Sunday, October 17, 2010

Obama: "Don't get discouraged"

In a rally for Massachusetts' Governor Deval Patrick, Obama spoke words of empathy for people's frustrations, blamed the tide of anti-incumbent fervor on the bad economy, and urged the crowd not to get discouraged. He (rather dutifully, it seemed) said he believes the Democrats will retain control of Congress.

It fell flat, at least as I read the blurb on Huffington Post. I don't know what more he could have done or said -- and, speaking of empathy, it must be awfully discouraging to Obama himself. Add to that the weight of all the problems on his shoulders and the knowledge that he probably made a huge mistake in trying to compromise with Republicans to get bipartisan support, when they were dead set on obstructing anything he tried to do.

My forever-optimistic cloak is dragging the ground and close to falling off. The latest from Nate Silver is that odds predict Republicans will gain 50 seats in the House, well more than enough to take control.

The one last grasp at a silver lining: then at least they can't blame the failures completely on the Democrats, although they will try to say that we dug such a deep hole that it will take time to get us out of it. Exactly what we should have been emphasizing in reverse these two years, instead of trying to make nice and hoping they would too.

Let's face it. They are not nice. Not when it comes to a chance to win.

Ralph

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