The Republican have been not only good at marketing, but good at doing the things that mask the negative consequences, for those people most likely to vote, of their bad policies. But the financial bubble and debt machine that kept the middle class from seeing the real product that was being peddled is broken.

Obama sold the hope that he could fix it. But he can't.

It is no accident that great political figures emerged during the Great Depression.  If our political system is not too broken and corrupt at this point to draw out that kind of talent now, it is likely that we will see the same thing happen again in this era.

People like Evan Bayh are a perfect example of the lightweights that the 80's and 90's bred in our political elite class.  He had to quit because he hasn't a freakin' clue about how to deal with a real and complex crisis.  He is what we always called around our house a "blow dry guy".  Perfectly coiffed, perfectly well-spoken, but there's no there there; and this "centerism" he and others like him hold so dearly is proving to be totally inadequate in this time of real need.

Too bad Billy Mays isn't available, huh?

Well, now it is apparently leaking slowly into the conventional wisdom that there isn't much more to Obama than talk - and neither he nor the Democratic legislative caucus have Clue One how to transform talk into action.  Even when they try to act, at the first sign that the going might be a little tough, they retreat.

Glenn had a post up on The Joys of Pragmatism, that I think described what is at the heart of the problem:

This is the behavior of politicians who are completely unmoored from any fixed beliefs or convictions.  They flail wildly from one position to its polar opposite, all within a matter of months or even weeks, and even on matters of core, fundamental principle.  There's no conviction to any of it, and thus no coherent way to justify it and persuade others of its merit.  "Pragmatism" is the birdseed fed to their most hardened supporters to allow them a way to justify this radically inconsistent conduct, but to many outside that circle of loyalists, it simply appears weak, confused, and frightened.  As always, that's why Republicans appear "strong" and Democrats appear "weak":  not because of any specific policy positions, but because Democrats scamper from their own claimed "principles" at the first sign of difficulty or criticism.

"White House officials are retooling the administration's communications strategy to produce faster responses to political adversaries, a more disciplined focus on President Obama's call for "change" in Washington and an increasingly selective use of the president's time."