Dems In Chaos?

Here's some interesting information that indicates all is not well in Democrat-happy-land:

Congress just started the 111th Session just four weeks ago, and already some Democrats have had enough of Nancy Pelosi’s ham-handed tactics. A rebellion has begun to brew among moderates in Pelosi’s caucus that wants a return to “regular order”, in which the committees return to their normal process of crafting and modifying legislation instead of a select group of elites ramming it down their throats. They may draft Steny Hoyer, the Majority Leader, as their savior:

A group of more than 50 House Democrats has penned a letter to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) imploring him to “restore this institution” and see that the House returns to a “regular order” process of legislating.

The letter, signed by a large number of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition and the centrist New Democratic Coalition, has not yet been sent. Members are still gathering signatures in an effort to send the strongest signal possible to all top House Democrats that the caucus is up in arms over the top-down method of legislating employed by Democrats since late last year. …

Wow, for the Democrats to lose it after just a couple weeks of having a supermajority is a very bad sign (for them...for the rest of us, it's great news). Ultimately, it all comes back to the utter lack of intelligent and principled leadership by Nancy Pelosi. It's still something that can be controlled and defused at this point, but if Pelosi doesn't do something quickly, she could have much bigger problems to worry about soon.

This is an especially unstable situation because it appears that Congressional Democrats more or less have control over Obama:

Obama may soon face a more ominous problem than any perception of incompetence arising from the botched nominations -- the perception of weakness. Events have conspired to make economic stimulus legislation the first major substantive issue Obama faces as president, and it's obviously a critical one. So far, it is painfully apparent (1) that the congressional Democrats, not the president, are in control of this issue and (2) that congressional Democrats are running amok. Obama is reduced to pleading with the Dems to show restraint, while trying to induce Republicans to provide him cover by signing on to the boondoggle. His failure (so far) to succeed with Dems ensures his failure to succeed with Republicans. And Obama cannot play the "I won" trump card with the Democrats. They also won, and thus feel entitled to the spoils.

Desperate people do desperate things; is Pelosi getting desperate yet?

In other gloomy news, Obama's popularity is slipping:

In today's Rasmussen survey, President Obama's approval rating is down to 61 percent. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing special about it, either. It's in line with what most Presidents have experienced near the beginning of their terms; slightly lower, actually, than George W. Bush's approval rating in the Gallup poll 60 days into his first term, notwithstanding the acrimony surrounding the 2000 election.

Obama's decline was inevitable once he actually started making decisions. His approval rating will probably fall further as more voters learn details about the Democrats' pork bill, as foreign policy setbacks continue, and as he continues to govern like a traditional Democrat. Again, there is nothing particularly wrong with this. But there seems to be a myth inside the Beltway that Obama enjoys some sort of super-popularity that makes his policies difficult to challenge. That is simply untrue.

Once again: Republicans need to hang tough! As for you and me, we need to keep calling them and providing the spine they lack.

There's my two cents.