Stating the Obvious

This bit of "news analysis" from the New York Times tells us what we already know: while defying expectations by getting his agenda through Congress, Obama is simultaneously alienating the voters he and his party need to hold Congress come November. I would submit, however, that the political problem only seems to result from Obama's aggressive legislative agenda. The primary difficulty is that unemployment remains close to 10%. It is axiomatic that when such high levels of unemployment obtain at election time, the party in power is going to get smacked.

Paul Krugman had something to say about this almost a year ago. Krugman was arguing for further stimulus spending, suggesting that lingering unemployment--which PK believed could be mitigated by mo' money--would hamstring Obama's legislative ambitions. The good news is that BHO has to a certain extent defied Krugman's expectations, but the economist/columnist's basic critique remains sound: the lack of attention to the unemployment problem is going to hurt the Democrats politically. What's frustrating is that the Republican line of attack, the one that seems to be working, namely that government is doing/spending too much is 180 degrees backwards. Voters seem to be saying, "I'm troubled by continued high unemployment, therefore I want a government that does less."

Sigh.

The chief frustration of life as a citizen in a democracy is the sheer irrationality of so many of one's countrymen.