What is really going on

David Paul Kuhn has a piece on Real Clear Politics in which he discusses how last week's racial upsets prevented the Democrats from having a good week politically. I just do not buy that and sent him the following e-mail:

"I read your piece on RCP and I suggest that you might want to look at things somewhat differently. You start by positing that the passage of the financial “reform” bill and the extension of unemployment benefits should have made this a good week for the Democrats. I disagree. Other than hyper partisans, not many people in America care much about the so-called reform of Wall Street. First, essentially no one understands what Congress passed. Sadly, that includes many of the congressmen and senators who voted on the bill. We have all heard enough hype about this bill or that bill for it to just bounce off our armor. Indeed, there was enough out in the media suggesting that the final bill was a win for the big banks that even someone paying attention could not be sure what was actually being done. As far as unemployment benefits are concerned, there was here again not that big a concern as you might think. People are interested in having the unemployed find jobs, not get paltry benefits. Everyone paying attention knew that all that was happening was political theater – the Republicans showing their commitment to deficit reduction and the Democrats showing their commitment to helping the poor unemployed (although when they went on vacation in the middle of this “crisis” it did tend to undermine that position.

Simply put, the only way this could be a good week for the Democrats would be to hear economic statistics (not campaign rhetoric) that showed the economy was actually improving. A good development overseas in Afghanistan or Iraq or even with Iran might also be good—but not nearly as important. A flash of competence in cleaning up the oil spill would also help, although I think it is just too late for Obama and the Democrats to get any benefit from that one. They are already branded as incompetent for all of the delay and dithering regarding the cleanup.

I realize that every little thing in Washington gets magnified into a big thing in the minds of the political junkies. You need to keep a broad overview here, however. The wave of which you speak is not unexpected. In the stormy waters that resulted from the recession and financial problems, the wave is simply the wake created when the Democrats turned the ship hard to the left and pull the throttle to the highest speed away from prosperity. Maybe their circuitous course could get us to a full recovery eventually (although I doubt that), but the American people are mainly interested in seeing prosperity getting closer, not moving off into the distance.

Sorry about the extended metaphor, but it seemed to work."