Clinton, because she stirs women, who I’ve heard are not particularly moved by this race. But I’m not even sure that would do it, except she’s beloved, which was proven when not even Teddy or John Kerry could keep her from winning by 15 points in the primary.
The bottom line is that people have soured through what’s not happened in Obama’s first term, as well as their own circumstances. In the end, I’m not sure any politician can break through that reality.
Yeah, Obama. Do for Martha what you did for Deeds and Corzine!
Awesome job spending a million tax payer dollars to campaign for Coakley
I’m not surprised about any of this, this is what Democrats have always done. I was hoping after eight years of Bush that we would be a little more practicable and realistic this time around. Obama hasn’t even been in office one year, and Democrats are already attacking each other. Republicans really haven’t had to do nothing but stick together and let Democrats do their work for them.
Democrats have always done this, the left walked away from McGovern, Carter, Gore, Kerry, and never really liked Clinton until after the fact. We have always been our worst enemy. Instead of hammering tea baggers and Republicans, we waste our energy hammering Democrats. I’ve seen more negative comments about Coakley on so called liberal sites then on right wing sites.
It will be us liberals who will make sure there is no health care bill to build off of, and that Obama is a one term President and Republicans gain power once again. Time just doesn’t change when it comes to Democrats.
Taylor, the thing that gets me about the Mass seat being a toss up race…is it should have never been one…The Dems should be a ashamed of themselves for letting things get out of hand in Mass. Now, once again they are hanging on by the seat of their pants…
Even if Martha makes barley over the finish line…It will be seen as another loss to Dems…Win or Lose Brown ran an effective campaign in a Blue state and proved Republicans have not gone into extinction as some foolish Dems were claiming earlier…
Also, Taylor I told my husband why did they not send Hillary instead…She won the primary there by a huge number…But, Hillary has much more important things to take care over in Haiti and does not have time to clean of the Dems mess….I think Brown will win…
angels~
When did the left walk away from McGovern? Seems to me like they followed him off a cliff (I would have to if I had been voting). When did we walk away from Gore? We elected him, he decided not to fight in the interest of keeping the country calm.With Kerry it was not low voter turn out that sank him it was swift boats that he refused to fight.Bill Clinton is the Democrat that much of the left walked away from and he was elected twice because he knew how to fight.
I really don’t understand how you think progressives have hurt the HC bill? All they have done (the elected progressive) is give in to conservative demands? In doing so they came up with a HC bill giving everyone something to hate instead of giving a fervent minority a reason to work very hard at supporting him.
You are right Dems don’t walk in lock step like the Repubs and that is a disadvantage but come on..Obama had the wind at his back when he was elected he could have gone much farther and the left would have been cheering him on and they would be energized to fight the good fight right now.
I just don’t see how this is the fault of the left.
angels81 says:
17 January 2010 at 5:12 pm
Obama hasn’t even been in office one year, and Democrats are already attacking each other. Republicans really haven’t had to do nothing but stick together and let Democrats do their work for them.
———–
This reminds me of a Will Rogers saying:“Democrats never agree on anything, that’s why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.”
Not to worry angels81, the Democrats are walking in lock step, united, off the political cliff when it comes to that crappy HCR bill that Harry Reid is desperately trying to get to Obama’s desk. That’s exactly why Martha Coakley is fighting for her political life right now–in liberal bluest of blue states Massachusetts.
Lake Lady….Your right Bill Clinton was abandon by many on the left…I was in high school will Bill was in office and remember hearing from so called supports on the left bashing him day in and day out. Now, in all fairness Bush II base turned on him around his second term when they saw things going south financially over the war. You could not turn on a TV with out hearing from some former Republican trashing Bush II…
Bush I was not like by the right to much either…Even Regan had his Republican haters back in his day…But, I have never seen a feeding frenzy to destroy a President like this being unleashed now toward Obama. Bill Clinton is the only President I think of that compares to the hatred directed at Obama.
Off topic but this Photo of Bush II & Bill Clinton…is sort of funny
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Martin-Luther-King-Day/ss/events/us/011510mlklutherking#photoViewer=/100114/480/2951208c09a8406aaaa5cb3bc025dbfe
When looking at this photo you would think these two guys had always been friends.
Guy’s just not loved here in MA. Tends to happen when the beta ends up being vaporware and Obama definitely been vaporware.
Marie205 says:
17 January 2010 at 5:44 pm
Also, Taylor I told my husband why did they not send Hillary instead…She won the primary there by a huge number…But, Hillary has much more important things to take care over in Haiti and does not have time to clean of the Dems mess….I think Brown will win
Not only that Marie205 but Hillary is the Secretary of State for the United Staes not the Secretary of State of the Democratic Party. I would be totally inapropriate for here to get involved politically. Besides, if the Democratic party wanted her to campaign for down ticket candidates, maybe they should have Nominated her for the Democratic Nominee. All I can say is that I have been rocking sided to side with glee looking at Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid look at how well their trecherous triangulating to aide President Barack Obama get the nomination has backfired.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again………the Left in the United States is very, very small. What passes for the Left in the USA would be laughed out of the room in most every other nation on earth. We are an uptight, overly religious, sexually repressed, politically evian, oops…naive, group of militarists that most people in most other countries believe to be in serious need of some mental health counseling. Peace
sorry for the typos….i’m back using my Palm pre
Lake Lady, the left did walk away from McGovern when it came time to vote. I fought with a lot of people on the left who thought in the end McGovern had sold out. Also a lot of the left did not support Gore, they ran off and voted for Nader because they saw Gore as another Clinton.
