The political message of the day

Boy, Paul Krugman does neat political science too; the final paragraph of his column today says a lot:

Just to be clear, progressives would be foolish to sit out this election: Mr. Obama may not be the politician of their dreams, but his enemies are definitely the stuff of their nightmares. But Mr. Obama has a responsibility, too. He can’t expect strong support from people his administration keeps ignoring and insulting.

What kind of opposition are we talking here?  This is no Benjamin Disraeli v. William Gladstone kind of feud.  They intensely disliked each other, but were remarkably gifted intellectually and politically.  The opposition's rallying cries for now are issues like banning new mosques in Manhattan; checking papers of brown-skinned people in Arizona; it is time to nuke Iran; ...