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| "Are you with me now? Well alright then!" |
After a dreary summer marred by the fight over government borrowing, rank-and-file Democrats say they are growing more optimistic about President Barack Obama's political prospects in 2012. They cite his tougher, more populist tone and what they view as a chaotic primary fight among Republicans.
Many Democrats acknowledged that high unemployment and economic uncertainty create formidable obstacles for the incumbent. But interviews with more than a dozen Democratic activists across the nation found support for Obama's more forceful message against GOP lawmakers and interest in rebutting the presidential candidates.
Several pointed to Obama's speech last week in Kansas, where he argued that the middle class had been under duress for the past decade and economic policies must give everyone a "fair shot and a fair share."
"He didn't have his voice and we didn't have our voice," said David Leland, an attorney in Columbus, Ohio, and former state party chairman. "But now he has successfully turned that particular corner and most people are much more enthusiastic and much more fired up about it."
I was always fairly confident that the Dems would start to come around, but I have to imagine that seeing the clown car full of Republican candidates arriving at these debates has helped them to realize that Obama is really the ONLY choice for the country in 2012.
By the way, if the Democrats were impressed with Obama's speech in Kansas, wait until they get a load of his interview on 60 Minutes. It is almost an hour long, but well worth your time.
