The grown-ups in the Democratic Party are looking beyond what they anticipate will be Barack Obama's single term, and positioning themselves to survive the aftermath. How else to explain the words of "Obama surrogate" Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee,  and Hillary Clinton acolyte?  Bill McMorris of the Washington Free Beacon reports:

A top Obama surrogate said the president will not have to worry about a swooning media or crowds overcome by fainting spells in 2012.

"The media and the population saw him as this transformative figure [in 2008]; he was the first serious black candidate, a new, young, promising figure," said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. "People have sobered to that; the newness has faded and people now see him as another practical politician."

Rendell is known for being blunt, a theme he touches on in his new book, A Nation of Wusses, and a trait that has gotten him in hot water on the campaign trail.

Rendell was a passionate supporter of Hillary Clinton in 2008, and is reputed to remain close to both of the Clintons.  As I wrote 11 days ago:

Panic is setting in among the people who ran the Democratic Party prior to the miraculous arrival on the scene of Barack Hussein Obama and the perfect storm of events that propelled him into the White House.  

These people, starting with Bill Clinton, the master Democratic politician of our era, can read the tea leaves

The Democratic scorpions are sharing a bottle. Couldn't happen to a nicer party.