The Lone Ranger Rides Again

Trey Smith

President Obama is running a “lone ranger” campaign instead of running with the Congressional Democrats as a team. Notice how he keeps saying, as he did during his nomination speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, “I want you to vote for me.” This separation has created more than a little resentment among Democrats on Capitol Hill. In my conversations with them, they compare Clinton’s propensity to campaign as President with his allies in Congress when he was in their Districts, with Obama’s aloofness. House Democrats are also upset at the White House’s refusal to direct some of their immense campaign cash to help hard-pressed Democrats in the House races.
~ from Waiting for Obama, Democrats Will Lose the House of Representatives by Ralph Nader ~

This evening we may learn that Barack Obama has won a second term as President of the United States. However, as Nader points out, the chances that the Democrats will regain control of the House are about nil and the chief reason for this will be Barack Obama himself!

As I have noted previously, this has been a truly bizarre campaign season. In the past, the incumbent works tirelessly to convince voters to give him a mandate by ensuring that his party controls both chambers of Congress. But Barack Obama seems completely disinterested in the races for Congress. He hasn't been out stumping for his party's congressional candidates and has not tried to help them raise funds.

It would seem that there are only two rationales that could account for this odd behavior.

The most obvious one is that Obama does not want a Democratic-majority Congress. A Democratic-majority Congress would push him in a direction he does not want to go -- to the left! This is not to suggest that a Democratic-majority Congress would usher in the age of socialism. All a move to the left would do is bring us back to the center.

To recap. The supposedly liberal Democratic incumbent is doing his darnedest to make sure that, if he is reelected, Congress maintains its rightward tilt. By doing this, he should be proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he isn't liberal...or even a moderate. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The second rationale goes hand-in-hand with the first. Obama is a narcissist. All he cares about is his own legacy and that legacy would make a 1980s Republican blush!!