Either yours, or friends of yours…

Or to put it another way, when you kiss a frog in the real world, the chances of it turning into a prince are, shall we say…rather thin.

In the case of the last election, too many of our fellow citizens went to bed with the slick guy they thought was a prince, and as they awaken the next morning, they’re starting to realize that what’s in the bed next to them is a frog. Or at least some are – too many still prefer to believe that the guy will still fulfill all their fantasies despite the evidence next to them. And some who are starting to see reality are willing to be sweet-talked back into their fantasy world – or let the media cast a spell over them again.

Hard to know how this will all turn out, but reality has a way of coming out in the end, though the price paid by its denier can be very high, even the price of their life and those around them – or even the fall of a mighty nation, (Remember “handwriting on the wall”?)

the harder it is to admit it’s a fake! Somebody raised that point with regard to prominent so-called conservatives who supported Obama, but I think it can be applied to the whole continuum. I think Americans will swing back to being more conservative it’s just a matter of how much damage is done first. Obviously some will find it harder to give up supporting Obama than others.

I’d separate the Democratic base into 3 groups:

HARDENED HARD CORE SUPPORTERS: The folks who were ripping out McCain/Palin signs and probably thought Jeremiah Wright, Frank Marshall Davis, and William Ayers were plusses. The only way Obama could lose the hammer and sickle crowd is by actually governing as a centrist. They didn’t need to be deceived by Obama, they’re confirmed leftists or just obsessed by the idea of a black president. But I do think they’ll be less active without any anti- Bush fervor to motivate them and they seem to be wasting their energy boycotting Glenn Beck and Whole Foods.

HONEST, DEDICATED TRUE BELIEVERS: The folks who were with him, working hard since primary season. They probably fell in love with the myth of Obama – but are still probably pretty far left on their own. Still, not all of them live within the confines of an all-Democrat echo chamber and their left leaning views may not be deeply entrenched. I expect this group is a big chunk of the 29% who still strongly approve.They’ll probably mostly still approve -but some may become disillusioned. They’re liberals, but honest liberals.

REALLY WANTED OBAMA BUT DIDN’T ACTIVELY INVEST; I know members of this group that are already fed up with Obama despite self describing as liberals. It may seem unlikely that they’d vote Republican — but people are not always ideologically consistent. One “liberal” friend I know thinks health insurance is a right but once ranted to me about progressive tax hikes and how she was at a job and her boss kept pushing her to make more sales but she did the math and realized that if she sold much more it would put her in a different tax bracket & most of her hard earned extra money would just go to the government,

Then There’s THE HILLARY SUPPORTERS WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA TO HAVE A DEMOCRAT:

A lot of this group had some real concerns about Obama – which are likely to get worse. I expect they’d support a Democrat challenger if they had one- & would not vote Republican easily but could conceivably do it. My mom is in this boat. She voted for Reagan and seriously considered McCain.

There’s differing levels of support for Obama in this group. Some transferred their support pretty much automatically – others didn’t come on board till much later in the season. There was so real and very legitimate angetr at how the Democrats run their primary. Even if still technically Democrat – many don’t recognize their party and if Republicans have a persuasive message…I think even some life long Democrats might consider switching parties.

Then obviously there are the SWING VOTERS:

After Sarah Palin was named, McCain Palin at one point had a 10 point lead among likely voters. When Obama’s approval rating hit 45% it appeared those voters had swung back. This group is (obviously) likely to vascillate and there’s a lot of selfish reasons for wanting to be ok with the President. For one thing, it takes a lot less energy. (As I’m sure RedStaters can fully appreciate) I expect there’s some guilt among this group seeing what they thrust on the country and of course nobody likes to admit they’ve been deceived. So, one could arguably say this group has more psychologically invested than any other. Still, I expect they’ll swing right.

Obviously independents and moderates are a huge and diverse group, but I think a lot of them dislike corruption and abuse of power pretty acutely.Some may vote Republican in 2010 just to balance things out as someone who self described as independent for years – I’d look at character. I didn’t like that the Democrats showed no backbone against Bush until it was popular to oppose him. I started self describing as a Republican (rather than a McCain independent) only after I saw that the GOP was capable of standing on principle and showing some backbone against Obama.

Obviously these are huge generalizations, but my impression is the vast majority of citizens are open to a more conservative message – even if it wouldn’t seem so.

Your discussion about the era between 1980-2008 is interesting. Especially how you note the people in their 20′s and 30′s have only experienced life under a semblance of that type of government, Republican. They have nothing to contrast it with. Add in the liberal schooling, from grade school on, and you have a population ripe for the MSM to blame the Rep. for everything and get away with it. Now, in the era of Obama and the leftist Dems, they will have a chance to learn, (unfortunately). Nothing like a little compare and contrast.

I think the people would be quite open to a conservative message, if the message was ever strongly and consistently delivered.

Nice diary.

“you don’t know what you’ve got ’til its gone” is not entirely true. Our country and culture are very resilient. But I fear the cost of giving these nitwits an extended turn behind the wheel. I particularly like the “conservative interlude”. It sure beats the “liberal quaaludes” were getting now!

Pretty sure the sheep that the American people have become will go right along.

wait, what happened during the Carter years? hmmmmmm.
Oh yeah, we gained permanent peace in Israel.
Independence from foreign oil.
Cardigan sweaters came back in style.
Reagan defeated his reelection bid.
Yep, great years.

2012, the next defeat Reagan victory.

Reco to the Clowngirl.