I love Barack Obama as my president. I agree with Paul Krugman. He - Obama - is one of the most effective, underappreciated Presidents in a long time. Plus, he's a really great human being. Ironically, he achieved his goal of being Lincoln in the sense that he is an amazing and visionary leader who is yet underappreciated and widely disliked as Lincoln was in the middle of his Presidency. Unlike Lincoln, this is because Barack Obama disdains and is terrible at politics (and Lincoln's political skills are what enabled him to transcend the problems of his time to become the revered President he is today). This election is - in many ways - due to Obama's political incompetence. Here are some of the boneheaded political mistakes that got us to where we are today.
1. Not using Obama for America to help elect Democrats
Obama built and amazing cadre of political organizers and lists built to win elections (one of the best ever in modern political history) and then decided to turn this organization into a policy cheerleading adjunct for his administration rather than continuing to organize in the states for democrats. This meant every campaign had to rebuild the lists and networks and that Obama got a quasi non profit that has barely played a role in any policy debate post re-election.
2. Ignoring and disdaining Washington media
Obama - like all of us here at Daily Kos - disdains the Beltway press. It's understandable, they are loathsome. However, they still have a lot of influence. And Obama needs a lot of help. He's got a permanent opposition with their own network (Fox) he needs to be cultivating the idiot pundits with the power of his presidency on a regular basis. Instead, he basically ignores them and they - as a result - do not like him and cheerfully carry Fox's water instead of his.
3. Ignoring and disdaining his natural allies - Progressive pundits and media
Obama and his admin spent years talking down or avoiding progressives like Krugman and Warren and trying to embrace the Joe Manchins and Mark Begich's of the world in a weird dance where they seemed to hope that they could keep those pesky progressives excited but somehow get the blue dogs to fall in love with him. Ironically, Krugman and Warren are the only ones left who will be seen in a room with the President.
4. Boneheaded immigration decision
The political geniuses in the White House decided to not give the Latino coalition the one thing they wanted in advance of the election in some weird kind of hope that this would please the backwoods guys who want to build a big fence on the border (and forget that people like Mary Landrieu are in the same party as Barack Obama). The Latino community got pissed and this was a big downer for getting out that vote (that was so crucial to Obama's re-election). Now Obama is supposedly going to do be able to do the right thing with Mitch McConnell breathing down his neck. Yeah right.
5. Healthcare.gov
Obamacare is a great thing. However, it was clear that - given the intensity of the opposition - that everything around Obamacare needed to be super tight. The decision to push forward with the Healthcare.gov launch when it was not ready and also the lack of management oversight to find out what was wrong (there were people warning about this in advance) was amazingly stupid and tone deaf. The administration was too focused on avoiding a short term political hit and ended up instead taking a huge long term hit that undermined the whole amazing Obamacare success story. Yes, the media on this is incredibly unfair to Obama but this was a problem that could have been avoided.
6. Surrounding himself with loyal, nice people rather than asskickers.
Obama currently is surrounded by really great nice hardworking people who do exactly what he says. This is a big mistake for a guy who sucks at politics. He needs to have some real cynical ass kickers who are also empowered to help him win at politcs.
The GOP probably was going to win this election anyway but Obama lack of political acuity made it much worse (just as he did with the 2010 elections). This loss is going to impact things for all of us. McConnell - no matter what you think about him (I think he is an amoral toad) -- is great at politics and is going to make Obama's life and Democrat's life hell. This is going to be bad for Clinton and Democrats going forward. Yes, it is possible for Obama to become even more unpopular.
Hopefully, Obama will wake up politically but all signs point towards the opposite that he is going to double down with his political obtuseness. I feel for the guy but at the same time I am really mad at him because he has really screwed the political pooch and is going to make things even worse if he doesn't change up. Daily Kos is Obama Cheerleader central. I hope some of the leaders here can help wake the admin up or help the Democrats through what is likely to be a very difficult two years. Imagine if something happens to one of our Supremes! God help us.