After 16 disastrous Republican years (with a brief Clinton respite) the country really was ready for Change. I don't see how any thinking person could look at Tuesday's results and see anything but total disgust and anger by Democratic voters (really non-voters) at the Dem's performance after having attained power.

Point #1, and the one I feared the most, they stayed home. After years of under-participation, A. A's and young people finally had their hopes raised in `06 and `08, and actually came out and voted. And how were they rewarded by Obama,  Pelosi, and Reid,the Change makers? Everything they cared about was thrown "off the table," before the first shot was even fired, And things went downhill from there.

Point #2, Does anybody read city newspapers in N.Y. anymore? Using Poughkeepsie as a Red/Blue, in-between, demographic, here's Wednesday's headlines:
"Republican Landslide".....Orange, Ulster, and Dutchess Counties.

"Democrats have the voters. Republicans get the votes."

City after city, and county after county, after slowly, tenuously having shifted Blue, snapped back Red, like a bungee cord with afterburners, after just one heart dropping year of Obama's (and Dem's) "Change."

Oh, and let's not get crazy over the Owens win. How desperate, or disillusioned, must you be to credit his win to ideology, or issues. Issues had nothing whatsoever to do with it. You don't vote solid, unbroken Red for a hundred years, and suddenly switch parties after one, crummy Obama year. Owens won for the same reason Hillary won in New Hampshire. Locals, of any party, have that unique, American trait; they don't like anyone from the "outside," interlopers, especially from Washington, swooping in and telling them who to vote for. Why was there even any question about that?

I keep asking the same question: How could the 3 political geniuses in the White House, Emanuel, Axlerod, and Obama morph into blooming idiots in such a short time? Is there really something to that White House "bubble"  mystique?

Tuesday was a near death experience for Obama; I hope he understands that. My guess is that he does not. Failure is a new experience for him, and like most spoiled brats, he won't blame himself; he'll blame the masses who show disappointment and/or disagreement. His ego, I'm afraid, will win out over his intellect.

I hope I'm wrong, but I've been hoping since he threw his hat in the ring.

Fifty-nine percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say lawmakers should continue working on the legislation, a rise of 6 points since August. But only a quarter say those bills should be passed pretty much as is, with a third suggesting that Congress should make major changes. The poll also indicates that one in four say lawmakers should start from scratch and 15 percent want Congress to stop all work on health care reform.

The survey's release Friday morning comes one day before the full House of Representatives is expected to hold a floor vote on the Democrats health care reform bill.

"Most of the Democrats interviewed support some form of heath care reform, but the divisions within congressional Democrats are reflected in the party nationwide," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Forty percent of the Democratic rank and file want Congress to approve the proposals that have passed through committee with only minor changes. But an equal number of Democrats nationwide want Congress to make major changes to those proposals before approving them."

According to the poll, 45 percent support President Barack Obama's proposals to reform health care, with 53 percent opposed to his plans. This is the first time since the president's early September prime time address a joint session of Congress on health care that a majority of people questioned in a CNN survey oppose Obama's proposals.

"Six in ten independents say they oppose Obama's health care proposals," says Holland. "That's a nine point increase since October."