With the polls showing Democrats in real trouble coming into election season, tempers are flaring, fingers are pointing and leaders are sadly recognizing that things could get even worse.Among those bleak clouds on their horizon are the administration's unpopular lawsuit against Arizona, increasing attention to Team Obama's cozy relationship with the New Blank Panthers, an ever-worsening economy and, while the president dithers, the oil is still flowing into the Gulf.
But here are some of the new rumbles:
* Criticism of Obama's handling of Afghanistan. This AP story tells of fresh warnings from none other than John Kerry plus the administration's own special envoy for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, acknowledging that the way ahead remains in doubt. "There are significant elements of movement forward in many areas, but I do not yet see a definitive turning point in either direction," Holbrooke said.
* The stress which comes from pessimism. A case in point is Nancy Pelosi's explosion against White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs for saying that Democrats could lose control of the House in November. Calling Gibbs "politically inept," the Speaker of the House continued a rant against other White House officials at what she feels is a lack of resolve and loyalty.
* Contrary to what President Obama and virtually all other Washington Democrats promised over and again, the "health care reform" bill will force American taxpayers to pay for abortions. This brands Democrats as not merely uncaring about the sanctity of human life, but it shows in a glaring way that the Party is filled with self-centered, manipulative liars. The myth of the pro-life Democrat is dead.
* Marc Thiessen, writing in a Washington Post op-ed, explains the huge problem of Obama's approval rating among Jews dropping a remarkable 36 points. Wow. Thiessen's column also explores how Obama's problems with the unions have led to a dramatic overreaction. "To repair the breach, Democrats have turned their legislative agenda over to the unions. Instead of moving appropriations bills, they are pushing legislation that would shield unions from the campaign finance reporting requirements of the Disclose Act and force the unionization of public-safety workers in 21 states. And they have allowed the teachers unions to hijack the war funding bill for our troops, and the Teamsters to hijack the FAA authorization bill over a provision to make it easier to organize FedEx. Whether this will be enough to overcome the animosity of organized labor remains to be seen, but it can only feed the animosity of Americans who believe Congress is failing to do its job."
* Harry Reid's mouth is a regular problem for both he and the party in general. His preposterous claim recently that there are no undocumented workers in Nevada could prove terribly embarrassing if a 60 Minutes crew suddenly decided to investigate. No, I don't think CBS or any other MSM player would do that to a pal but the alternative media could certainly use Reid's balderdash to underscore the Dems failure to deal with illegal immigration -- and their arrogant indifference to truth.
* The Federal Reserve is agreeing with other economists in saying the future does not look rosy. The scenarios they presented in April were not good news for Dems who had made bold claims about job creation, the stimulus, etc. But the Fed's most recent projections are even worse.
* The misuse of stimulus funds (as well as the smoke and mirror tricks some of it represents) is sure to sour voters as more details are learned. For instance, what do you think Democrat politicians were feeling when Diane Sawyer reported that one sign advertising "Funded by The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act" cost $10,000?
* Finally, there's one more huge headache on the horizon for Democrats but whether or not this one comes around is still to be seen. For that headache would be the G.O.P. getting its act together, moving towards the right and aggressively promoting true solutions for America's woes. For more on that development re-read Tuesday's post "We Need a Map To Get Out of This Mess" and follow up with Jonah Goldberg's well-argued "How to Exploit Obama's Crisis."
