Congressional democrats are almost frozen like a deer in headghts. In his Washington Examiner column Democrats flummoxed by health care protests, Michael Barone describes the condescending attitude among Congressional leaders pushing health-care reform. Referring to USA Today op-ed by By Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer that includes the sentence “Health care is complex,” Barone writes:

To paraphrase another common saying: It’s a complex thing; you wouldn’t understand. You should listen docilely and take instruction from your betters. Or as Senator Clair McCaskill said at the beginning of a town hall meeting in Poplar Bluff, Missouri today (I was listening to the audio while preparing to appear on Fox News, asking members of the audience, “How many of you are so angry you can’t think straight?” The condescending implication is that if you could think straight, you’d support my position. Or recall what Barack Obama said campaigning in Virginia August 6: “I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess.”

As Ring Lardner once wrote, describing a flummoxed father. “’Shut up,’ he explained.”

They really do think we’re incapable of understanding the issues, so they cling to the ridiculous myth that the protests are un-American, hoping their friends in the media will pick up the message and use it to calm the disturbed public. Barone suggests it won’t work this time:

The Democrats are spoiled because they are used to a mainstream media who spin things their way and a general public whose only expressions of spontaneous enthusiasm in 2006-08 were opposition to (if not hatred of) George W. Bush and support of Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates. Now the spontaneous enthusiasm is all on the other side, with the Democratic astroturf efforts producing pathetic turnouts and largely spontaneous opposition to the Democratic health care plans producing large turnouts.

Is there a graceful way out for congressional democrats and the president? You can bet they are looking for some means of saving face. Maybe a watered-down bill with some reforms, either without the public option or one that is curtailed. One thing is for sure – the desire to be re-elected will trump any policy initiative.

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