I hope this is idle campaign blather and not a sincere lament about betrayal. Surely even a freshman Republican can’t be so naive as to expect a Democratic president to avoid backing a Democrat in a deep-blue district that’s ripe to be flipped. Can he?

The Louisiana congressman is smarting after Obama used his first general election ad to endorse Cao’s opponent, Democrat Cedric Richmond. According to Cao’s campaign, he had hoped Obama would endorse him considering all he did for Democrats — like being the only Republican to cast a floor vote for the health care overhaul.

“He didn’t even have the courtesy (to call us)” before running the ad, Cao spokesman Devin Johnson told FoxNews.com. “That hurt the congressman. At least, he wanted that courtesy.”

But Cao says there must be an explanation — Obama must not have known about Richmond’s ethical problems…

Cao, who represents an overwhelmingly Democratic district covering New Orleans, is in a precarious spot this November.

Have a look at the right-hand column of Nate Silver’s page listing vulnerable House seats this fall and the odds that they’ll end up flipping. There are 78 total that are in play; just four of them are held by Republicans. What are the odds that The One would go for the jugular in those four races in order to make the GOP’s job of a takeover a little bit harder? Besides, it’s not precisely true that Cao voted for ObamaCare. He did the first time around — when Pelosi’s bill passed the House last November — but he voted no when the House passed Reid’s bill back in March. No wonder The One’s ready to let him twist. Anyway, schadenfreudean fun for RINO-haters!

Don’t be too glum about losing this seat, though. Geraghty notes tonight that the DCCC has already started pulling money from some flailing Dems and decided to leave them for dead — including former VP hopeful Chet Edwards. Let the great triage begin. Exit quotation: “I love the president, and I believe he truly likes me.”