Dem base: What about us?

[Valin]

The Hill:

Bernie Becker

10/31/14

 

As if Democrats don’t face enough hurdles this midterm year, they’re also staring down a party base asking President Obama: “What have you done for me lately?”

In fact, virtually every traditional pillar of Democratic support, from Latinos and African-Americans to young voters and progressives, has some level of dissatisfaction with the White House and party leaders.

For Democrats seeking to keep control of the Senate, that frustration from the base is only the latest ominous sign, on top of the traditional turnout problems the party faces every off-year election.

 

Latino advocates have gone so far as to call Obama’s immigration record “shameful,” and some have suggested that whether or not control of the Senate flips after next week’s elections will have little impact on the cause of immigration reform.

Young voters and African-Americans — the original pillars of the “Obama coalition” during his primary fight with Hillary Clinton in 2008 — continue to have a tougher time finding a job than the population at-large, even as the economy continues to pick up.

And liberals who opposed the wars of the George W. Bush era have to cope both with a fresh escalation in the Middle East, and a president whose record on civil liberties has been a letdown.

 

(Snip)