pardon me sir, does your dog bite?

frank rich suggests that, thanks to the return of the tougher, scrappier barack obama, the november elections might not be the tidal wave big media is telling us it they will be:

On Labor Day, the fighting Obama abruptly re-emerged... Speaking to workers in Milwaukee, the president finally started giving voice to the anger of America’s battered middle class. And he even let loose with a little anger of his own. The unspecified “powerful interests” aligned against him, he said, “talk about me like a dog.”

That inelegant line — “not in my prepared remarks,” Obama explained — landed because it was true and because he said it with a grin. Americans like their warriors happy...

For a guy facing a tidal wave, the president was so ebullient, you had to wonder if he knew something we didn’t. Maybe he simply read the unabridged poll numbers rather than the CliffsNotes summaries of cable news. Those numbers are hardly as monochromatic as advertised.

obama needs a little more "dog" in 'em. dare i say it? maybe a little more pit bull - sans the lipstick, of course.

obama in milwaukee: