I think I now see the way this election is headed.
The President intends to turn the bad times against the Republicans. He will say that Republican policies are squeezing the middle class, that the country needs to re-elect him to offset the power of Wall Street, that he's the progressive champion fighting the good fight against the money people and their power over Congress, that he, Barack Obama is the 21st century's progressive fighter, the Theodore Roosevelt battling those "malefactors of great wealth" - that's what Teddy called them - on behalf of regular people.
Okay, not bad, maybe it'll work. Maybe even it's true if you have faith in Obama to put some teeth marks into that manifesto he's now out there sporting.
Now for the other side.
Here's the deal. The red hots are out there looking for the meanest, nastiest gladiator they can find. They want a street fighter who will look Obama in the face and verbally spit at the guy, who will show no respect, no remorse, and certainly no guilt. This is where Newt comes. He's got no guilt, no remorse and shows no respect - and doesn't expect any. All he wants is the title shot - the chance to head-to-head in the championship ring with the President of the United States.
And this is where we're going, I think - at least right now. I see hatred being the key ingredient of the candidate selection on the right - hope still the main theme of the Obama brigades. Hatred is not about building a better America. It's about hurting Obama - hurting him good, beating him up, humiliating him, getting him to lose, concede the presidency.
To the true haters out there, their biggest dream - their big night isn't victory traditional Republican principles of smaller government. It's about watching Obama bite the dust. That's what they lust for and that explains why they can seriously get behind the candidacy of a Newt Gingrich - because he promises them what they yearn for in their sleep - the destruction of a positive hopeful progressive presidency that proves the American dream is for everyone.