He Didn't Learn Anything

Jim Geraghty assures us that although Obama and his party took a beating last Tuesday he didn't learn a thing:

My dear friends, conservatism had a near-miss this weekend. No, not that the Jets came within one half of football of making the Super Bowl, although you're forgiven for suspecting that if the unthinkable occurred, the Russians would launch their missiles and end the world. But Barack Obama got a giant, flashing red warning sign that his presidency was going off the rails . . . and he ignored it.

We will see what the midterms hold, but on late Tuesday night, as Scott Brown's win became clear and the aftershocks reverberated from Massachusetts to Washington to Marion Berry's district (where the Blue Dog decided to retire, as predicted), there was a slim chance that Obama and his team would hear the alarm clock. They would recalibrate dramatically. The would begin to recognize that their majorities are toast if the unemployment rate doesn't come down sharply before November, that the health-care bill has to be seriously stripped down if not completely tossed, that the war against al-Qaeda is not a side issue to be dealt with every couple weeks, and that the president has to stop whining about the circumstances he "inherited" from his predecessor. And that if Obama did all of that, 2010 might not be such a bad year for Democrats after all.

Thankfully, Obama and his administration are doubling down on the stances, policies and attitudes that got them where they are today. The big news, of a sort, is that David Plouffe is coming back to the White House. He was Obama's campaign manager, and his absence might explain why the Obama presidential campaign has seemed so off since last January. With Plouffe back in place, there's a chance that Obama can finally get past these pesky "governing" distractions and focus on what he's best at, which is campaigning.

Jen Rubin sees the move as Onion-esque: "It is only fitting that Obama's first significant personnel change in the wake of the Massachusetts debacle is to hire back his campaign manager. No, really. Not a new economic team. Not a new chief of staff. Not even a new national security staff to replace the gang that dropped the ball on the Christmas Day bomber. No, with the Obami, it is never about substance or getting the policy right. It's not about governance. It is about the perpetual campaign. So the campaign manager gets the emergency call."

Yep, it's back to campaign mode with lots of rallies, speeches, and who knows, maybe they find a couple of females willing to faint on cue. Sadly for them, the voters have now figured this guy out. Campaign rhetoric isn't going to cut it.