Will Obama's Weakness Inspire Republicans To Follow Their "Hearts?"

Why the hell not, huh?

Last year Democratic and left leaning independent voters disappointed with Obama and the congressional Democrats who followed his lame and pathetic agenda just didn't show up at the polls. And they didn't show up in great numbers. That's why the Republicans were able to take over the House and cripple the Democrats in the Senate. Despite Jonathan Chait's blame game/wishful thinking, there is every reason to believe that is exactly what will happen again in November, 2012. As Chait himself pointed out in the Times Saturday, "Obama’s image as a weakling and sellout on domestic issues now centers on his alleged resistance, from the very first days of his presidency, to do whatever was necessary to heal the economy. 'The truly decisive move that broke the arc of history,' wrote the Emory professor Drew Westen in this newspaper, was his handling of the stimulus'.” Krugman explains it for Chait and anyone taken in by him on his blog today but, in any case, it's been almost all downhill since then. I hope you watched the Joe Mason for President video we posted yesterday, a country doctor explaining why he's reluctantly going to primary Obama.

And Republicans have noticed. They know they won't be able to get the Democratic base to vote for their candidates-- they're trying to disenfranchise as many of them as they can-- but they sense that disappointed Democrats may stay away from the polls again next year. This is making many of them cocky enough to think any random right-wing sociopath-- even clowns like Palin, Bachman, Perry or Cain-- could beat Obama. What the rank-and-file are not doing is looking for someone likely to appeal to a broad spectrum of voters in a general election. The Times says that in 2 dozen interviews in New Hampshire and Iowa over the weekend "voters said they sensed a new vulnerability to President Obama" and many of them think any conservative could beat Obama. Obama's team is hoping they pick the craziest and most extreme conservative out there.

Again and again, Republicans said they were looking for a candidate with strong leadership skills, someone who could speak up and restore the nation’s standing in the world-- a clear contrast to Mr. Obama, whom they perceive as being weak and ineffectual.

“We have a leader right now who isn’t really a leader,” said Fred Bestwick, 66, a retired federal government employee who lives in Chichester and had just watched Mr. Perry speak at a house party.

“I don’t want our Republican candidate to be someone weak,” he said. “I like Perry because he doesn’t seem to take any guff, and that’s important to me.”

For all the consternation among some party leaders about the strength of the field of candidates, the conversations with Republicans and independent voters revealed a sense of satisfaction at their array of choices. The interviews reflected a marked shift in the mood from only months ago, when many Republicans were openly skeptical that Mr. Obama could be defeated.

“Obama is pretty much beating himself,” said Charles Whitney, 65, a truck driver from Des Moines. “Don’t you think anybody can beat him?”

Republicans’ belief that they have a real shot at winning the White House has made many of them more receptive to a principled conservative as their nominee-- “The more conservative, the better,” said Jerry Benuck, a semi-retired Web developer who lives in Bedford, N.H.-- but the push to the right is also tempered by a desire to settle on a candidate who can unseat the current president.

...Bonnie Duarte, 56, a registered nurse at the Veteran’s Administration hospital in Manchester, said that “job growth right now, the economy” are the issues most important to her. But she echoed the sentiment that the Republican nominee should be a bold leader.

“I’m also looking for a candidate who is not afraid to speak up and say, ‘I’m a total conservative. This is what I believe in and if you don’t like it, too bad,’ ” she said.

Ms. Duarte, who is married to State Representative Joe Duarte, said her ideal candidate would be “a mixture of Perry, Romney, Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.”

I'm sure that would be Obama's ideal candidate as well-- with a dash of Palin and a sprinkle of Santorum.