President Obama refers to his political opponents as "enemies"

The man who was going to bring us all together has now decided his political opponents are the enemy. He has difficulty using that word to describe terrorists who want to destroy our country, but he has no problem at all using it to describe anyone who disagrees with his policies. Here he is, in his own words via a New York Times blog:

“If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re going to punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2.”

While conservatives are energized, liberals are demoralized

As the midterm elections draw near, President Obama and the Democrats are becoming more desperate than ever to find a winning message. They thought President Obama's health care reform would be popular, even while polls showed it was not. But they rammed it through anyway, and now most Democratic candidates are running away from it as a campaign issue.

President Obama and congressional Democrats spent the past two years running away from the issue that was really important to voters, which was and remains jobs. Instead they made their focus health care reform, and now they have nothing to run on. From Associated Press, via NPR:

Analysts in both parties say all major indicators tilt toward the Republicans. President Barack Obama's policies are widely unpopular. Congress, run by the Democrats, rates even lower. Fear and anger over unemployment and deep deficits are energizing conservative voters; liberals are demoralized.

Some Democratic candidates are distancing themselves from Pelosi

How unpopular is Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House? She's so unpopular that some members of her own party are running campaign ads to state their opposition to her. She's so unpopular that one of her Democratic underlings is calling for her resignation, as reported by Washington Post:

More than a few Democrats have said they are wavering on supporting Pelosi as their leader next year. At least four House Democrats are running ads stating their opposition to the speaker's agenda, and one Democrat running in Tennessee called for her resignation.

Gallup says Americans are showing a preference for new Republican candidates

A Gallup poll indicates Americans are intent on changing the makeup of Congress in the 2010 midterm elections, with 75% of the American people saying Congress would be improved if most incumbents are replaced with new members. And it's Republican newcomers who are the choice of a majority of Americans, according to Gallup:

In a year when Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the nation and give relatively low ratings to the president and Congress, it is not politically beneficial to be either an incumbent or a member of the ruling party. That is reflected in Americans' preference for a Republican newcomer over other types of candidates they may have a chance to vote for in this fall's midterm congressional elections.

Some Democrats want to extend the Bush tax cuts

President Obama has vowed to let the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of the year. The President promised to focus on creating jobs, but he spent the first year of his presidency working on ramming the health care bill throgh Congress. Now, with the economy continuing to sputter along, raising taxes would make a bad jobs situation even worse than it already is. Because of this, some Democrats are starting to talk about extending the Bush tax cuts, as reported by the Washington Post:

With the economy rapidly weakening, some senior Democrats are having second thoughts about raising taxes on the nation's wealthiest families and are pressing party leaders to consider extending the full array of Bush administration tax cuts, at least through next year.

Speaker Pelosi wants to investigate the 9/11 families

Survivors of people who were killed by terrorists at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and on Flight 93, have made their opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque well known. Now Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has called for an investigation of anyone who opposes the building of a Ground Zero Mosque. This is just another example of Democratic leadership finding itself out of step with a majority of the American people. If the Speaker is serious about investigating people who disagree with her, such as 9/11 families, she needs to be replaced immediately.

Here she is, in her own words, via the Washington Post:

"There is no question that there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some," said Pelosi, "and I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded? How is this being ginned up?"

The First Lady's overseas vacation is not playing well at home

The first lady decided to take her daughters and entourage to Spain. She could just as easily have vacationed somewhere here at home, which would have helped our own economy at a time when many Americans are struggling.

Kirsten Powers, who is not a conservative, wrote about this in the New York Post:

The first lady's well-publicized, expensive vacation in southern Spain last week was a PR gift to her husband's opposition.

After all, we're in the middle of a major recession, with many Americans suffering terribly. President Obama himself, in discussing American economic woes with George Stephanopolous in January, said, "Everybody's going to have to [sacrifice]. Everybody's going to have to have some skin in the game."

"Sacrifice for thee but not for me" is not a great campaign slogan.