People are just like dogs. If you look like you are in control your dog will be happy. If voters believe you are control and making good decisions like George W. Bush they will be happy. The Democrats lost the cohesive thought that what they were doing with health care was the right thing to do despite the fact they had been working for almost 100 years to go in the direction. The voters became a little unhappy and the numbers sank a little in support of health care. We need President Obama or another leader to come forward with the same political weight as Obama and say this is what we need. Story is here.
But even for a voter who is less well-informed and is only picking up an impressionistic residue of each candidate’s message, there’s something to be said for Bill Clinton’s statement that “When people are insecure, they’d rather have somebody who is strong and wrong than someone who’s weak and right.” If you’ve conceded that one of your ideas — one of your most important ideas is a bad one — why should the public trust any of the other ideas that you have? Instead, they’re going to say: Well, thank you Mr. Blue Dog — I’m glad you’ve come around to my way of thinking on this. Now I’m going to vote for the guy who didn’t have the bad idea in the first place.