You see those round Obama-Biden magnets all over, especially in Durham. I donated some money after Joe Biden was picked as Obama’s running mate. The deal on the site I donated through was that I was supposed to get one of those magnets. It never came. Then again, the feeling that Obama can really turn this country around, not just economically, but philosophically, hasn’t really ever come either. You need patience if you’re going to be a fan of the President. You have to believe that he really knows what he’s doing. He sits out a national debate for months, let’s the right tear him and his party down, and then he makes a vigorous speech that seemingly reminds you that he is, possibly, fighting for the things you believe in, after all.

And then he says something like this, to an audience of supporters:

Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get — to see the glass as half empty. (Laughter.) If we get an historic health care bill passed – oh, well, the public option wasn’t there. If you get the financial reform bill passed — then, well, I don’t know about this particular derivatives rule, I’m not sure that I’m satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven’t yet brought about world peace and — (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.) You know who you are. (Laughter.) We have had the most productive, progressive legislative session in at least a generation.

Really, Mr. President? His laugh and applause lines, for some time now, have been at the expense of his own party. Are there not people within his party who have legitimate reasons to be disappointed? Obama just want us to settle for not having a Republican administration? Things had gotten so bad in this country that we’re supposed to be content that a Democratic President with huge congressional majorities has passed legislation that has been, every time, watered down in order to appeal to the opposition party without actually garnering meaningful opposition votes? It’s not that he aspires to be more of a centrist leader; it’s that his arrogance seems to have made him tone-deaf to the reasons why Democrats supported him in the first place. Among those reasons was certainly not compromise followed by compromise and more compromise.

As the leader of the Democratic Party, he has challenged my longtime need to identify as a Democrat. I struggle to find Democrats in Washington who do represent the party I want to support. I really don’t think I’m that far to the left. But I’m disgusted by how dismissive Obama is of Democrats who are at where I’m at or a bit farther to the left. Dismissive and insulting.

I will be even more disgusted when Republicans control the House in four months. I’ll still come out to vote for Democrats in six weeks, but it will be obvious to me why many others will stay home. Pundits who have their heads up Obama’s ass will blame the energy of the Tea Party, the motivation of Republicans. However, there really aren’t enough Tea Partiers in the grand scheme of things to decide these elections without the apathy of Democrats.

The apathy of Democrats is ultimately President Obama’s responsibility. I’ve seen little evidence that he cares.