I don’t think most Democrats realize what a bad place they are in right now. There is still over a year before the mid-term elections, but unless there is a significant change in direction they are going straight over the cliff. I’m not saying that. Charlie Cook is. In somewhat different words.
Listening to two briefings — one by a Democratic pollster who had just conducted a survey for a group favoring health care reform, the other by a Republican pollster more skeptical of the reform plans — I felt as if I were hearing a pair of reports by the National Transportation Safety Board on the same plane crash. But in sorting through the problems facing President Obama and congressional Democrats, focusing too narrowly on their disastrous handling of health care would be a mistake…
…With 14 months to go before the 2010 midterm election, something could happen to improve the outlook for Democrats. However, wave elections, more often than not, start just like this: The president’s ratings plummet; his party loses its advantage on the generic congressional ballot test; the intensity of opposition-party voters skyrockets; his own party’s voters become complacent or even depressed; and independent voters move lopsidedly away. These were the early-warning signs of past wave elections. Seeing them now should terrify Democrats.“Terrify.” I didn’t say it. Charlie Cook did. I really don’t think Democrats are fully feeling it yet though. I think they are in shock and denial. And they are so far to the left that I don’t know if they are going to be able to move fast enough to the center to save their backsides. Obama has time, but all those congressmen and women facing voters next year are going to have to seriously boogie to get there.
