I might have read it that way if I read the news. Maxy, this post made me look into this story and we again have to talk. Now apparently, this was an important run-off election as it would come close to giving President Elect Obama his much-needed 60 seats in the Senate. So, first it must be observed for the good of the country if President Elect Obama was a Republican, and Senator Chambliss was a Democrat, this would not have been the headline that ran. Instead the headline would have been something like this:

President Elect Obama has first big loss as President.

Subhead something like:

Chambliss’ two digit win seen as vote of no confidence for incoming President Obama’s message of change.

Then, if you look at the numbers you see something most interesting….voter turnout among the African American community was at least half of what it was on election day. And White turnout was up. Now if you are an Obama supporter, you would understand to hope to make the change Obama promised, he needs a Democrat -led Congress. And this, as earlier noted, was a crucial race for him to win. He needed his supporters to turn out for him even more than they did on election day. But they did not, did they? In fact, more turned out against him for the run-off.

Hmmn….what to make of this….

Could this truly be an indication that Obama surfed his way into the White House on nothing other than a wave of emotion?

Now the hangover has worn off, are people realising Obama is either exactly what he said he was, or isn’t at all what he said he was, or we don’t even know what he said he was as he said nothing for two years and his change of hope must be stopped right now. Possibly.

What to make of the African American community not turning out? That’s an even trickier one as we cannot fool ourselves for one moment that the get-out-the-vote drive in those districts was not as strong as it was prior to the election. It had to be even stronger as there was far more to lose. A radical President requires his party to run the Congress if he hopes to make all the changes he promised.

Could this failure of turnout among the Democrats most faithful voting block be an indication that the public education system has failed this country horribly?

Yup. If I were Dick Morris, I would not attribute it to anything else.

And this failure or on a more postive note, Chambliss win, does not bode well for the Dems prospects in the off year elections. Especially if the outcome of the auto mess does not go the way the UAW expects it to.

You’re lucky. I read it as “Empire Strikes Back In Georgia.” And since I do live in Georgia, I expected to see storm troopers marching down my street.
But luckily, now it will only be the subtle march of jack-booted Enviro-Nazis and Libtards.

Such is la Dolce Vita.

I remain your servant…

Mr. Perry… Oh to have your talent for making a memorable turn-of-phrase…

Mrs. P - You know, I was just reading something (somewhere I can’t recall) about how Obama ran not thinking that he could get through the primaries but figured he’d set himself up for a later run. Now that he has won the job he is a little stunned. This confusion could be the reason he is picking so many Clinton people for big jobs. I’m not sure I buy this whole argument - as you generally go to the “party bench” for your appointments and most of the Dems bench is made up of Clinton people.

I don’t believe that the “bloom is off the rose” just yet for Mr Obama. Indeed, I expect that Obama will have a longer-than-usual honeymoon period due to a favorable press corps and a general sentiment that the economic problems from which we are suffering are pretty big and will require some work and time to resolve.

I think the strength of the Chambliss win in GA speaks to the general climate in Georgia which favors the GOP. We’ll have to see if it is a sign of things to come for Obama nationally. I think it is a little too early for that just yet.

No the bloom is not off the rose. My point was more how the press would have portrayed this loss of Obama’s and it is a big Obama loss no matter how you slice it, if it had been a President-elect McCain who suffered it.

The idea that Obama thought he wouldn’t win the primaries is a charming one for Obama’s next autobiography but empirical evidence suggests otherwise. Obama ran an extremely dirty campaign ( -he threw his grandmother and all sorts of people who he never would have a had a political career had he not benefited from his friendships with them under the bus plus backtracked on promise on campaign donations for starters) that he waged for 2 years. He got in to win and he won. How fair he won doesn’t matter in politics. Just winning does. This double digit loss in Georgia which McCain carried it with a just a 5 pt win as opposed to Bush carrying by nearly 15 pt win does tell us something is not right in D.C,. -both before the election and now after.

