• whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I’m not talking about catering to Conservatives, I’m talking about the cultural campaign of meme-ification of AOC that conservatives have been waging for years, that could be convincing to moderates and moderate Democrats.

    The only successful Democratic presidential candidates in the last twenty years have been Obama and Biden. Obama won because he has a lot of natural charisma, and came along with a story of having our first black president. Biden won as a reaction to the first Trump presidency. Neither were really particularly idealistic Democrats… Obama did not even express public support gay marriage when he came into office, he had pretty centrist positions overall and gave off an idealistic message with campaign art, speeches and slogans, but his actual policy was not especially progressive.

    So Obama won as a biracial black man with the conservative stance against gay marriage, and overall very center-liberal politics, but flashy idealistic messaging.

    If progressive idealism had been working, we would have had Bernie presidency by now tbh

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I just to be clear, you are arguing that Obama didn’t campaign as an idealist?

      Not how he governed, but his 2008 campaign. You know, the one where he delivered the famous acceptance speak “The audacity of Hope”. You know, the campaign with these posters:

      Your saying this wasn’t a campaign based on idealism?

      Not how he governed to be clear, where I agree on your evaluation of Obama’s alignment; but his 2008 campaign.

      Obama didn’t win 2008 on centrism or being against gay marriage. He won 2008 in spite of those things.

      • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I think I was pretty clear saying his campaign was based on the idea and image of idealism, but his politics did not reflect that, not his actual politics or his promised politics in 2008. You’re showing me this poster as if I didn’t directly mention the art and sloganing as a major reason for his win.

        AOC may have idealistic policy positions, but her public image is so meme-ified I don’t think she could successfully do the Hope thing that Obama did. Obama was much less well known of a politician when he ran.

        • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I think you are muddying the water between campaign/ candidate Obama that misrepresents the fact that he campaigned as a progressive idealist, and it worked to get him into office. His platform was a very progressive platform that he did not govern to; this has been brought up repeatedly as an issue with Obama and was brought up when he was campaigning for a second term.

          I think it’s utterly disingenuous to present the Obama 2008 campaign as anything but a campaign focused on progressive idealism even if it was more of a show than how Obama ultimately governed.

          Correspondingly, Bidens 2020 platform was maybe the most progressive platform any president has run on since Jimmy Carter, and it was a horse trade that got him Sanders voters and effectively the election.

          • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Feel like I mentioned again and again that I’m talking about his campaign politics. I took a look at his 2008 campaign policies to see if I was misremembering anything and it’s pretty centrist to me, even his health care plan. And like I mentioned, he explicitly did not support gay marriage which at the time would have been an easy progressive signalling, but he either truly opposed gay marriage or he was trying to cater to a broader audience.

            Like I said, he had a convincing image of idealism but not the politics to back it up, and you are saying AOC could win because she has progressive politics. She would need the flashy campaign to back it up, and so many people just hate her I don’t think it would work.

            Anyway I’m just saying the same things over and over again in different wording and it’s getting tired, respond if you want, idc, but I’m going to stop here.

            • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              I’m just saying the same things over and over again

              Yeah. You keep just repeating the same patently wrong, historically inaccurate characterization of Obama’s campaign. The discussion was about idealism and how it sells in-terms of getting elected. My central point, is that it absolutely does sell, even its just the trappings. You run as a progressive idealist, like Obama did or like Sanders did, or based on just lift and shift the progressive platform like Biden did, and you catch W’s.

              You want to win an election as a Democrat? Either run on a progressive platform, or at least paint yourself that way in your campaign.

              The idea that you can win as a Democrat running towards the center isn’t supported (at least since Clinton).