You are right that we are a big tent party, and that’s are strength and our weakness. One faction doesn’t get what it wants, and it runs off bashing the other factions, and Democrats lose. Democrats never seem to be able to see the big picture, and look long term. We on the left seem to be very shortsighted, while Republicans hold their factions together and look long term. They are willing to give Dems four years, if they can rule for ten. So far that’s worked pretty well for them.
I thought the President looked very handsome today and I hope he can help pull it out for Coakley. We need more liberal women in the U.S. Senate – I don’t care who says what. It’s always difficult to run for powerful office when one is a woman. Make no mistake, Mr. Brown is getting a ton of money for this race to defeat the health reform bill. He’s not all that inspiring on his own.
lynnette says:
17 January 2010 at 8:39 pm
I thought the President looked very handsome today and I hope he can help pull it out for Coakley. We need more liberal women in the U.S. Senate – I don’t care who says what. It’s always difficult to run for powerful office when one is a woman. Make no mistake, Mr. Brown is getting a ton of money for this race to defeat the health reform bill. He’s not all that inspiring on his own.
Bingo lynette!!! Mr. Brown is getting money in hopes of accomplishing one thing…that is to defeat health care. In defeating health care the right interprets this as a win in their ultimate goal of hoping Barack Obama fails. Damn every body else…just as long as Barack Obama fails. I can only hope that who ever votes for this schmuck on the basis of hoping Barack Obama fails, I hope that the very next day after the health care bill is defeated, they lose their job and medical insurance…I know its mean but…karma can be mean as well.
dafederalist, I agree 100%. I hope they all end up in the soup line.
You are right angels,I forgot about Nader..:(
Lynnette~ You make a very good point about the money pouring in to Brown.
I read an article saying that all of Brown’s campaign workers from the lowest to the highest are considered individual contractors so he does not have to cover their health insurance.Evidently they think this is the way it should be,the workers I mean. They are working to get him elected.
dafederalist says:
17 January 2010 at 9:06 pm
You got it.
I think the writing is on the wall even for the White House
http://tinyurl.com/y9n2utg
There seems to be a lot of nostalgia, topped with collective amnesia in this thread.
Lake Lady says:
17 January 2010 at 5:56 pm
That’s because it isn’t.
And it’s absolutely bullshit that “a lot of the left did not support Gore, they ran off and voted for Nader.” Nader was a factor, especially in FLA, but Florida was a cluster—- mostly because of the Democratic pushed butterfly ballot, and Gore didn’t demand a full state recount. But in the end Harris and Jeb were big problems, as was the Brooks Brothers riot. Also… If Gore had taken Tennessee, his home state, or Arkansas, Clinton’s state, or even New Hampshire, where Clinton was beloved, history would have looked differently.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0876793.html
This time last year the right was ON ITS KNEES.
I appreciate loyalty to Barack Obama, believe me, but the health care bill has lingered until this point because he CHOSE to stay out of the fight all 2009. That is until Sarah Palin, of all people, woke him and his Administration up. It’s absolute rubbish that the problems today have to do with lack of unity, but instead is inspired by PRINCIPLE, because people think what’s being passed in the name of Democratic ideals is a sell out.
And last time I looked Republicans weren’t exactly walking in unison.
As for Coakley, I am not hearing what lynnette is talking about, because people are telling me she has been an awful campaigner.
In politics, the most committed wins. We were that in 2008, but in 2009 a lot has happened. What many of you do not get is that the 1st year in EVERY president is the signature year where an impression is made and reputation is begun. Obama has not had a good year.
The race isn’t lost yet, but this is a signal of what Democrats in office have done, which is lose the trust of the people. The left is pushing them in the right direction, even if they refuse to go. Thank the gods for the left, the only principled part of the Democratic Party right now, who also happen to represent a majority of Americans who think the current health care bill sucks.
Whatever happens, Obama will get the credit and Coakley will get the blame.
Heya 1950democrat, *if* Coakley loses, I can tell you that Obama will also be blamed, especially by activists, for waiting so long to go into the state. Coakley will share that blame for a multitude of reasons. But there well be a lot of blame to go around.
this si a story spreading fast. brown supporter at rally shouts- “shove a curling iron up her ass.” sexism alive and well.
http://www.americablog.com/2010/01/at-rally-with-scott-brown-supporter.html
oopsit says “butt.” but this phrase implies the worst kind of violence towards women.
its now on u tube- spreading fast. brown laughs.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/17/826210/-Hate-on-Display-At-Brown-Rally:-Shove-a-curling-iron-up-her-butt-(Video-Update)
Well, people are angry about what has transpired over the last 8 years and don’t feel it’s getting any better. The tea partiers have astutely picked up on the anger and steered it toward their politics. The Democrats have failed to seize on the anger. They’ve been more concerned with bipartisanship. Sometimes that’s good – sometimes it’s not, especally when people are suffering and unemployed. I still hope Coakley wins, even if she took the senate seat for granted (good lesson to be learned). After the election, the analysis will shake out the truth. If Brown wins, in a state like Mass. we are in trouble.
And I can tell you there are good life long Democrats who are still pissed at the way sexism and misogyny went unanswered by Obama, the DNC and most of the big boys in politics and media.
Lets not overlook the number of male posters who chose not to comment here explaining it was outside their experience. Would that be an acceptable answer if it were a race issue and not gender?