The White conservatives of which there were a few million of on election day who stayed home - look at McCain’s numbers compared to Bush’s and you see an indication of this, decided, after staying home for McCain to go out and vote for Chambliss. Why? The African Americans who got out and voted for Obama stayed home for Martin. Why? And according to the WSJ there was most definitely a major effort by Obama to make sure Martin would win the run-off :

“WASHINGTON — Advocates on both sides of the aisle are racing to sway a runoff in Georgia that will help determine whether Democrats gain a supermajority in the Senate.

“The contest between incumbent Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin — neither of whom won more than 50% of the vote on Election Day — is key to Democrats’ bid for the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural tactics that could complicate President-elect Barack Obama’s legislative agenda. Two other races, in Alaska and Minnesota, also remain undecided.

(big snip)

“In Georgia, Mr. Martin, a former state legislator, stunned political observers by forcing the runoff with Sen. Chambliss, whose seat not long ago was considered safe. The incumbent had a $12 million war chest that dwarfed the $3 million raised by Mr. Martin. The combination of anti-Republican sentiment and Sen. Chambliss’s lethargic early campaigning and support for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout changed the dynamics of the race. Final results haven’t been certified, but the latest tally released by election officials showed Sen. Chambliss with 49.8% of the vote to Mr. Martin’s 46.8%. Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley received 3.4% and won’t be in the runoff, which is scheduled for Dec. 2. He hasn’t endorsed either of the other candidates.

(snip)

“Conservative organizations, including the Club for Growth, have joined the pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce in mounting their own campaigns for Sen. Chambliss. Freedom’s Watch, a conservative group that has spent millions for Republicans in the 2008 election, is running a $500,000 television buy in Atlanta questioning Mr. Martin’s tax policy. In a conference call Monday, Sen. Chambliss personally asked for support from lobbyists.

“Democrats have sent their own pitches to Washington interest groups on behalf of Mr. Martin. Officials from labor unions, abortion-rights organizations and other pro-Democratic groups are mapping out plans to try to flood the airwaves and put boots on the ground in the coming weeks.

“And the Obama campaign has sent roughly 100 of its national field organizers to help with the race. But whether Mr. Obama himself will visit Georgia for Mr. Martin is a thorny question. If he campaigns aggressively, the president-elect risks looking partisan at a time when he has promised to reach out to his political adversaries. There also is a risk for Democrats that heavy campaigning by Mr. Obama could mobilize Republican voters who might otherwise skip the runoff.

“The Martin campaign Tuesday tamped down expectations of an Obama visit. Mr. Obama “is obviously extremely busy with the transition and other responsibilities,” said Mr. Canter, the campaign spokesman.”

100 national field organizers were sent by Obama in for a Senate run-off on the heels of his big historical win. The African Americans stayed home. And Chambliss won instead by double digits…

Even where I come from (Detroit) we can see failure when it happens.

Ok Maxy, I’ve given it some more thought and I want to suggest something radical : Was there ever really a rose on Obama to bloom to begin with?

The number is out on Obama’s fundraising and spending and it looks as if he out spent McCain about 10 to 1. 10 to 1 and he won by a 3 pt margin. Why that sounds as if GM was running his campaign.

And, if you think about it more, McCain really was, at best a mediocre candidate for the Republicans. Something like 4 million Republicans (read various forms of Republicans from kooks to middle of the roaders country clubbers stayed home on election day because McCain was either not conservative enough for them or they believed Sarah Palin was too stupid to sign X on her driver’s license) stayed home on election and did not vote. That 4 mil would have closed the 3 pt gap easily.

Then, the Dems, thanks to outfits like ACORN and the Black Panthers, had a higher than normal election turnout. So Obama’s not-the-runaway-we’ve-been-told-it-was-victory was due to Republicans staying home and Dems turning out. Precisely the opposite forces that happened less than 4 weeks later in Georgia.

Obama’s blooming rose is a media construction. Just watch. They can’t edit out all his ahhs and uhms when he takes his oath of office.