OBAMA STILL UNMOVED AFTER ‘ASS-WHUPPIN’

President Obama was determined not to provide a descriptor for his party’s midterm election rout this week, using verbal gymnastics worthy of Alison Lundergan Grimes to deny headline writers an adjective akin to 2010’s “shellacking” or 2006’s “thumping.” So West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin did the job for him, describing 2014’s bloodbath as a “real ass-whuppin’.” In a perfunctory press conference held to face an almost taunting press corps, Obama tried to invalidate the outcome. The president suggested that there was no clear message from voters beyond, inexplicably, a perceived desire for his agenda to be implemented. More pointedly, Obama said: “To two-thirds of voters that chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too.” What were they saying? The president believes that they were also urging his agenda enacted. Funny how that works.