Arianna Huffington: In 2009 WH Underestimated the Economic Devastation, in 2010 Dems Paid the Price

Arianna Huffington
Posted: November 3, 2010 02:01 AM

In 2009 the White House Underestimated the Economic Devastation, in 2010 Democrats Paid the Price


For all the hours of pre-election predictions and post-vote analysis, the 2010 midterms came down to a very simple truth: if unemployment were near double digits come November, Democrats would take a beating.

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With the "real unemployment" figures around 17 percent, it means almost no one in the country isn't being adversely affected by the economy -- or knows someone who is. And they were not going to be mollified by health care reform that doesn't kick in until 2014 and financial reform that isn't slowing down foreclosures or making borrowing money easier for small businesses.

As a result, voters no longer trust Democrats to fix things. Hard to believe, but Collier County in Florida, the county with the biggest unemployment jump in the country from March 2009 to March 2010, voted Republican.

Democrats still have the White House and still have the Senate, but they better do something about the economic devastation if they want to win back Collier County -- and the trust of the American people.