VP Biden decided to suggest over the weekend on ABC This Week that he thinks the Democrats will do much better than expected and will surprise to the upsize. I understand that the role of the Vice President is to be a cheerleader, but his rhetoric is out-of-touch.
I decided to look at the latest Real Clear Politics Congressional scoreboard. They currently rate seats solidly to leaning Democrat as 200 and Republican at 200 also. The Democrats appear to have their best shot picking up Mike Castle (R-DE)'s seat as he competes for Biden's old Senate seat, and the seats won in New Orleans and Hawaii. The remaining 35 seats are tossups--including Bill Owens, who barely won a historical GOP seat as a liberal GOP and Conservative fought each other in NY-23, made possible when McHugh resigned the seat to become Secretary of the Army. Another seat is incendiary Grayson FL-8, whom describe GOP health policy as "die quickly". But nearly all of these in the toss-up category are Democratic seats in purple or red districts. I like the idea of the GOP winning most of those toss-ups.
The Senate may also surprise to the up side. The disappointing thing is that national political novices like Sharron Angle and Rand Paul are tragically weak candidates. Harry Reid's campaign against Angle was highly predictable. When Blago ran for reelection against the remaining Illinois GOP heavyweight, Ms. Topinka, he went negative early. The same thing held true for Gray Davis' (D-CA) reelection campaign. Harry Reid's agenda is unpopular at home, so he had no choice but to go negative. What's surprising is the fact Sharron Angle does not seem to have anticipated that. This is why you want to run vetted candidates, not idiosyncratic ones. I'm not Angle's campaign advisor but there are ways to handle what Reid is doing; look, for instance, at how Rick Lazio's aggressiveness was perceived against Hillary Clinton during their 2000 race for the Senate. Second, she needs to point out unlike a professional politician like Harry Reid, she got involved in politics because the state was telling her how she could educate her kids. She needs to run against Washington politicians out of touch with the common folk and the corrupt deal making. She also needs to defeat Reid's caricature by adopting a very common-sense platform of reforms and projecting a confident, optimistic tone.
Tea Party Movement, Coulter and Others Need to Embrace Reagan's Likability
When I listen Glenn Beck's often angry rhetoric, his gloom-and-doom perspective, and his judgmental attitude (in particular, Woodrow Wilson and John McCain), I am repelled, even though I agree with him on a number of issues. I remember when I was on a business trip and had checked into a hotel, I passed by an older Latina maid, probably in her late 50's, whom smiled and pleasantly greeted me in halting English. I would not have been surprised if she was undocumented. But she was a genuinely good person, probably a mother and a Christian, and a hard worker. I knew she worked hard at making my and others' hotel rooms first-class. And truth be told, I would have have her as a next-door neighbor than Glenn Beck. I have enormous respect for people whom honor family, hard work and other traditional values. I understand a broken immigration system, but if I blame anyone, I blame the coyotes, not the people trying to work around a broken temporary worker system. As an American, I feel the need to treat all visitors with dignity and respect, regardless of how they entered the country.
I realize that there are often times I'll poke the President with sarcastic jabs. I really thought Obama would strike a more conciliatory them, a genuine post-partisanship. Somewhere along the way, he went from this appealing positive person to being sharply critical of Bush and other predecessors, not just at home but abroad and being extraordinarily defensive. He started making straw man arguments and lacked judgment to know when to fight and when to compromise.
I have never run for public office. But there would be things I would bring to a political career. In particular, I'm an unusual case because I'm a bachelor without dependents, but yet I am strongly pro-life and believe in giving the next generations a future of liberty, resources and ideas, not simply unpaid bills. I would be plain-spoken, reform-minded and willing to compromise. But most of all, it's about America and our kids, and I refuse to be anything but optimistic about our future. Obama is misguided and frequently wrong, but I think he's well-intentioned. I have a suspicion that many others agree with these sentiments.
If the Tea Party and other organizations are going to succeed, they should ignore the baseless condemnations of publicity-seeking groups like the NAACP and adopt a positive agenda...
Political Cartoon
I interpret Glenn McCoy's cartoon a reflection of the Greek myth of Daedarus and Icarus. Daedarus, an Athenian craftsman, and his son Icarus were imprisoned on the isle of Crete. Daedarus designed wings of feathers and wax for both of them to escape the island; he cautioned his son from flying too high or too close to the sea. Icarus, exhilarated by the experience of flight, soared towards the sun, which melted the wax and send Icarus to his death. Similarly, Obama went beyond the limits of his election mandate and finds his approval ratings crash to earth...
Quote of the Lay
Calmness is the cradle of power.
Josiah Gilbert Holland
Musical Interlude: Chart Hits of 1999
Sarah Maclachlan, "I Will Remember You"
Santana (featuring Rob Thomas), "Smooth"
Shania Twain, "From This Moment (On)"
N'Sync/Gloria Estefan, "The Music of My Heart"
R. Kelly & Céline Dion, "I'm Your Angel"
