Mind The Gap, Lads

Double G explores the "mysterious enthusiasm gap" between Democratic voters and Republican ones and finds there's no mystery at all.

What's most amazing about this is that Democrats generally and the White House specifically seem completely uninterested in doing anything about this -- other than exacerbating it.  The need to do something is what leads me to believe (without knowing) that Obama will nominate (without necessarily causing to be confirmed) liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Protection Agency created by the Financial Regulation bill.  If they do that and are serious about it, that would definitely be a good thing, but at this point, Democratic malaise and apathy are so entrenched that it's hard to imagine a single nomination doing much to change it.

Digby too notes the perception that Democrats in Washington have capitulated to the GOP again and have just stopped caring.

This NY Times story says that the youth vote for Democrats is dwindling because of the economy. I think this quote is very telling:

“There’s a vibe,” he said on a recent afternoon, while pumping weights at the gym. “Right now it seems like Republicans just care a lot more than Democrats.”

I get that. They do seem like they care more.

Those who are paying close attention realize that they either care more about destroying the socialist/Muslim menace or they care more about taking back the power they so recently lost. But either way, they do appear to give a damn. The Democrats, on the other hand, rather than coming out with their guns blazing at those who have made it impossible for them to fix these problems seem content with trying to convince people that it isn't as bad as they think it is.

At this point the enthusiasm gap is threatening to become something of a force multiplier for Republican votes.  If only hard-core Republican partisans and angry Independents looking to send a message to the Dems in Washington are the ones voting and Democratic voters stay home out of "why should I give a damn", then the Democrats are going to get completely annihilated this fall, lose Congress, and the next two years are going to be complete hell.

And yet President Obama seems to be satisfied with just that, making move after move to completely discourage the base.

Maybe he's playing to lose.  The Republicans are going to pin everything on him anyway, but in the meanwhile the Republicans will make sure the average American continues to suffer massively in the next two years and will blame Obama for it.

I'm having trouble figuring out the plan here.