A confederacy of dunces

Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill was a big Obama booster in 2008. She endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton in January 2008. Remember? Even I do, and my memory has been slipping for 20 years.

Once Obama won, McCaskill served faithfully as a Democratic lapdog. She voted for the stimulus. She voted for Obamacare. Remember? Even I do, and my memory has been slipping for 20 years. Or did I say that already?

McCaskill’s appreciation of Obama’s genius must be slipping, or something like that. In 2012, President Obama is apparently not so popular in Missouri, and McCaskill’s support of Obama may compromise her bid for reelection, even against an underfunded, yet to be determined Republican opponent.

McCaskill is sufficiently worried about her prospects that she is willing to embarrass the White House. She is taking a pass on the Democratic convention in Charlotte that will nominate Obama as the party’s candidate for president in the fall elections.

And she is not alone. A notable number of Democrats outside of Missouri are taking the same approach. West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Montana Senator Jon Tester are probably the most prominent of the announced no-shows. Most recently, Georgia Rep. John Barrow has sent Obama his regrets.

The stone rolling down this hill has generated sufficient force that National Journal’s Alex Roarty has taken note. Roarty compares the present situation with times past and puts the phenomenon in context. Have three senators of the incumbent president’s party ever phoned in their regrets to the national convention before?

McCaskill and her ilk are cowards, of course. McCaskill not only lacks the courage of her convictions, she thinks the voters are really, really stupid. It’s so obvious, you would think that it would count as another mark against her, but we shall see.

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