Well, that didn't take long:
A trickle of Dem retirements, a wave of bad polling numbers and a torrent of negative news stories about the political climate all have Dems worried that the party needs a serious turnaround before the '10 elections -- and that time may be running out.
Now, Dem strategists are urging their members of Congress to be more decisive, and pointing a finger at the WH for forcing an ambitious agenda for which Congress will now have to answer.
"You can't tell people how to run their campaigns, but in order for this not to be 1994, the White House is going to have to understand this is a referendum on Barack Obama," said a senior Dem consultant. Dems face "a political environment that Obama created by pushing an agenda this fast."
One does have to wonder when would have been an acceptable time for the White House to start tackling a sputtering economy, a health care crisis and two wars abroad. You can't help but recall the television show The West Wing where a consultant tries to persuade the White House not to act on some initiative because it is an election year, leading the WH staffer in question to deadpan: "When is it not an election year?"
Not everyone is placing the current political Democratic downturn at the doorstep of the White House. Another anonymous Dem, this one identified as a "leadership aide", lobbed a bomb directly at recalcitrant members of the Democratic caucus:
"Democrats fought 12 years to win back the majority. Now at the first sign of a fight some members want to wave the white flag?" one Dem leadership aide asked incredulously. "It's time to buck up, roll up our sleeves and start slapping Republicans around. They caused all of these problems and the last thing we need to do is put them back in charge."
While the infighting is not helpful, it is certainly telling. It's good to know there are Democratic insiders who think that the political woes of recent vintage come from being too ambitious. Some consultants actually think the only solution is for President Obama to go into hiding for the next year:
"Localizing campaigns doesn't really work when you've had such a national presidential campaign and a national agenda," he said. "I don't care if you voted against everything Barack Obama put forward, you're going to have to swallow it."
"The environment is not going to get that much better," the consultant warned.
If the solution is that the Democrats do absolutely nothing with their Congressional majorities over the next eleven months, then the consultant in question is right: the environment is not going to get better. It will undoubtedly get worse. After all, if there's nothing to be gained from fighting to maintain or expand a Democratic majority, the base will stay home.
Republicans will hate Democratic lawmakers anyway for even proposing reform, and non-affiliated voters will correctly conclude that you are not fit to govern.
Doesn't exactly sound like a recipe for electoral success.