Don’t believe it.
Obama made three trips to New Jersey and appeared at five events late in the campaign trying to save Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine’s job in a blue state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 10 points.
The president’s victory last year in bellwether Virginia supposedly marked a new era of progressive liberalism. No one’s talking about Democratic ascendancy in the Old Dominion after Republican Bob McDonnell’s 18-point victory — basically, a 25-point swing from Obama’s seven-point triumph over John McCain.
You bet New Jersey and Virginia mattered at the White House. As well they should.
Obama and top Democrats in Congress dismissed the summer’s tea parties and town hall protests as the work of right-wing rabble rousers. Tuesday’s election results should end their denial.
While it can be hard to extrapolate national trends from state elections, Tuesday’s vote showed that lots of Americans are dissatisfied with the country’s direction after nine months of policy from the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress.
Exit polling showed that almost 90 percent of New Jersey voters are concerned about the economy’s direction. In Virginia, it’s 85 percent. While Corzine in New Jersey and fellow Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia had major negatives in their races unrelated to Obama, that strong undercurrent of dissatisfaction tracks directly to administration policies.
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