Fired Up. Ready To Go--Lorain County, Ohio

President Obama took some time out of Washington to visit wind turbine plants and hold a town meeting in Ohio. He was chased there by John Bohner's op-ed in the Cleveland Plains-Dealer slamming him for a trillion dollar health care plan--which obviously is no such thing--and reckless government spending. But the reception of the President was more than warm as he morphed into campaign mode. He outlined again what he is trying to do with the economy and discussed why the bank bailouts and the auto industry had to occur. And then he started pounding about the need to get every dime back for the banks. He started on the need to make sure that rules were in place to prevent the meltdown of our economy again. Admitting that he ran into a buzzsaw with the Massachusetts election, he defiantly claimed he would not give up on health care reform because it's enormous drain on the economy. He again emphasized the need for a Consumer Agency to protect private individuals from the worst practices of sub-prime mortgages and credit cards. And he teed off on the Supreme Court ruling that would ensure that special interests would "drown out the voice" of the people. He showed good humor in parodying the beltway pundits,"What will this do to Obama?", "Can Obama come back?" Then he said,"It's not about me--it's about you" to roars from the crowd.

More polling of the Massachusetts voter showed union members voted overwhelmingly for Brown because of their dismay over the pace of reform. The more people analyze Browon's victory the more the populist tide he rode benefits the Democrats in the long run.

Obama's Saturday morning talk to the nation again hammered the populist themes and he dwelled on the Supreme Court decision. Boehner responded by saying we should pick old battles and we can't solve the economic problems by pork-barrel spending and more government. Little noticed by our ace news services was that Ben Nelson asked for his medicare payoff for Nebraska to be dropped from the final bill. But Boehner's response seemed lame.

For a short week, Obama lost the language of debate, which has dominated snce 2008. By the end of the week, he had reclaimed it and having the dominance of the airspace has tremendous consequences in politics. This allowed the conservatives starting with Reagan to dictate the political agenda in the country. Unless the American people get so demoralized and beaten down, it's hard to see that rhetoric returning to shape political discourse.

The interesting part of Obama new-found populism is that he can lose on all counts in Congress and still triumph. If these measures at reform aren't implemented, it's very hard to see how things will improve. Yet, it will be clear to the voters the people who blocked them.

It also backs the Republicans up against the wall because they must now overtly support the banks and the corporations not for the public interest but for their own party interest. There is no one who has seen the obscene bonuses handed out by the banks and Wall Street who believe these people care one whit for the American people or the economy. The full-throated embrace of the Supreme Court ruling by Republicans as a victory for the First Amendment, probably their least favorite Amendment, has a dark trap in it. Republicans always boast that they are superior to Democrats on issues of national security and for years this was true. But the Supreme Court allows foreign financial interests to donate unlimited money to campaigns. In short, this is an issue of national security.

Take ,for example, Fox News, the echochamber of conservatives. Its number 2 largest shareholder is a Saudi Prince. If people start actually asking questions about some of the most politically active corporations, they are likely to find some rather outlandish things. Remember the Chinese fund-raising scandal during the Clinton Presidency. That would look tame once the flood gates are open.

So, for the weekend, I'm fired up again and ready to go.

This situation does not benefit the Republicans unless we all surrender to the corporations. And we might. And it cuts on Blue-Dog Democrats in a different way. They are the most likely recipients of corporate largess as witnessed by the Health Care Debate but they are vulnerable. If they are vulnerable to populist and teabagger rage, then they might be more inclined to suppor President Obama's reforms.