OBAMA’S AURA OF DEFEAT: It’s not quite a pre-postmortem, given that Ross Douthat was hired to play the role of the New York Times’ token conservative, but still:

Now this is not a normal re-election campaign. When incumbent president win, they usually expand their original majorities, but barring a completely unexpected polling shift, Obama’s 2008 majority will shrink no matter what. He’s been running a heavily negative campaign from the beginning, and the late-game approach has only accentuated aspects of the White House’s strategy (the focus on social issues, the quest for “shiny objects” — hey, bayonets! — to change the subject from the economy, etc.) that have been present all along. What the press has read as signs of “Joe the Plumber”-esque desperation over the last few weeks may not be signs of an impending defeat; it may just be the way that Obama has to win, if win he does. But if so, it won’t look like the winning re-election campaigns we’ve seen in the recent past, and that reporters have grown accustomed to covering.

Meanwhile, at Power Line, Paul Mirengoff writes, “If President Obama loses this election, the Democrats will need a scapegoat.” And he’s got one in mind — thanks to the pre-postmortem by the liberal Times journalist that Douthat references in the above link.

RELATED: From Ron Radosh: How Liberals and Democrats are Spinning a Possible Romney Victory, Before the Election!