For months, the American people have been besieged by predictions of a blue wave, a powerful and widespread cascade of Democratic election victories this fall that will shift the balance of Congressional power and end the misguided policies of the Trump Administration.The strategy of party leaders so far, though, threatens to reduce the wave to a ripple.The Democratic leadership has decided that policy and vision don’t matter - candidates will succeed running as the anti-Trump.The vote-for-me-because-I’m-not-him approach has been tried before and, without positive message or credible policy agenda, rarely succeeds.Last July, at a much-ballyhooed retreat in Virginia, party leaders unveiled its platform - “A Better Deal” - chock full of noble language to appeal to the disenchanted voters who abandoned the party in 2016, ending Hillary Clinton’s dream of becoming the nation’s first female president.The ink was barely dry on the document - the title of which was mockingly compared to that of a national pizza chain - when the party scrapped it and returned to its comfort zone - bashing Trump.As Trump lurched from one misstep to another, it seemed the Democrats had found their strategic sweet spot. His favorability versus disapproval poll standing fell to as much as 20 points underwater.Democrats felt so confident they united in opposition to the President’s tax reform/tax cut legislation, characterizing it as a giveaway to the rich and powerful while penalizing the middle class and the poor.Then, the bottom fell out; the tax cut accomplished what Trump predicted it would.More than 200 companies - including some of the nation’s largest - announced employee bonuses, an immediate increase in pay above the minimum wage, greater contributions to pension funds, expansion plans and increased hiring.Hundreds of billions of dollars held overseas were re-patriated, returned to the United States and taxed into the billions.Economic growth rose to three per cent amid predictions it could reach five per cent, wages grew more than two per cent, unemployment fell to 4.1 per cent, job creation exceeded 200,000 a month, consumer confidence rose, and the stock market broke records daily, the sell off at the beginning of the month notwithstanding. More telling, though, was the increase in take home pay for 90 percent of American workers as a result of the law’s tax bracket re-adjustments.Democrats watched in disbelief as Trump’s favorability soared and the gap in generic Democrat versus Republican surveys tumbled from as much as 17 percent to as little as a statistically insignificant two per cent.Democrats had boxed themselves in.