The Democrats killed their chance at true political realignment

Here is how Obama blew it: Many Americans who endured the pain of a rip-off recession now endure the pain of a rip-off recovery. For them, life under a Democratic president and Congress means trading one rip-off for another, giving them neither hope, nor change, nor an end to their pain. 2008 was a 1932 moment. But the power of eloquence ends when the reality of people’s lives does not change. If a president reads a book about Franklin Roosevelt and then names Timothy Geithner to the Treasury, America gets Geithner, not Roosevelt, and more status quo, not change…

Obama, like Reagan, could have cemented this realignment by governing as a fighting champion of the extraordinary coalition of the alienated and hopeful who elected him, but has not. He has governed as a standard-issue Democrat achieving standard-issue results, leaving intact a litany of abuses that impose pain on our people, restoring a political status quo with a Democratic advantage rather than a new realigned and historic majority.

His speech about Wall Street this week only highlights what has not been achieved since Inauguration Day.