Barack's Blues

It's not getting any better for Obama.  In fact, it's getting worse, much worse.

Democratic pollsters Patrick Caddell and Douglas Schoen wrote a red-meat op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal that says it's over for Obama and that he should abandon his bid for re-election . . . to clear the way for another and more capable candidate - Hillary Clinton.

I see Bill and Hillary Clinton's fingerprints all over this, despite Hillary's obligatory protestations about having no interest in returning to the White House.

Excerpts from "The Hillary Moment."

"When Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson accepted the reality that they could not effectively govern the nation if they sought re-election to the White House, both men took the moral high ground and decided against running for a new term as president. President Obama is facing a similar reality—and he must reach the same conclusion.

"He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president's accomplishments. He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"One year ago in these pages, we warned that if President Obama continued down his overly partisan road, the nation would be "guaranteed two years of political gridlock at a time when we can ill afford it." The result has been exactly as we predicted: stalemate in Washington, fights over the debt ceiling, an inability to tackle the debt and deficit, and paralysis exacerbating market turmoil and economic decline.

"We write as patriots and Democrats—concerned about the fate of our party and, most of all, our country. We do not write as people who have been in contact with Mrs. Clinton or her political operation. Nor would we expect to be directly involved in any Clinton campaign.

"If President Obama is not willing to seize the moral high ground and step aside, then the two Democratic leaders in Congress, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, must urge the president not to seek re-election—for the good of the party and most of all for the good of the country. And they must present the only clear alternative—Hillary Clinton."

Another new "it's over" flank has just been put forward in this Chris "I felt this thrill going up my leg" Matthews MSNBC broadside: