Obama faces trial by angry white seniors
By Anna Fifield in Fredericksburg, Virginia
Published: September 18 2009 19:56 | Last updated: September 18 2009 19:56
Over coffee and Coke at a drugstore-meets-soda-bar in the Virginian town of Fredericksburg, the four grey-haired ladies could hardly have held more diverging views about the performance of Barack Obama, US president.
EDITORS CHOICE
Superstar Michelle joins healthcare push - Sep-18Slideshow: Virginia voters on healthcare reforms - Sep-18Outside Edge: Health and hot air on the sabbath - Sep-18In depth: US healthcare reform - Sep-08In depth: Obamas first year - Jul-11Im very pleased with him, says Beverley Parks, 77, the most liberal of the group and the only one who voted for the president. I think hes doing his best.
Alberta Hickman, 71, does not share her friends views. I think [Mr Obama] is doing too much too soon and he is ramming things down our throats, says the self-described conservative. We dont want healthcare reforms to be made too quickly. Instead, he should sit down and listen to the country.
The votes of seniors retired people such as Mrs Parks and Mrs Hickman will be crucial in next years mid-term elections, when the Democrats will seek to retain control of Congress and, with it, the ability to push through reforms without Republican support.
Slideshow: Virginia voters on healthcare reforms
Some analysts are already predicting 2010 will be the year of the angry white senior, as resistance to Mr Obamas healthcare reform collides with older voters disproportionate impact on congressional elections.
Many are looking to Virginia, which will hold governor elections in November, for clues of what is to come. Mr Obama was the first Democrat to win Virginia since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, but a recent poll put his popularity in the state at less than 50 per cent. Furthermore, for the past 32 years the governors race has been won by the party that lost the previous presidential election. Bob McDonnell, the Republican, has the lead over Creigh Deeds, the Democrat, with much of the debate centring on Mr Obamas healthcare reform plans.
A lot of people are looking at this race as a bellwether for the mid-terms, says Bill Galston, a former adviser to Bill Clinton, now at the Brookings Institution.
It will be very interesting to see whether the young people, and minorities, and moderates who came out in support of President Obama will vote again.
The demographics do not augur well for Mr Obama.
Many of his votes came from young people who voted for the first time in November. Mr Obama won over two out of every three voters aged 18-29.
However, young people historically have not been well represented in the less-exciting mid-term elections.
Frankly speaking, in non-presidential years, the electorate is older and whiter. Lots of people who are intrigued by a presidential campaign are not that interested in congressional politics, says Mr Galston.
The president knows he is in danger of losing more of this demographic as the healthcare debate rumbles on and retirees express concern they will lose benefits provided by the government-run Medicare insurance scheme for over-65s.
During his address to Congress last week, Mr Obama said: [Healthcare reform] will ensure that you Americas seniors get the benefits youve been promised ... and we can use some of the savings to fill the gap in coverage that forces too many seniors to pay thousands of dollars a year out of their own pockets for prescription drugs.
So dont pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut ... That will not happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare.
But a recent Pew poll showed independent voters leaning ever more towards the Republicans, led by senior citizens, after backing the Democrats last year.
If that reversal holds, Democrats could be rueing the year of the angry white senior at the polling place, not just the town hall, Charlie Cook, a veteran political commentator, said in a recent report. Older people were among the fiercest critics of healthcare reform at town hall meetings over the summer.
Even if Obama and the Democrats are just as popular next November as they were last November, they might stand to lose five to 10 seats in the House based on the altered composition of the mid-term electorate alone, Mr Cook wrote. A Republican gain of anywhere from 10-25 seats looks possible.
On the streets of Fredericksburg, although plenty of voters say they are wavering, Diane Richards suggests they should keep faith with Mr Obama.
I voted for President Obama and I think we have to give him a chance, she said. I think he is trying to do the right thing with healthcare.
He is doing as well as he can, especially as he has to fight the Republicans every step of the way.
