The Sunshine Empire

The dog days of summer are here and upon us in the great state of Florida. I don’t exactly know why the hell they call them the “dog days,” but if it means being in a soaking sweat just from walking out to my car for all of 5 minutes then they are here. I live in the kind of heat were simply getting out of your vehicle renders your sunglasses fully fogged. Here in northern Florida, temperatures in the high nineties with 100% humidity is nothing new. Yet in the northeast temperatures close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit are not uncommon as well. Biggest difference; we never ever have to deal with temperatures of ten below zero. But the northeast does as well.

The heat in Washington is growing as well on Congressional Democrats as they see a potential swing election again this coming November. By all accounts I agree that the math seems an uphill battle for Democrats in terms of of in-play seats. What I fail to get is why. Of course people are unhappy with the course of the economy and that is the one reason that does not make for good play on the all news cable sites. But the fact remains that the American people’s views have not changed drastically in terms of the polling issue wise. If the media was truly liberal bent then they would be shouting from the mountaintops about the staggering accomplishments on the part of the Obama administration and the Democratic majority in Congress. As Rachael Maddow said, the last time this much has been accomplished by a President booze was illegal. Landmark health care and Wall Street reform, and the ending of the Iraq war are staggering. But the media parrots the Republican line that Obama is already a failure.

Now by all accounts the Republicans are set to retake the House of Representatives in the fall. The political calculus is already set at this stage in the process. But one thing that no one can answer is why. What major Republican alternative proposal are the American people more in favor of as opposed to the Democratic party platform? Health care reform? Is that really what’s driving the wave? It’s really an old political truism form Bubba Clinton; It’s the economy stupid. Republicans spent the last election telling people that fixing our economic woes was not as simple as electing a magical well spoken rock star. Now they blame our slow recovery out of the most devastating (Republican caused) economic meltdown on the lack of a magic wand in Barack Obama’s hand. The sad thing is, the voting public is too damn stupid to remember when they voted against the group that dug that damn hole. The Republican party is basically running on a message that equates to, “Hey you remember all those policies that almost made the entire world economy disintegrate? That’s the way to actually fix the entire mess!” The American voting public is just damn stupid enough to buy it. That’s why we’re fucked.