The two Americas
Donald Lambro of the Washington Times describes them. There's the real America, which has experienced 25 consecutive months of job gains resulting in 3.7 million new jobs, and in which manufacturing, according to both the Fed and the Commerce Department, is surging. And there's the Democrats' America, as depicted by Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry, which is in its worst shape since Hoover thanks to misguided policies, such as free trade, that are destroying our manufacturing base.
There must be more at work here than just partisan politics -- I don't recall Republicans claiming that our economy was sinking during the boom years under President Clinton. I can't improve on Lambro's diagnosis: "The answer, unfortunately, is all about the politics of pessimism and denial, an illness that has long afflicted Mrs. Pelosi's party -- to its detriment."