A Republican has been elected to the Senate in the most Democratic state in the nation, Massachussetts, to fill the seat of one of the most liberal Senators, the late Ted Kennedy.  This scathing commentary before the victory (but with the catastrophe in sight) sums things up pretty well.  (Mr. Stewart fails to recognize, however, that the Democratic contingent in the Senate consists of lots of de facto Republicans.)  This bodes ill not just for the pathetic version of health care reform in the offing, but for the future of the country.  The Republican Party, having waged one brazen war of criminal aggression and destroyed the economy (with help, of course, from Bill Clinton, Larry Summers and the representatives of the allegedly prudent wing of the ruling class party), is, less than two years out of office, poised to make a political comeback.  It is true that one can never underestimate the stupidity of the American people, but really, this is hard even for me to believe.  To describe this sequence of events as a complete and total failure of leadership by President Obama would be the polite way to put it. 

UPDATE:  So here's something President Obama may actually be doing right.