Recently, Democrats have been expressing their frustration at a lack of support for their policies. Some key Democrat leaders have apparently decided the reason is because they haven’t been bragging enough about the bills they’ve passed. Last week, President Obama lamented, “[I]t was very difficult for us to spend a lot of time doing victory laps and advertising exactly what we were doing, because we had to move on to the next thing.” The same day, David Axelrod told Roll Call, “We didn’t have time to unpack it . . . . We didn’t have a chance to really take victory laps around each element of what we were doing.” On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told CNBC, “I think the biggest thing we didn’t do right was tout what we’ve done.” And today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “[W]e haven’t really gotten the credit for what we have done . . . .”

Apparently Obama, Axelrod, Reid, and Pelosi all forgot that there’s a reason Democrats haven’t spent much time recently talking about what they’ve done. Back in August, the Los Angeles Times reported, “In an effort coordinated with the White House, congressional leaders are urging Democrats to focus less on bragging about what they have done — a landmark healthcare law, a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulation and other far-reaching policy changes — and more on efforts to fix the economy and on the perils of Republican control of Congress.” Democrats back home talking to their constituents are avoiding discussing their own record, which was originally the White House’s idea.

However, there’s a more basic explanation: most Americans still don’t like Democrats’ policies. According to a new Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll, “Expressing deep dissatisfaction with President Obama’s policies and performance, independent [voters] have increasingly sided with conservatives in the belief that government grew too large, too fast under Obama—and that it can no longer be trusted.” Politico notes, “Instead of heeding the warnings, Democrats proceeded with the $1 trillion health care law and banked on an economic recovery that hasn’t come. On health care: 62 percent of independents hold an unfavorable view of the new law (compared to 52 percent overall).”  Also, Politico reports, “On the economy: 66 percent of independents say the recovery legislation is not working (compared to 57 percent overall). The percentage saying the ‘stimulus’ is not working spiked 12 points since Labor Day. On the question of governance overall, 69 percent of independents say they have less faith in government now than they did just before Obama was elected.”

Americans are just fed up with the Democrat agenda in Washington. That’s why Democrats aren’t talking about it, even if Pelosi, Reid, Obama, and Axelrod disappointed that they aren’t. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said before the Senate left town, ‘It is striking here, as we end the session, that our good friends on the other side have been told by their pollsters that there’s almost nothing they can talk about. . . . The public didn’t like the stimulus. The public didn’t like the health care bill. The public wasn’t sure what the Wall Street bill was about. And the public is deeply concerned that we are spending too much, borrowing too much, and engaging in too many Washington takeovers.”

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