Hillarysworld

SHERMAN FREDERICK
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Hello? Earth to the White House. The reason Republicans prevailed three times -- twice in traditional Democratic strongholds -- in the past 12 months is because the White House, with (I am sad to say) the help of Nevada's own Sen. Harry Reid, miscalculated the ache in the American voter for believable leadership.

Instead of living up to their historic campaign, they engaged in a garden-variety reign of arrogance marked by business-as-usual politics, broken promises and back-room deals. Together -- Obama and Reid -- they failed to learn that the end doesn't justify the means; there is no virtue in feeding fat-cat union bosses extra rations while the people starve for work; that targeting the wallets of productive citizens, over and over and over again, in no way constitutes justice; and when you promise to do something (eliminate earmarks, to name just one example) you do it. Period.

Add that to a foreign agenda which fails to fathom that the friendship and respect of other countries is earned over time by hard work and substance, not magically created by bowing for the cameras to an ungrateful king, and it is no wonder Democrats from Maine to Nevada find themselves in disarray.

Of course, Democrats didn't invent duplicitous political behavior. But Obama appears to have perfected it, and I dare say that we've never seen anything quite like its consequences, in both speed and in severity. Consider that in a simple Republican vs. Democrat vote, Americans a year ago favored the Democrat brand 52 to 30. Today, Americans favor Republicans 48 to 44.

That's nothing short of stunning.

And so long as Obama, Reid and other national Democratic leaders fail to grasp why Americans are so disappointed in their performance, it will continue.

If they could find a moment of clarity to examine why Americans are so drawn to genuine figures -- Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman come immediately to mind -- they might yet find political redemption and begin to understand the American longing for honesty over intellect, straightforwardness over arrogant subterfuge. You know, something like that "hope" and "change" thingy.

But that's a hard road few travel in American politics. Redemption requires a contrite heart and true respect for the American voter, neither of which seem readily apparent in the White House or among top Democrat leaders today.

That's the truth as best I can say it.

Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@ reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.

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