Friday, December 31, 2010

Kuhn: Why the Dems Lost

David Paul Kuhn does political analysis for RealClearPolitics. His year-end summary of 2010 reaches exactly the opposite conclusion to that of Joe Klein for Time described a couple of days ago.

All of Kuhn's summary is good; I particularly like his analysis of the Democrat's confusion about the unpopularity of the health care law:
The mystery is why it's still such a mystery. About 85 percent of Americans had healthcare. Polls showed Americans were largely pleased with the status of that care. (snip) Democrats' top priority was healthcare when the nation's top priority was the economic crisis.
The voters' message to the Dems in the 2010 election was "You just don't get it." Everything Dem leaders have said since November suggests they still don't get it.

Apparently Democrats can't accept that voters are selfish enough to vote their own interests. It turns out most voters who have health care don't much care about those who don't.