On Friday the Democratic National Committee sent out an email to its supporters, signed by President Obama, that shows an unwillingness to believe the results of the election that almost all observers agree is a Republican wave.
“The Republicans had a good night on Tuesday — but believe me when I tell you that our results were better because you stepped up, talked to your family and friends, and cast your ballot,” the e-mail read.
The full email reads:
The hardest thing in politics is changing the status quo. The easiest thing is to get cynical.
The Republicans had a good night on Tuesday — but believe me when I tell you that our results were better because you stepped up, talked to your family and friends, and cast your ballot.
I want you to remember that we’re making progress. There are workers who have jobs today who didn’t have them before. There are millions of families who have health insurance today who didn’t have it before. There are kids going to college today who didn’t have the opportunity to go to college before.
So don’t get cynical. Cynicism didn’t put a man on the moon. Cynicism has never won a war, or cured a disease, or built a business, or fed a young mind. Cynicism is a choice. And hope will always be a better choice.
I have hope for the next few years, and I have hope for what we’re going to accomplish together. If you do, too, join the Democratic Party, and let’s keep building this movement:
Thank you so much.
Barack Obama
The President may have intended to say “our results, as bad as they were, were better than they would have been had you not stepped up, talked to your family and friends, and cast your ballot.”
But that language would have led to the inevitable question — how much worse would it have been had the recipients of this email not voted for the President’s policies, which the rest of the country soundly rejected?