Lambs to the Slaughter

The mid-term elections are barely six months away, and the President continues to denigrate those whose votes his party desperately needs, driving moderate Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents further away. The AP reports that yesterday, while at a fundraiser in Miami, the President scoffed at the Tea Party demonstrations taking place across the country:

President Barack Obama said Thursday he’s amused by the anti-tax tea party protests that have been taking place around Tax Day.

Obama told a fundraiser in Miami that he’s cut taxes, contrary to the claims of protesters.

“You would think they’d be saying thank you,” he said.

While remarks like this are perfectly in keeping with President Obama’s outlook on anyone who disagrees with him (See Alinsky Rule #5), they aren’t gaining him or his party any street cred with his increasingly disillusioned constituents. In Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell’s latest column, they look at the fact that Americans are polarizing more toward the Tea Party outlook and away from Obama:

Last week, a Rasmussen Reports survey showed that overall more Americans say that they agree with the Tea Party movement on major issues than with the president of the United States — 48 percent with the Tea Party and 44 percent with Obama. Among independents, 50 percent said that they’re closer to the Tea Party, while only 38 percent are with Obama.

Moreover, the most recent Gallup poll shows that the Tea Party movement is at least as popular as the Democratic Party. And the Tea Party movement stands for fiscal discipline, limited government and balancing the budget — an agenda that has broad public support extending well beyond the movement. Polling conducted by one of us (Schoen) found that 55 percent of respondents endorse that agenda. More important, a solid majority of swing voters endorse it.

Having wasted nearly 12 months on forcing a wildly unpopular health care bill on the American people, and ignoring the ominous Burma Shave signs of Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, Obama and Congress are facing potential disaster in November’s elections.

These voters are outraged by the seeming indifference of the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, who they believe wasted a year on health-care reform. These voters will not tolerate more diversion from their pressing economic concerns. They view the Obama administration as working systematically to protect the interests of public-sector employees and organized labor — by offering specific benefits such as pension protection and tax reductions at the expense of all taxpayers.

Democrats must understand that voters will not accept seeing their tax dollars used to pay for higher wages and better benefits for public-sector employees when they themselves are getting higher taxes and lower wages…

Democrats can avoid the electoral bloodbath we predicted before passage of the health-care bill, but in one way: through a bold commitment to fiscal discipline and targeted fiscal stimulus of the private sector and entrepreneurship.

Even if they had the gumption to follow that advice, I believe they lack the imagination to understand that November could actually see Democrats losing both the House and the Senate.

Like lambs to the slaughter, Congress will follow Obama’s lead, ignoring the wishes of their constituents, and get voted out in droves later this year. President Obama had a difficult enough time getting his health care bill passed with solid majorities in both houses. How on earth will he salvage his entire presidency once the lambs are silenced?

UPDATE: Moe Lane suspects that Schoen and Caddell had been drinking heavily when they wrote their column… he opines that there’s no other explanation for such a flight of fantasy. And Malkin says, “Keep laughing, chump.”

Stoutcat