Captain Obama handcuffs Democrats to the deck chairs on the Titanic

In response to Obama Nationalizes The 2014 Election As Democrat Candidates Cringe:

There’s so much happening in the news right now that Obama declaring the 2014 elections are a referendum on his Presidency probably won’t get as much notice as it deserves.  Along with his telling amnesty activists that “no force on Earth can stop us,” this should figure prominently in Republican campaign ads for the rest of the season… a prospect that must have tightened a few sphincters among congressional Democrats, especially those who have been working overtime to distance themselves from Obama, or even pretend they are actively opposed to his agenda.  

So why would Obama do something like this?  He knows his approval ratings are sinking to historic lows – there are polls that have him in the thirties and going down.  Everything from the ISIS crisis, to Ebola, and even the Secret Service is blowing up in his face.  Just wait until people realize the “good September jobs report” Obama’s trying to talk up is actually just the usual combination of burger-flipper part-time jobs and a collapsing workforce.  And we’re just weeks away from the next wave of ObamaCare insurance cancellations…

The obvious explanation is Obama’s ego – he just can’t bear to let his own party run away from him, not even for the few weeks it will take to bamboozle voters.  He’s got to run up his flag and declare himself relevant, no matter what it does to his party in the midterms.  Maybe he’s looking at internal polls that say the Senate has already floated out to sea, so he really doesn’t have anything to lose.

Jim Treacher at the Daily Caller wonders if Obama’s actually trying to sabotage the Democrat candidates who ran on “Obama Who?” platforms, because he’s mad at them: 

This is all about his ego. “Look at these turncoats making me look bad. Oh yeah, you ingrates? Well, taste some of this!” It’s pure spite. The only time he tells the truth is when it can hurt somebody who has crossed him. And by running as fast as they can from his disastrous policies, by distancing themselves as far as possible from him, they’ve crossed him.

One other possibility: he’s trying to turn the 2014 election into a gut-check moment for the hardcore Democrat base.  There are always voters, on both sides of the partisan divide, who are motivated largely by their dislike of the other party.  Obama’s giving these ridiculous “look what a great job I did!” speeches because he knows what the response will be, and he’s hoping that will motivate the Democrat base to turn out in November, sticking their thumbs in the eyes of everyone who reads the internals of those job reports, remembers what ObamaCare was supposed to do, and knows what a real recovery would look like.  It’s to be a triumph of political will over objective reality.

This approach carries the inherent peril of firing up the Republican base, too, but frankly they’re already pretty fired up.  People who lost their insurance, doctors, or affordable premiums to ObamaCare aren’t going to get more angry because they hear Obama prattling on about what a great success it is.  Those with concerns about border security won’t grow more concerned when they hear Obama shouting slogans in Spanish and promising amnesty after those wretched taxpaying chumps have their little temper tantrum at the ballot box.  At this late hour, with so many of the close races suddenly going against them, Democrat Senate candidates haven’t got much to lose by throwing a Hail Mary pass, nationalizing the election, and learning if there’s enough residual personal loyalty to Obama out there to get them across the finish line.