Salena Zito, Townhall.com
BIG BEAVER, Pa. – Voters throughout river towns like this one, from the Mid-Atlantic through the Mid-West and into the Deep South, are frustrated with Washington.
Most are working-class Democrats and independents who placed their trust in Democrats in the past two election cycles.
Interesting, then, that with all of the poll numbers and focus groups available to it, Washington’s ruling class still does not understand Main Street. In fact, it wants to know what is wrong with Americans.
President Barack Obama, his advisors, congressional leaders and even many of the D.C. Beltway’s elite pundits collectively believe that voter anger among Republicans alone may cause Democrats to lose November’s midterm election.
They could not be more wrong.
Democrats are losing the confidence of Main Street Democrat and independent voters because they did not listen. It really is that simple.
Yet, instead of owning up to Democrats’ shortcomings, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell blames a GOP takeover of “wackos” and “fruit-loops” – and the president, in a major economic-policy speech, says something very un-presidential about being referred to as a “dog.”
“Obama’s problem, as I see it, is partly a matter of atmospherics,” said Todd Gitlin, a professor of sociology and journalism at Columbia University. “He has to get out among working-class voters and display his popular touch.”
To read more, visit: http://townhall.com/columnists/SalenaZito/2010/09/12/whats_the_matter_with_main_street
