It’s very interesting to see Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 8th), Speaker of the House of Representatives, complaining that President Barack Obama (D) isn’t doing enough to help his party maintain its House majority in November. Given Obama’s dwindling poll numbers and the vehement, widespread opposition to his policies from both the ‘right’ and the ‘left,’ if I were the Speaker of the House I would be begging him to stay away.
After jumping right on-board with Bush’s incredibly unpopular bailout bonanza, failing to fulfill even the simplest of his campaign promises (e.g., holding all health care debates and discussion in public and broadcast on C-SPAN), pushing through a misguided health care reform plan, and other debacles . . . well, Obama is increasingly proving to be political poison. Almost every congressional or gubernatorial candidate Obama has campaigned for during his presidency has lost—Creigh Deeds in Virginia, Jon Corzine in New Jersey, and Martha Coakley in Massachusetts to name the most noteworthy.
Republicans are poised for a surprising comeback only two years after their well-deserved 2008 trouncing; if the Democrats really want to blunt the impact they need to distance themselves from Obama’s broken promises of a transparent, bipartisan, people’s administration. The ground-swell of moderates that put Obama in office are very angry and betrayed by the ‘politics as usual’ that continues in Washington today; I would advise Democratic candidates to try and steer clear of the wreckage.