The Democrats were blindsided yesterday in Massachusetts, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. They have badly misjudged the mood of the American people for months, stringing out the health care debate ad infinitum while ignoring the growing anger over the slow pace of the recovery, the loss of jobs, and the obscene unfairness of the Wall Street bonuses. I don’t know what happens... moreThe Democrats were blindsided yesterday in Massachusetts, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. They have badly misjudged the mood of the American people for months, stringing out the health care debate ad infinitum while ignoring the growing anger over the slow pace of the recovery, the loss of jobs, and the obscene unfairness of the Wall Street bonuses. I don’t know what happens to people once they get to Washington, but they seem to lose the ability to understand anything that goes on outside the beltway. Health care reform is a must, but the long dither and the increasing complexity of the bill, not to mention the pork, special favors and lack of cost controls in the current bill have made it unpopular with the public. I don’t know that people actually oppose the bill so much as they have come to view the single-minded attention to it as an unwelcome distraction from more important things–namely easing the economic pain of so many millions. view page