democrats

Now that we are seven months removed from the fight over the single largest expansion of government in US history, it’s a good time to take stock and point out some silver linings.

In a perverse sort of way, ObamaCare may be the best thing that could have come out of Obama’s first term as President.  Had he and the Democrat leadership opted to push a more limited program that only extended to those who couldn’t afford health insurance, Americans may have gone for it, thus locking in yet another entitlement program that would metastasize beyond its original scope.  But by overreaching they made the water so hot that the frog of public opinion can’t wait to leap out.

#1: It will eventually result in real conservative health care reform

Now that Justice Stevens has made it official that he will be resigning at the end of the current term, Barack Obama gets his second opportunity to make a lifetime appointment to the US Supreme Court.  As usual, the speculation is as rampant as the implications are huge.

The bulk of the speculation centers on what direction Obama will take.  Does he try to capture some of the political middle ground he’s lost in the eyes of the public over the past year, or does he go with his heart and pick someone as liberal as he is?

Of course the timing couldn't be worse for Senate Democrats.  They are already weary of political combat due to the battle over ObamaCare, which came in the aftermath of the fight over the stimulus, etc.  As a result, the Democrats in red/purple states that are up for re-election this year aren't too keen on having Obama pick anyone who might be deemed too radical.  They’ve seen the polls and would rather not add one more log to the growing fire of conservative activism in an election year.

With a newly minted sixty-vote Democrat majority in the US Senate, the approval of the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is all but assured.
But what isn’t assured is that it won’t cost the Democrats something before all the dust settles.  And that’s up to the Republicans.

Do they have what it takes to make her positions on hot-button issues so toxic that the Democrats from “purple” or “red” states who support her will find themselves in political hot water back home?
Her record represents just such an opportunity.

Obama stubbed his toe again this past week, remarking (or psycho-analyzing) at a recent fundraiser that manyvoters in the middle class tend to "cling" to God and guns whenever they're bitter about their life. Presumably he means when they're having a hard time economically, or feel some slight to their rights. And by this, we can assume he means that they feel this way when the government isn't doing enough to make sure they don't feel that way....or because they're just too dumbto know what's really in their best interest.

George Will weighs in with his column today:

Obama may be the fulfillment of modern liberalism. Explaining why many working class voters are "bitter," he said they "cling" to guns, religion and "antipathy to people who aren't like them" because of "frustrations." His implication was that their primitivism, superstition and bigotry are balm for resentments they feel because of America's grinding injustice.