Did the President Learn anything this Election Cycle?

Two big questions loom in the wake of the 2009 elections. The first is whether Barack Obama learned anything new about American voters. The second is whether American voters will soon learn something new about Obama.

For a president who likes always to convey confidence and cool, the returns will test his willingness and capacity for self-critique and self-correction.

So far, Obama’s White House has responded to the results — flaming defeats for Democratic gubernatorial nominees in Virginia and New Jersey, along with better news in the N.Y. 23 special congressional election — exclusively with self-justification.

Obama himself did not mention the elephant in the room Wednesday in public appearances in Wisconsin. His silence came even though he had immersed himself heavily in the New Jersey race in particular, only to see incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine lose a traditionally Democratic state.

National polls for months have shown deep unease among independent voters about Washington spending and about the expansiveness of Democratic proposals. So it was not fully a surprise when, in both New Jersey and Virginia, these voters swung wildly from Obama in 2008 to Republicans this time, according to exit polls.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday’s results do not suggest any need for political repositioning or policy reappraisal.

“The CW in town has focused on the governors’ races, but the most portentous event was the New York 23rd because it exposed a major fissure in the Republican Party.”

But what if independents abandon 2010 congressional Democrats the same way they fled Corzine and Virginia Democrat Creigh Deeds?

“If the Earth stops turning, we are all going to die, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” said Axelrod. Turning more serious, he said he would tell anxious Democratic candidates, “I understand that there might be some nervousness, and that’s understandable, but we are doing the right things. The best move politically is to show more and more success governmentally.” - Politico Story