MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was downright effusive after Tuesday night's speech.  "This was earnest and lofty," she gushed, "and he is known for his earnestness." 

Of course, she was critiquing Joe Kennedy III, who delivered the official Democratic response to President Trump's State of the Union address. 

As for the evening's main event, Maddow accused President Trump of being a warmonger.  "He wants a war with North Korea," she assured her left-wing viewers. 

That was actually mild compared to other post-speech media reactions.  Maddow's MSNBC running mate Chris Matthews denigrated the reference to MS-13 gang-bangers as "very ugly."  He was referring to the president's words, not the killers themselves. 

Over on CNN, one-time Obama aide and former proud communist Van Jones said the president "was selling sweet-tasting candy with poison in it." 

Another delusional CNN reporter put forth a truly bizarre analysis of Melania Trump.  According to Kate Bennett, the First Lady was wearing off-white to protest her husband's policies toward women.  Yes, she was serious. 

ABC's Cecila Vega claimed the president was "stoking" racial tension when he contended that the National Anthem should be respected.  And MSNBC's hate-filled Joy Reid actually mocked President Trump for praising church, family, police, and military.  You know, all those awful things that so many progressives regard as symbols of Amerikkkan oppression. 

Okay, so it's not exactly breaking news that most media types deeply despise the president.  But they don't hate him nearly as much as Democrats in Congress. 

Anyone watching the speech on television had to be stunned when cameras caught reaction shots of the opposition party.  Now, no one expects Democrats to be standing and cheering – Republicans were stoic and silent when President Obama put forth his progressive promises. 

But this week the Democrats went way beyond anything we have seen before.  They were sour, angry, and bitter, even when the president mentioned the National Anthem or God, for God's sake.  One got the feeling that if President Trump extolled the tasty virtues of apple pie, the Democrats would have staged a mass walkout.

Members of the not-so-loyal opposition party, perhaps taking their cues from exceptionally dour Nancy Pelosi, failed to cheer higher wages, the defeat of ISIS, or even historically low black unemployment. 

The American people felt differently.  According to a CNN snap poll, 70% of viewers had a "very positive" or "somewhat positive" reaction to the speech.  A poll taken by CBS found that 75% of those who watched the State of the Union approved of what they had heard. 

All this raises one extremely important question:  What will Democrats run on in the upcoming midterm elections? 

The party seems confident that it will retake the House, but based on what policies?  Their number one issue at the moment seems to be raw hatred of President Trump.  That may win some votes in far-left precincts, but not enough to win a House majority.  Americans are just not that infused with vitriol. 

The Democrats' other major priority seems to be unfettered illegal immigration.  They don't freely admit that, but just look at the parts of President Trump's immigration plan to which they object. 

The Dems say they want protection for DACA recipients, and the White House has offered that in spades.  But they object to curtailing chain migration and booed when the president brought it up.  Unlike most Americans, Democrats don't want to end the Diversity Visa Lottery, and they truly loathe the idea of building a border wall. 

So on what will they campaign?  Rescinding the tax cuts?  Reinstating burdensome federal regulations?  Bringing back the individual ObamaCare mandate? 

Right now they can only hope that special counsel Robert Mueller comes up with something bad, really bad.  If his investigation ends without a searing indictment of President Trump himself, the promise of impeachment will fall by the wayside.

They also want the president to damage himself with some ill-conceived tweets or comments, which is certainly within the realm of possibility.  But Trump's core supporters always seem to forgive and quickly forget. 

It is surely possible that the Democratic Party will win a majority in the House, maybe even the Senate.  But they did not do anything to help their chances Tuesday night.  Sitting like angry, spoiled, petulant children is not a winning election strategy. 

The Democratic lawmakers who actually came out best this week were John Lewis, Barbara Lee, Frederica Wilson, and a handful of others.  They skipped the speech and were thus not seen scowling on camera.  In retrospect, that was not such a bad decision.