'WE'RE GOING TO SHOCK THE HECK OUT OF EVERYBODY': Could the Republicans be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?

For weeks, the Republicans have been salivating over the prospect of taking back control of the House of Representatives and even the possibility of regaining control of the Senate. But, not so fast!
　
VP Joe Biden thinks the Democrats will do quite well in November. During an interview on ABC's This Week, Biden declared, "I don't think the losses are going to be bad at all. I think we're going to shock the heck out of everybody... I am absolutely confident when people take a look at what has happened since we've taken office in November and comparing it to the alternative, we're going to be ... in great shape."
　
Biden believes "what the president believes [is that] we're going to win the House and we're going to win the Senate. We're not going to lose either one of those bodies." Biden admitted that the public has failed to recognize Obama’s accomplishments but he predicted that by November the voters would see the Republicans for what they are: The party of "Repeal and Repeat" that wants to repeal the positive accomplishments of the Obama administration and repeat the failed polices of the Bush administration.
　
Biden has a good point. The Democrats have labeled the Republicans as "The Party of No" because of their partisan opposition to all of the major bills – like Health Care Reform and Financial Regulation – introduced by the Democrats. And now the Republicans are opposing the extension of unemployment benefits for 2.5 million people whose benefits have expired but who are still out of work.
　
While it is true that the Republicans offered numerous amendments to the Health Care and Financial bills that were rejected by the Democrats, they never did come forth with a complete package of Health Care and Financial regulation proposals. To the public it seems as if the only solution the Republicans have for the nation’s problems is to cut spending and reduce taxes.
　
And while the public will come to rue the adverse effects of the Democratic bills, that will not happen before the elections. For instance, cuts in Medicare benefits and increased taxes to pay for all those new programs are eventually ‘going to shock the heck out of everybody’ and especially out of us seniors who subsist on fixed incomes.
　
Obama is losing the crucial independent voters, but could the Republicans be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by their obstinate partisanship?
　
But suppose the Democrats do lose Congress? That could actually help Obama’s re-election chances. Remember that Harry Truman won re-election in 1948 by attacking the Republican-controlled ‘Do Nothing Congress.’ And Charles Krauthammer writes that "For Obama, 2010 matters little. If Democrats lose control of one or both houses, Obama will probably have an easier time in 2012, just as Bill Clinton used Newt Gingrich and the Republicans as the foil for his 1996 reelection campaign."

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Obama is actually hoping the Republicans will retake control of Congress in November. Then, in 2012, he can blame the Republicans for the failure of Congress to pass an energy bill, a comprehensive immigration bill and other measures favored by his administration. That would enable Obama to recapture the independent vote, thus enhancing his chances of getting re-elected.