Who, younger readers ask, is Baghdad Bob?

This is Baghdad Bob — or, as the British called him, Comical Ali — Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, Saddam Hussein’s last information minister. Baghdad Bob got his fame and nickname for his grandiose predictions of Iraq’s triumph over the U.S. and that no American boots would ever touch Baghdad soil. Unlike the Iraqi known as “Chemical Ali,” Saddam’s defense minister, who met a fate similar to Saddam’s, Sahhaf now lives in the United Arab Emirates, which puts him above ground, unlike Saddam, his sons, and others on the wrong side of the Iraqi wars.

Baghdad Bob came to mind when I read this from The Hill:

A new poll suggests Republicans have the biggest advantage in a midterm year in two decades.

The Pew/USA Today poll released Monday found 47 percent of registered voters support the Republican candidate in their district or lean Republican. By contrast, 43 percent favor the Democratic candidate or lean Democratic.

Democrats have lost ground on the generic ballot in recent months. Last October, Democrats held a 6-percentage-point lead of 49 to 43 percent. Regardless, they usually need a double-digit lead in order to pick up seats.

President Obama’s approval rating is now lower than at the same point during the 2010 campaign, Pew noted. The GOP later won the majority in the House that November.

While 44 percent approve of Obama’s job as president, half of the public disapproves, the poll found. …

Nearly two-thirds say they want to see the next president offer different policies and programs than the Obama administration. Less than a third want Obama’s successor to offer a similar agenda.

Despite the GOP’s edge on the generic ballot, only 23 percent approve Republicans’ jobs in Congress and 32 percent approve of Democrats’ jobs.

More people, 43 percent, say GOP policies would do more for the economy, compared to 39 percent who say Obama’s policies are more effective.

It is remarkable that only 23 percent approve of Republicans’ work in Congress, and yet 47 percent favor their Congressional district’s Republican candidate. I suppose that could be one of those cases in which those polled hate the Congress but like their own Congressman.

There is no way for Democrats to spin this as anything but bad news. Four years ago, the polls showed a lead for Democrats, and yet Republicans ended up taking over the House and gaining Senate seats. In 1994, no one predicted the magnitude of the red tide, with Democrats losing left and, well, left.

Few observers expected change in the Wisconsin Congressional delegation this year, at least until the unexpected retirement announcement of U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-Fond du Lac). Four years ago, few predicted that retiring U.S. Rep. David Obey (D-Wausau) would be replaced by a Republican, Sean Duffy. That makes one wonder if another Democrat — say, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse) might be unexpectedly vulnerable in October.

One thought that comes to mind is that maybe Democrats need to have new national spokespeople, not someone as shrill as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, as dingbatty as Deb Wasserman-Schultz, or as out of it as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The other thing that would be helpful is for Democrats to realize that the country is not in good shape, and it is mostly their own party’s fault, given that a member of their party lives in the White House.