It’s not surprising at all that Obama is taking this path, even though it is guaranteed to lead to absolute electoral disaster in the fall. He and his advisors have decided that if he takes a centrist route he is going to infuriate his base so much that he will be finished politically. So, just like you-know-who in the bunker, Obama, Axelrod, Reid, Pelosi, and Emmanuel have decided that if they are going down, they are going to take the entire party down with them. In that, I think they will succeed. There’s no one associated with the Democrat Party who has the power to stop them anymore.

That’s the problem with letting radicals take over every lever of power with no checks or balances on them – when they go bad, the entire organization fails.

There’s another factor in their decision that may be just as important – Obama and his two most important advisors, Axelrod and Emmanuel, have *never* known how to truly govern. That’s been behind all the uncomfortableness of the last year, where Obama has basically abdicated any true leadership and simply farmed out all of the policy decisions to Holder, Reid, and Pelois. Obama and Axelrod had no idea what to do with power, so they fiddled around and let those who had strong ideas (Reid, Holder, and Pelosi) do whatever they wanted. What Axelrod wanted, *needed*, was somebody to fight against, some enemy to point to and go negative on. That’s been behind all the attempts to scapegoat Palin, or Limbaugh, or Fox News, or anyone they think is in opposition. They are desperate for a strong, identifiable enemy because that is the only thing they know how to do, and it is the only thing that can give them some kind of focus.

It is a simplistic and deeply destructive view of the world, and no one can possibly govern effectively this way. (See Hugo Chavez for a good example of this in action.) And I don’t think Obama will ever be like that, because even if he wanted to, it’s already too late. Now, the more he attacks the more he drives independants away and the worse his election chances get.

I don’t think that taking back the Senate in the fall is a realistic goal for the GOP *yet* – but if Obama takes this line and sticks to it for the next 6 months, it will be.

And just for fun, a clip that I anticipate playing a lot tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfBx3EvDTEI&feature=related

Invite your neighbors! Crank it Loud!!!