Free Republic

... Throughout the debate the vice president explained to the American people what all the president has accomplished and, in the process, inspired Democrats to recall the president’s success and remember that although Obama may have had one bad day of debating, he has had an amazing four years of leading. This powerful closing statement, coupled with Biden’s statements during the debate, exemplified the fundamental differences between Obama and Romney, between a “We are in this together” mentality and “You are on your own” mindset. More importantly, Biden repositioned the theme of this election to the singular challenges facing America...

With his first term behind him, Obama is poised to be as significant a president as Reagan—tackling the deficit, spearheading immigration reform, and jolting the GOP back to sanity. As the fall has turned crisper, a second term for Barack Obama has gotten likelier. This may, of course, change: the debates, the Middle East, the unemployment numbers could still blow up the race. At this point in 2004, one recalls, George W. Bush was about to see a near eight-point lead shrivel to a one-state nail-biter by Election Day. But one thing that has so far, in my view, been...

Schumer: Repeal will cost GOP in election By Meghashyam Mali - 07/01/12 12:05 PM ET Sen. Charles Schumer on Sunday warned Republicans that they would suffer at the polls if they continued to push for a repeal of the president’s healthcare reform bill. “If Republicans make that their number one issue, the repeal of healthcare, they are certainly going to lose the election, in the House and the Senate and the presidency,” said Schumer on CBS’s “Face the Nation”. “Bottom line is most Americans are not for repeal. If you look at all the polls, a little more than a...

Wisconsin recall: DNC’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz sees no national impact if Democrats losePosted by Felicia Sonmez at 03:38 PM ET, 05/25/2012 The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee said Friday that if Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) doesn’t prevail over Gov. Scott Walker (R) in next month’s Wisconsin recall election, there won’t be any ramifications for Democrats nationally. “I think, honestly, there aren’t going to be any repercussions,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said in a broad-ranging interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.” “It’s an election that’s based in Wisconsin. It’s an election that I think is important nationally because Scott Walker...

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the first openly gay member of Congress, said Sunday that he does not think President Barack Obama's gay marriage endorsement will sway anybody's vote. Though Washington is abuzz with speculation about how the president's historic statement in support of same-sex marriage will affect his re-election prospects, the Massachusetts Democrat said the announcement leaves the race more or less the same. "If you were going to cast your vote based on a candidate's position regarding same-sex marriage, you were already going to vote for Obama-Romney based on that," he told ABC's "This Week." "I literally don't think...

Essay: Are we witnessing the U.S. empire head into its final decline? Obama is drifting. Republican candidates inspire little confidence. But viewed from Europe, which is more skeptical than ever, it’s worth taking a closer look at a nation with the Peter Pan gift of never growing up. ******** BERLIN -- When it’s not busy with its own problems, Europe looks across the Atlantic and shakes its head. America would appear to be on an unstoppable downward spiral. While neo-conservative dreams of the “unipolar moment” disperse, troops are withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan, the ups and the downs of the...

Retiring Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., sees President Barack Obama easily winning another term in office if matched up against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the 2012 election, The Hill reports. Frank says Obama would have no problem winning reelection but would not say if the president would surpass his 2008 victory totals. Gingrich capturing the GOP presidential nomination, "would be the best thing to happen to the Democrats since Barry Goldwater," Frank recently said. Frank told The Hill Gingrich could carry most of the southern states but predicted Obama's electoral count would be "in the 300s" against the Republican...

DNC chief: President Obama's reelection bid in 'good shape' By Michael O'Brien - 08/14/11 11:56 AM ET President Obama's reelection effort is in "remarkably good shape," the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) asserted on Sunday. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), the DNC chief, said that she doesn't think the president's bid for a second term is in trouble. "Not at all," Wasserman Schultz said on CBS's "Face the Nation" when asked if Obama was in political trouble. "The president is in actually remarkably good shape, given that he is still struggling to help pull our economy out of...

<p>Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett tells MSNBC's "Morning Joe" what the message was from midterm voters.</p> <p>In response that the White House is too "insular," Jarrett says there will be new faces coming to the White House. "He's always interested in hearing from outside voices," Jarrett said of President Obama.</p>

Top Democrats presented a confident front Sunday morning, even amid a growing consensus that they are all but certain to lose control of the House, and possibly the Senate, in Tuesday’s midterm elections. “I believe Democrats are going to hold on to the House,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said on “Fox News Sunday.” “You’ve got large pools of undecided voters,” he said. “What they’re now doing is taking a very close look at these Republican candidates, recognizing that they’re way off on the right extreme. Many of them are these candidates that have been recruited...

