IF IT'S SUNDAY IT MUST BE...NEW DELHI? – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  There's something a little odd when a president has to admit in New Delhi what he won't admit at home.  From WaPo:

NEW DELHI -- Followed by the politics of home, President Barack Obama on Sunday acknowledged that he must make some "midcourse corrections" if he is to win over a frustrated electorate and work with resurgent Republicans.

Wait.  I am confused.  Didn't he say on Wednesday that this was a communications problem?  Maybe Michelle had a talk with him.

On the second of the three days he is spending in India, Obama arrived in New Delhi on Sunday afternoon in the company of his wife, Michelle. Among his airport greeters were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who apparently broke the normally rigid rules of protocol by making the trip to personally welcome Obama to the Indian capital.

He probably figured, "Look, the guy just took a beating.  I'll be extra nice and go to the airport.  They have good pizza there anyway."

Earlier in the day while in Mumbai, Obama appeared before college students eager to question him. He told one that the midterm elections back home reflected the "right, obligation and duty" of the voters to express their unhappiness with the state of U.S. affairs by voting out many incumbents, the majority of whom are Democrats like Obama.

And...

Obama said he will not change his determination to move America forward by investing in education, infrastructure and clean energy despite mounting pressure in Washington to cut spending. But he said, without elaborating, that the election "requires me to make some midcourse corrections and adjustments."

Like maybe realizing that we probably spend too much on education, but just don't get enough for it.  Or maybe realizing that "clean energy" is a slogan, not an engineering truth.  We'd better choose energy development carefully, or we'll wind up with the equivalent of "new Coke."

The only things that will save this president are a resurgent economy and Republican non-imagination.  The first is unlikely for a long time.  The second is a given, and must be un-given by the GOP.

November 7, 2010