The Fix In Beantown Is In

And no matter what happens on Tuesday, the progressive moment in Washington is officially dead as far as the Village is concerned.

Win or lose in Massachusetts, that a contest between a conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat could appear so close is evidence of what even Democrats say is animosity directed at the administration and Congress. It has been fanned by Republicans who have portrayed Democrats as overreaching and out of touch with ordinary Americans.

“It comes from the fact that Obama as president has had to deal with all these major crises he inherited: the banks, fiscal stimulus,” said Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr., the Democrat who holds the Massachusetts seat on an interim basis pending the special election. “But for many people it was like, ‘Jeez, how much government are we getting here?’ That might have given them pause.”

Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, said the atmosphere was a serious threat to Democrats. “I do think there’s a chance that Congressional elites mistook their mandate,” Mr. Bayh said. “I don’t think the American people last year voted for higher taxes, higher deficits and a more intrusive government. But there’s a perception that that is what they are getting.”

Ms. Coakley, the state attorney general, could still defeat her Republican opponent, State Senator Scott Brown. Polls show the race as very close, and measuring public opinion in special elections is always difficult.
Support for the health care overhaul could grow if it is enacted into law and Americans decide that it has left them better off, as Mr. Obama says will happen. The economy could take a turn for the better by this summer, validating Mr. Obama’s policies in time to influence the midterm elections. And for all the national forces at play here, Ms. Coakley has, in the view of most Democrats, made things worse with a slow-starting and low-energy campaign marked by several high-profile errors.

Still, Mr. Obama’s decision to tear up his weekend schedule to come here reflects concern in the White House that a defeat of Ms. Coakley would be seen as a repudiation of the president’s first year. It would also raise the question of whether Mr. Obama squandered political capital by focusing so much on health care at a time of rising unemployment.

“If it works well, it was a good thing to do for the country here,” Mr. Bayh said. “But there’s definitely an opportunity cost. You could only spend political capital once; it now can’t be spent on other things.”

Translation:  the ConservaDems are out.  Obamacare will not pass. The Village has decreed that it's 1994 all over again, and so shall the narrative be.  The long knives are out for Obama, big time.  And those long knives are not being held by Republicans.

For the first time, I actually do fear where we will be after November.  The combination of teabaggers, ConservaDems, Blue Dogs and firebaggers are going to put this country on a road to hell that we may never recover from, and put the Palin wing of the GOP at the head of it.

[UPDATE 6:26 PM] John Aravosis has a point:

Yeah, that's it. You were all just too freaking bold with that health care reform juggernaut. Jesus, is our party ever going to learn? They honestly think that they're in the pickle they're in because they've been "too" bold.

Yeah, right. Your courage is just blinding.

If you really believe the Democrats went too far, then you deserve what the Republicans who you will no doubt replace them with will do to this country.