The dominant theme of the 2010 midterm elections is how the American public is as mad as hell and aren't going to take it any longer when it comes to unfettered federal spending, with Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid being the main culprits for America's decline.
There's no doubt that the signature achievements of the Obama presidency, the stimulus bill and the health care reform legislation, aren't popular, as monumental as they have been.
Whenever the President, his minions, or sympathetic columnists or bloggers mention that it's a communications problem, they get blasted by conservative media, who essentially say It's the policies, sir, which is why you're unpopular.
And no doubt there has been significant spending since Obama took over (the Treasury Department reported yesterday that the National Debt has increased by more than $3 trillion since President Obama took office; the debt increased $4.9 trillion during President Bush's two terms).
But taxes haven't gone up – not yet – on anybody making less than $250,000, a campaign promise that Mr. Obama has stuck by. Yes, cigarette taxes went up last year to pay for children's health care, but one could argue that a user fee that certainly hasn't affected everybody.
But with all the rhetoric flying around as Obama being a tax and spend liberal, one would think that Obama's been the embodiment of what Walter Mondale said he would do back in 1984 (which was to announce at the Democratic Convention that he would raise taxes if elected President. Instead he lost 49 states that year to Ronald Reagan, an indication that a "tough love" message wasn't what people wanted to hear).
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2010.