It has always been one of the major failings of the democratic system that nearly half the politicians in government root for failure. The dirty little secret of democratic governments is that the party in opposition will not acquire power unless the ruling party screws up. Known as "schadenfreude" (benefiting from the misfortunes of others), it is one of the problems of a competing party system because in politics gaining power is the most important goal, subordinating everything else, including the health of the state. Thus, the party out of power generally benefits when things turn sour. This is the dilemma that faces democrats running this November. As the economy worsens the blame gets directed toward the President and his party, which definitely trickles down to John McCain, regardless of how much he tries to distance himself from the economic policies causing this recession. Compounding McCain's problem is the fact that his economic advisors are generally of the same school of thought as Bush's. In fact, if one compares candidate Bush's prescriptions for the economy in 2000 and McCain's prescriptions in 2008, they are almost identical.

No matter how hard McCain tries, he'll fight an uphill battle if the economy remains mired in recession and the voting public desires change. And thus; the quandary for democrats, wanting the political power that will be easier to obtain the more the public suffers. There is a pervasive fear among Republican strategists that October will be the make-or-break month for their candidate. October is typically the month of economic downturns. September is generally a month of economic growth tied in large part to christmas wholesale purchasing and the launch of the future year's line of products in many industries. October is when the economy comes back to reality. This year, if that reality is recession it could spell big problems for Republicans across the board. Obama is in the uncomfortable position of secretly hoping things don't get better, at least not until the second week in November.