NJ Governor’s race is a referendum on Obama

"Taffeta, darling. It wrinkles so easily."

I’ve been a little quiet lately, mostly because just about all I needed to say about Obama and what a disaster he was going to be to the party was said last year.  It’s nice to see that the rest of the blogosphere is finally coming to the same place that the PUMAs were in back in 2008.  (See here and here)  We’re all old, postmenopausal, uneducated, working class racists now, even Kos.  Welcome to the club, buddy!  We’ll put your white sheet and estrogen replacement therapy starter pack in the mail.

But the scorched earth Obama primary campaign of 2008 continues to have collateral damage in other not so obvious ways.  Take the governor’s race in NJ, for example.  Jon Corzine is still trailing Chris Christie, in some polls by 10% or more.  Bloomberg now says that this off-year election race is a referendum on the Obama presidency:

The elections offer a test of whether the electricity Obama generated with voters during his campaign will power other Democrats.

Obama has been campaigning for both Governor Jon Corzine, 62, of New Jersey and Creigh Deeds, 51, a state senator running for governor in Virginia. The president’s push for health-care legislation and unprecedented federal spending on the worst financial crisis in 70 years has created headaches for his fellow Democrats, who both trail their opponents in the polls.

“The political bounce on everything that’s happened this summer has made people much more cautious, much more conservative and fearful of change,” said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Support for Obama and his policies has eroded over the summer. The percentage of Americans who disapprove of his handling of health care has jumped to 50 percent from 29 percent in April, an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted Aug. 13 to 17 found.

There’s a reason why support for Obama and his policies have eroded over the summer.  He didn’t start out of the gate with the hope and change he promised, didn’t protect taxpayers from the bankers and didn’t present a strong health care policy that takes the profit out of insuring people’s health.  He didn’t do those things because he’s never really been much of a Democrat, much less a liberal one.  He has no core Democratic principles, something Jane Hamsher, Chris Bowers and Markos Moulitsas didn’t think was so important last year.  Well, that was before they became racists.

The problem is that a little more than half of the Democratic base didn’t vote for Obama in the primaries last year.  They voted for the other guy.  After 8 years of Bush, patiently waiting for 8 F&*%ing years, they wanted the most Democratic president they could get.  But the party shoved Obama down our throats instead in a frenzy of money lust and as a teachable moment on race.  (as if teachable moments on gender were not very important, but I digress.)

This is the situation we have in NJ as well, where we voted for Clinton by more than 10 points but saw Corzine give every one od our delegates to Obama at the convention.  You know, if I were Corzine, I’d be regretting that decision right about now because he’s been trailing Christie by about 10% all election season.  Primary voters usually are party loyalists.  Messing with them was a really baaaad idea. It doesn’t help that, like Obama, Corzine really isn’t much of a Democrat.  In spite of the fact that the state Assembly is in Democratic hands, he has done nothing about restructuring the tax system here in NJ, which funds EVERYTHING on the backs of homeowners.  You redstaters out there who think you have it bad with taxes should see the tax bill I have on my modest little townhouse.  Corzine didn’t take that issue seriously, just like Obama isn’t taking health care seriously or the financial crisis seriously or Afghanistan seriously.

If you’re going to act like a Republican anyway, as well as being permanently associated with Goldman Sachs, does it matter if we vote for you?  There are choices, by the way.  We don’t have to vote for Chris Christie.  I know Corzine would like everyone to believe that Christie is his only competition.  Corzine even tried to move the debate from the beginning of October to the end  so no one would know there was a third candidate.   Corzine can’t afford to lose any more ground to any other candidate.

The Star-Ledger says Daggett speaks in coherent sentences!

But Independent Chris Daggett, who’s going to be at that debate,  just got an endorsement from the Sierra Club so I’m taking a second look at him.  Plus, he’s got some ideas about education and lifetime tenure of new teachers that I find interesting, especially since this has the potential of improving the preparation of teachers in NJ schools in the area of Math and Science. Daggett could pick up a lot of support in the growing Asian community if he emphasized a math and science component of his education plan.  And those of you who have had enough of Bush’s and now Obama’s rambling speeches and non-sequitors will appreciate this comment from our local Star-Ledger:

Daggett stands to be the most articulate of the three as well. Christie piles on the platitudes like a pie-man piles on the pizza toppings. Corzine tends to get lost in the funhouse of his own thoughts. Daggett speaks in coherent sentences….So this race promises to be a real roller-coaster ride. Fasten your seat belt.

That’s a good sign.  It means that Daggett’s at least engaged his mind before he’s opened his mouth.  He’s pretty reasonable on social issues as well.

As for Corzine, what goes around, comes around.   Maybe he can get a job in his old pal, Barack Obama’s administration, for what ever is left of his term.

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