He is doing as well as he can, especially as he has to fight the Republicans every step of the way.
Is this lady for real. Talk about having your head in the sand.........she doesn't know he's also fighting members of his own party. Geessss
Many seniors do not like or adapt to change very well. While some oppose any change there are others who embrace the chance of making things better. and this is true for others regardless of their age.... My senior parents are more comfortable when things move as is, however they also see that change and improvement in health care for Americans is necessary.
When their Medicare gets cut and they won't get the surgery down the road they need to survive come talk to me beastmaom. They'll cut Medicare instead of giving us tort reform which is one of the reasons medicare [and others as well, it's not just medicare] is so expensive. I just don't get why you can't see this.
Evilyn has spoken! Sorry dear, I have an independent mind and it even is intelligent! Don't need to follow you and yours off the cliff just cuz you say so!
...her name is Evelyn and why can't you just acknowledge what she said and counter it? It makes perfect sense to me...you didn't illustrate what was wrong with what she said....
Why do we have to play the childish name-game??? come on.
~~life isn't about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the rain~~
I have an independent mind and it even is intelligent
September 20 2009, 10:23 AM
beastmom, you said:
Evilyn has spoken! Sorry dear, I have an independent mind and it even is intelligent! Don't need to follow you and yours off the cliff just cuz you say so!
*************
you do?
it is?
then why hasn't your "independent/ intelligent" mind discovered the history of failed attepts at socialistic remedies for political/economic problems and the continuing repeat of the same triggers for those failures ?
and why hasn't your "independent/ intelligent" mind discovered the history of capitalism and (even with its flaws) seen the fact that no other economic system in the history of mankind has brought more people out of poverty and sickness than individual liberty and capitalism?
yet you continue to display that what you say about yourself (the premise for this response ) is incorrect
This message has been edited by gillis7 on Sep 20, 2009 10:24 AM
then why hasn't your "independent/ intelligent" mind discovered the history of failed attepts at socialistic remedies for political/economic problems and the continuing repeat of the same triggers for those failures ?
and why hasn't your "independent/ intelligent" mind discovered the history of capitalism and (even with its flaws) seen the fact that no other economic system in the history of mankind has brought more people out of poverty and sickness than individual liberty and capitalism?
How exactly does this relate to this thread?
And how have you arrived at these conclusions? Because she disagrees with you on some issues?
So far Medicare is not scheduled for any "cuts" evil-lyn....so what do you mean by "when" it gets cut. You are hardly any kind of soothsayer. I know lots of people who are over 65 in this area who would laugh at ALL of your silly neoCON-moron posts.
Tort reform is a nice target. But where has it cut costs when enacted?
Nowhere, and in fact, now that there are malpractice award caps in some states, people quite simply sue EVERYONE involved with their case now instead of just the hospital and/or the doctor. They now sue the lab technicians, all the nurses, the Xray technicians, the pharmacist, etc. etc. etc. It ties up the courts even longer, and they still end up getting the kind of money they wanted in the first place when they sued for malpractice. The FRIVOLOUS malpractice cases usually don't even make it to trial.
...her name is Evelyn and why can't you just acknowledge what she said and counter it? It makes perfect sense to me...you didn't illustrate what was wrong with what she said....
Why do we have to play the childish name-game??? come on.
You know what Susan, I would be glad to back you on this if only you were consistent in calling people out on this issue.
You know what Susan, I would be glad to back you on this if only you were consistent in calling people out on this issue.
Yes, I know CJ...and I do get nasty *and cuss* with a handful of people on the board...there you have it, I admit it. But I don't go around changing people's names to childish rhymes...please. Feel free to call me on some things if I start them....and many times I concede...I really do. But when people like Janie start their crap, some days I feel like twirling them. Bored, I guess.
~~life isn't about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the rain~~
Why do we have to play the childish name-game??? come on.
LOL, this from a wingnut who just called me a putz in another thread.
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