GOOD MEDICINE - AT 6:02 P.M. ET:  Dem strategist Doug Schoen, one of the saner Democratic operatives around, gets to the heart of Obama's political problem.  Schoen will probably be ignored by the red-meat crowd within his own party, but those interested in getting this presidency back on track would be wise to listen:

Mr. Obama, despite his popularity, is proposing policies that are out of sync with a center-right electorate. Specifically, only two in ten Americans are liberal, close to four in ten are conservative and a third are moderate. However, a poll conducted by Scott Rasmussen last week shows that nearly half of all Americans now identify Mr. Obama as being "very liberal" -- up 15 points from January -- and less than 10 percent see him as a conservative.

There is still time for Mr. Obama to change his approach in advance of the upcoming Congressional elections, but time is running out.

Schoen raps the Republicans, accurately in my view, and prescribes how his party can beat the blues:

Let's be clear, the Republicans do not have any policies and they do not have any ideas. Their agenda is based totally on opposition to the Democrats and so far this is proving to be successful. But with a bipartisan, centrist agenda that emphasizes growth, low taxes, fiscal prudence and common sense policies, Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats can isolate Republicans -- whose approval rating has fallen to a record low -- while preventing the loss of 40-50 vulnerable Democratic House seats won during the last two Congressional elections, and as many as seven in the Senate.

COMMENT:  Well, of course I hope the Dems don't follow Schoen's advice because it would be effective.  And, given the current leadership of the Democratic Party, they probably won't.  But the man has common sense, and understands how the Democratic Party was built by Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and a host of others who understood that America is not Berkeley.

August 8, 2009