Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Is the Dems' Fall Outlook Improving?

It is amazing how much the sentiment on Democratic prospects have changed since the election of Scott Brown. Then, according to the Boston Globe:
Republicans in Washington and around the country yesterday said Scott Brown’s victorious Senate campaign in Massachusetts is a harbinger of a broader party surge.
Yet since Scott Brown was elected (and some would say because Scott Brown has been elected), healthcare reform has passed. While many aspects of the reform are unpopular, it does at least remove the critique that Democrats did nothing with their majority.

I think there are two other pieces of good news for Democrats: GM is expected to return to profitability, and Goldman Sachs is embroiled in an SEC investigation. Both of these events seem to underscore that big government can be good, or at least, preferable to the alternative. The government's takeover of GM has been highly successful; sales have been rising, and GM repaid their last government loan, although much of the money Uncle Sam loaned GM was in an equity stake, which won't be cashed out until the stock is re-issued, which is unlikely to be profitable.

The Republicans are gearing up to make Elena Kagan, a New York City liberal elite who didn't learn to drive until her 20s, a poster child for how out of touch the Democratic party is with the American people. I'm sure that this election will be messy--and Democrats may loose several seats. It does not, however, seem to be the doomsday it was a few short months ago.

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