Today’s Washington Post reports that Congressional leadership no longer views “health care reform” as something that should be rushed. Boy, it is amazing how Obama’s mere presence in office has taken something that was an absolute crisis one week ago and turned it in to no big deal.
The Democrats are in full blown implosion mode. I offer just a few bits of anecdotal evidence, some circumstantial and some brought on by the Party itself.
1. Unemployment still 10%, and unlikely to change much by November.
2. People are really upset about spending, and the next 7 months will be a parade of more and more red ink.
3. The people are really upset about the attempted government takeover of health care.
4. Democratic candidates are choosing not to run for re-election.
5. Joe Biden’s son decided not to run for his old man’s Senate seat.
6. Polling indicates people are running from the Democratic Party.
7. Obama is screwing up our fight against terrorists.
8. Nancy Pelosi’s approval rating is right in line with Charles Manson’s.
9. The “Louisiana Purchase”, “Cornhusker Kickback,” and last minute sweetheart deal for unions demonstrated a level of corruption that would make Nixon blush.
10. History. The first midterm election for a first term president is generally abysmal, even in the absence of the above factors.
The Democrats have thrown the Republicans a “hanging curve.” It will be interesting to see if the Republicans know how to swing a bat. History is not encouraging.
It’s definitely not encouraging on the national level. Things are somewhat better in Wisconsin – both major candidates for governor can fairly be described as broad-based conservative, and the major candidates for the other high-profile offices are reaching out to the Tea Party movement (some as a rehab of their image).