The buck stops … where?

Suppose for a minute you’re Ike Skelton, the Democratic congressman from Missouri. You’re running for your 18th term. Though you’re a pro-defense, socially moderate member of the House and a pretty good fit for your district, your work is cut out for you this year: the cyclical trend against members of a first-term president’s party at the two-year mark of his term, a sluggish economy, high unemployment and a polling suggesting a Republican wave high enough, perhaps, to sweep you away with it — generated by deep and wide voter unhappiness with your president and his policies. You voted against Obamacare, but your record of voting with liberal Speaker Nancy Pelosi more than 90 percent of the time is a veritable mill stone around the neck. So what succor does President Obama offer you and your discouraged supporters? “Buck up.” Obama smacked members of his own party Monday, saying unenthusiastic Democrats need to get with the program to prevent an electoral debacle next month. Making change is hard, Obama said, and “if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place.” So, yeah, Obama needs to work on his Knute Rockne impersonation. Seriously, it takes some nerve to be cracking skulls five weeks from the election after his agenda created the current radioactivity around Democrats. That includes Skelton — up just 3 points over Republican Vicky Hartzler in the last public poll. Thanks, Mr. President.

Thank you for joining our conversation on ScissorTales. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.