Yap No: 16

‘My poll numbers are in the toilet’ said Big O

‘I wouldn’t worry about it too much’ I said ‘you’re ahead of where Clinton and George W were at the same stage’

‘Yes I know’ said Big O ‘but I started ahead of them so I’ve fallen further’

‘Black people still support you’ I said ‘now all you’ve got to do is work on white people’

‘What really worries me’ said Big O ‘is that every time I go out to speak on behalf of Democratic candidates for the mid-term elections their poll numbers go down’

‘Perhaps’ I said ‘you should start speaking on behalf of the Republican candidates’

‘Perhaps’ said Big O ‘I already am’

‘Look’ I said ‘I told you it would take time to get the economy back on track. And that trillion in stimulus money didn’t help. It created less jobs than the break-in at Watergate. But you’ve got to think longer-term’

‘’Like the presidential election in 2012?’ asked Big O.

‘No’ I said ‘I was thinking more of the one in 2016’

‘But what about me in 2012?’ asked Big O ‘I could get booted out’

‘That’s self-obsessed short-term thinking’ I said ‘If we get on the right track for 2016 you’ll be a shoo-in for 2012’

‘What if the Democrats lose both the House and the Senate in November?’ asked Big O ‘I’d be like a pitcher with no arms’

‘That could be good news for you’ I said ‘If the Republicans win both of them they’ll introduce extreme measures to fix the economy and really piss people off by cutting back on everything. They’d do the things you should have done and get all the blame for them’

‘But what are you saying?’ asked Big O ‘Surely you’re not implying that if the Democrats lose both the House and the Senate at the mid-term elections I’ll be better off than if they retain them?’

‘Could be’ I said ‘Look at it this way. If the Democrats lose the House you lose Nancy Pelosi as Speaker and that will take your poll numbers up a point or two. If the Republicans win both the House and the Senate they’ll have two years to make absolute economic vandals of themselves, then you’ll be a shoo-in in 2012 and the subsequent booming economy will usher in another Democratic President in 2016. You’ll retire a hero’

‘Very interesting Bo’ said Big O ‘but what if the Republican measures actually turn the economy round within two years and get people back to work? Won’t they get the credit?’

‘No chance’ I said ‘You and George W have screwed the economy so much it’s impossible to fix in two years. All the folks would experience on the economic front before 2012 is Republican imposed grief’

‘Bo’ said Big O ‘sometimes I feel I underestimate you just because you’re a dog. I could even be guilty of profiling. But at times like this I see your true worth. Absolutely brilliant thinking Bo. So what’s my plan of action?’

‘That’s easy’ I said ‘go out and campaign on behalf of the Democratic candidates as hard as you possibly can’