Unemployment remains officially at 9.5 percent (with the real rate higher). The stimulus is still dead. There is no budget to debate. The next big Democratic idea is a huge transfer of funds from the private economy to the government (by letting current tax rates “expire”). A commission is working on even more taxes. Two prominent Democrats in the most-ethical-Congress-in-history face ethics charges. An already wide enthusiasm gap between the parties is widening. 59 percent of Americans favor repeal of ObamaCare. (45 percent strongly favor repeal.) 71 percent believe the federal government is itself a “special interest group.” And the president refuses to hold news conferences, is suing a state for trying to enforce existing immigration law, has an obsession with golf during the worst-recession-since-the-Depression, and just issued a silent apology to Japan for the way World War II ended.

But the Democrats think they have hit on a winning theme: blame Bush. The New York Times endorses the strategy in “In Search of a New Playbook.” Frank Rich writes that they should argue “Republicans – Worse Than Bush.”

The intellectual bankruptcy is remarkable. Less than three months before a national election, the Democrats cannot even argue “stay the course.” They are left trying to bring back the bogeyman to scare the kids.