THE NEW NARRATIVE – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  There is a new political narrative making the internet rounds, to the effect that Barack Obama has destroyed the Democratic Party, leaving Hillary Clinton in a precarious position.   He has, according to this narrative, destroyed the party by narrowing its base, ignoring white working people who were once the heart of the party, and failing to encourage the development of young Democratic leaders.  It's all been about Barack.  And now they're stuck with Hillary.  From the Washington Times: 

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent dip in the polls has Democrats taking a fresh look at their choices for presidential nominees and finding that the party doesn’t have any other A-list contenders.

Beyond Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic presidential field includes two with loose affiliations to the party and another who is a virtual unknown on the national stage. There is a dearth of Democrats even testing the waters for a run, and party officials are at a loss to point to anybody on the Democratic bench who would be capable of entering the race late and mounting a viable campaign.

In the early-voting state of South Carolina, Democratic Party State Executive Committee member Ed Harley said he wasn’t worried about Mrs. Clinton’s campaign collapsing. But if it did, he said, the party would have to turn to its second-tier candidates.

“You probably would have to go to the next level,” he said, adding that former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley might be able to step up to fill the void.

Mr. Harley was at a loss to name another Democrat who would rise to the occasion or who would be ready to start a run.

“I would have no idea,” he said. “They’re out there. I don’t know, maybe they are waiting for a reason [to run] or maybe they’re waiting for the right time to make their move.

“If you’re a candidate and you stick your nose up there to run and you don’t have any support, you’re just making a bad mistake,” Mr. Harley said.

Mr. O’Malley, who undertook a monthslong run-up to the campaign before announcing his candidacy a week ago, has struggled to register in the polls. A recent survey found that three-quarters of Americans don’t know enough about Mr. O'Malley to form an opinion about him.

COMMENT:  What a mess for a party to be in.  The Dems have lost the House, the Senate, most governorships, and most state legislatures.  If they lose the presidency next year they'll be down to being major powers in high-school student governments all over the country. 

They're experts on Social Security because most of their leaders are on it.

June 8, 2015