MADNESS – AT 10:43 P.M. ET:  Sean Wilentz, a liberal Princeton professor, wrote over the weekend that Barack Obama can either do a Jack Kennedy or a Jimmy Carter.  

In other words, Obama can learn from his mistakes, as Kennedy did, or not learn, as Carter did.  So far, Barack seems to like the peanut farmer's ways, as The Politico reports:

President Barack Obama plans a combative response if, as White House aides fear, Democrats lose Tuesday’s special Senate election in Massachusetts, close advisers say.

“This is not a moment that causes the president or anybody who works for him to express any doubt,” a senior administration official said. “It more reinforces the conviction to fight hard.”

Hey, there's a cliff ahead.  Let's drive off it and see what's down there.

A defeat by Martha Coakley for the seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy would be embarrassing for the party — and potentially debilitating, since Democrats will lose their filibuster-proof, 60-vote hold on the Senate.

A potential casualty: the health care bill that was to be the crowning achievement of the president’s first year in office.

The health care backdrop has given the White House a strong incentive to strike a defiant posture, at least rhetorically, in response to what would be an undeniable embarrassment for the president and his party.

COMMENT:  President Kennedy openly admitted he'd had a bad first year in office.  Apparently, this president hasn't gotten the message, doesn't believe it, or doesn't have the character to respond to it.  Does the phrase "one-term president" come to mind?

January 18, 2010