Republicans need to help pick up pieces of Obama's failed policies

Have you ever watched as a dear friend becomes smitten with someone you know is not for them?

You listen as they swear how Mr. or Ms. Right has finally arrived, wondering how they cannot see the obvious. Your only option is to watch and wait for the inevitable, knowing that when it's over you'll be there to help pick up the pieces.

So, yes, independent voters, who were key to electing Barack Obama, are now falling out of love with him. But, I ask, what were you folks thinking a year ago?

You didn't realize that the post-racial candidate with the magic wand was a classic, boilerplate liberal? You were so sick of Republicans that you didn't bother to think about it? But you do know about these rebound relationships, don't you?

It's not like we haven't had our experience with liberalism. That experience made the liberal label so politically deadly that liberals renamed themselves "progressives."

So, what can we expect now in the wake of the miracle in Massachusetts?

Democrats are between a rock and a hard place because Barack Obama is not going to change. This is a date that you know after five minutes is not going to work and you have the whole evening ahead of you. In this case, it's three more years.

Pundits are talking about the Bill Clinton model. When Bill Clinton I was repudiated by voters, he morphed into Bill Clinton II.

But Bill Clinton is a not an ideologue. Bill is a pragmatic man. He'll do whatever it takes to keep the party going.

It's hard to fathom Obama doing the equivalent of signing welfare reform, promoting a free trade treaty like NAFTA, or cutting the capital gains tax.

Obama is a liberal ideologue. To change would require him to become a different man. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

Democrats, under this president's leadership, will continue to push a left wing, liberal program. This means that the door will be open for Republicans to make hay as independent voters nationwide wake up and recall why the "liberal" label became so deadly.

Over the past 10 days, the probability of Democrats retaining control of the House in 2010 dropped from 85 percent to 59 percent, as reflected in contracts traded on Intrade.com.