It's disheartening to read that the president mocked supporters of the public option at a $30,000 a plate DNC fundraiser.

That certainly doesn't help close the "enthusiasm gap" of the Democratic base.

As David Sirota writes: ".....the president has decided to not even acknowledge the legitimacy of Democratic voters' expectations - many of which he himself asked us embrace in his "real change"-themed campaign for the presidency. That's right, just as White House press secretary Robert Gates attacked the "Professional Left" a few weeks ago, the president has decided to make fun of Democratic voters who dare expect him to fight for the policies he promised.

"Maybe it's true that effectively telling Democratic voters that they are idiots and are misremembering recent history will motivate those voters to vote in November.......But I don't think so."

Or as Glenn Greenwald explains: "What's most striking about Obama's comments is that there is no acceptance whatsoever of responsibility (I've failed in some critical areas; we could have/should have done better).  There's not even any base-motivating vow to fight to fix these particular failures (we'll keep fighting for a public option/to curb executive power abuses/to reduce lobbyist and corporate control of our political process).  Instead, he wants you to know that if you criticize him -- or even question what he's done ("well, I don't know about this particular derivatives rule, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that") -- it's your fault:  for being some sort of naive, fringe-leftist idiot who thought he would eliminate the Pentagon and bring about world peace in 18 months, and/or because you simply don't sufficiently appreciate everything he's done for you because you're congenitally dissatisfied." 

While the president (and his administration and the Democratic majority in Congress and the Democratic Party) thinks dissing, ignoring or, unfortunately, belittling the Democratic base is the way to go, he (and they) may want to think again.

From Jon Walker at Firedoglake:

"A large majority of Americans, 58 percent, believe that the country needs a third major party to adequately represent the American people, according to a new Gallup poll. Only 35 percent think the Democratic and Republican Parties do an adequate job representing the electorate.

"The desire for a third party is high because currently both parties are unpopular with the American people."