A New Gallup Poll Sends Trembles Through Democratic Party

In a newly released 15,000 person poll shows that 40 percent of Americans now self identify as conservative (up from 37 percent when Obama was elected), only 20 percent identify as liberal (down 2 percent). Many more independents (35 percent) now identify as conservative than last year (only 29 percent).

I can't avoid the simple conclusion that Democratic control of the executive and legislative branches of the government has ignited a conservative resurgence. Mr. Obama ran as a moderate, promoted moderate concepts, but once the election was history, lurched far, far to the left. Still, William Galston, a former member of the Clinton administration believes, as do many others, that the Clinton Presidency was derailed by the results of the 1994 midterm election. That election returned the GOP to control of Congress for the first time since the 1950's. It took more than a decade for the Dems to recover, he believes,

that Republicans won’t do as well this time, Democratic leaders should take seriously the possibility of a significant electoral reverse and act strategically to make it less likely...Still, Democrats must ask themselves whether there’s anything they can do over the next year--for example, a meaningful shift toward fiscal restraint--to reduce the intensity level of the conservative assault. If not, the combination of an energized opposition and an electorate battered by high unemployment, slow growth, and the perception of out-of-control spending could set the stage for an ugly outcome. This wouldn’t mean that Republicans had regained credibility as a governing party; odds are that it will take more than two years to erase the public’s sour memories of the Republican congressional majority and George W. Bush’s presidency. It would mean that a substantial portion of the electorate wanted to send Democrats a message that they had gone too far.

I don't believe that the Democrats will have the wisdom to reverse course. They have the bit in their teeth and are going to try to ram through a whole host of liberal policies from their wish list BEFORE they lose control of Congress again. After all, once a program is established...Congress never, ever will repeal it.