WASHINGTON -- I have this strange feeling that we are about to be badly misled about the political climate in this country. We are going to look at the returns on the biggest Republican victory in 16 years and think that it spells doom for the Democrats and a shift to the right in our politics. And we will be wrong. The size of the Republican gain will be exaggerated by the severity of their losses in the preceding elections. They will pick up many seats in the House, perhaps 50 or so, because they lost so many in 2006...

John Kerry fires at GOP Senate nominees By: Carol E. Lee October 16, 2010 03:49 PM EDT BOSTON – Sen. John Kerry took shots Saturday at Republican candidates up and down the November ballot, including a dig at Delaware Senate hopeful Christine O’Donnell’s admitted dabbling in witchcraft. “You’ve got what’s her name, Christine O’Donnell, in Delaware,” Kerry said, speaking at a rally for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. O’Donnell, he said, “wants to take away health care." “I think she thinks she’s going to wave her wand and it will all disappear,” Kerry quipped, “but this is real folks.” Kerry’s efforts...

The massive economic stimulus package President Obama pushed through Congress last year is coming in on time and under budget - and with strikingly few claims of fraud or abuse - according to a White House report to be released Friday. The report is one in a series of assessments prepared by Vice President Biden, who was charged with overseeing implementation of the stimulus money. Meeting the 70 percent goal "is an important accomplishment," said Jared Bernstein, Biden's chief economist. "The fact that the impact of this program was quickly felt in the economy and quickly went to work breaking...

WASHINGTON – Representative Barney Frank was bullish on the economy this morning, saying it was ready "to take off” and would turn the political fortunes of the Democrats around by 2012. “I believe the economy is, frankly, in a position to take off.,” Frank, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, said during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. During the wide-ranging discussion, Frank touted the financial reform bill that he shepherded through earlier this year, called outgoing Obama administration economic adviser Larry Summers “a great asset.” Frank said the economy is poised to recover, although perhaps not...

Biden: Tea Party could motivate Dem base By Sam Youngman - 09/23/10 11:06 AM ET Vice President Biden said Thursday the conservative Tea Party movement might be "the best thing to happen" to Democrats with the midterm elections approaching. Biden, speaking at a fundraiser in Chevy Chase, Md., for Sen. Barbara Mikulski, said that the energy of the Tea Party might inspire a lethargic Democratic base to turn out and vote in November. “May be the best thing to happen to us lately is the Tea Party wins," Biden said. "Maybe it’ll shake some of our constituency out of their...

Plouffe says Democrats can retain control in fallPosted: September 5th, 2010 11:51 AM ET From CNN's Sarah Jones Washington (CNN) - The man who engineered President Obama's 2008 victory told CNN on Sunday he thinks Democrats can retain control of both houses of Congress in November. David Plouffe, now an outside adviser to the president, tossed a quick answer over his shoulder when CNN asked him outside of NBC's Washington studios about the tough climate for Democrats running in the midterms elections. "I think so," Plouffe said. "We're going to work hard to make sure we do." When asked how...

A fired-up Vice President Biden said today that despite the dire predictions from pundits, Democrats will keep control of both the House and the Senate after the midterm elections. “The reports of the death of the Democratic Party have been greatly exaggerated -- greatly exaggerated,” he said at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in St .Louis today. “I'm here to tell you that on November the 3rd…this coming election, there will be in Washington, D.C. a Democratic majority in the House and a Democratic majority in the Senate.” The always loquacious Biden told the Democratic Party’s rank and file...

An Army "investigating officer" has banished evidence about the controversy over President Obama's eligibility – or lack thereof – to be commander-in-chief from a pending hearing for a career military doctor who announced he is refusing orders until Obama documents his constitutional status. "In my view our constitutional jurisprudence allows Congress alone, and not a military judicial body, to put the president's credentials on trial," wrote Daniel J. Driscoll in a memorandum determining what evidence the defense for Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin will be allowed to explore at next week's hearing. "It is my opinion the discovery items pertaining to...