The Race is Closer than the Left Concedes

The November elections are nearly upon us. The first presidential debate is this Wednesday, and pundits are, of course, all over it. Many are already explaining away President Barack Obama's anticipated performance, saying thing such as Romney is a better debater and that the President's explanations tend to be too long for the debate format. All of that is as may be; such things can be argued as subjective and without real merit. Still, that defenses such as those are coming out well ahead of the debate itself may suggest something about the upcoming election which the President's supporters don't care to see.

We are told almost incessantly about Barack Obama's lead in the pools and that the race looks like his to lose. He has momentum, supposedly; Romney does not. He has big leads in the swing states, the media tell us, and that will be all the difference. If such is truly the case, and when you look at the more reliable pools such as the Rasmussen Report we doubt it, why the worry about the opening debate?

Part of the fears are natural enough. Anybody, in the heat of the moment, can make a mistake so galling that it turns things around while an opponent may say something which so resonates that it captures the public imagination and propels them to victory. Yet that can't be the Democrats' whole worry. It seems more likely that they, in their hearts, aren't all that sure of victory.

When you consider that the GOP leads in almost every generic Congressional poll (and indeed is expected to gain seats in the House as well as retake the Senate) you have to wonder whether the Democrats themselves really believe that an Obama reelection is preordained. When someone so out of the mainstream as Michigan GOP hopeful Kerry Bentivolio has been placed in the likely Republican column of most congressional polls, you have to question the depth of support for the President. Further, political races tend to become closer anyway as actual elections approach. What does it all mean?

It means that November 2012 is far from locked up, and the President and his allies know it. Indeed, they are likely driven by fear, whether a simple fear of the unknown or perhaps something worse. When you consider the fact that most pools are skewed Democratic and against likely voters, you can see their fear quite readily. When the Administration is trying to harm the military vote while shoring up the vote of those without proper identification, you can smell it. They won't say it because they can't, for all the obvious reasons. The President and his minions are panicking. It is a delightful aroma.