Responsibility without authority is a recipe for frustration. But popularity without power is a recipe for aggravation.

Consider Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, a man who, by dint of his title, is deemed by the great majority of the population to have "responsibility" for the economy.

To any intelligent person, the notion of one man having "responsibility" over an economy the size of America's is a joke; and yet, a stunningly large percentage of the population will, nevertheless, grade Obama's performance as President largely on the basis of the performance of the economy over the coming months and years.

"It's a wonderful country, this America. It's called a secret ballot," former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said Thursday -- as he refused to pledge his support to former Congressman Pat Toomey over recent Republican-turned-Democratic incumbent Arlen Specter for his homestate's 2010 Senate race.

Ridge's comment came in response to this question posed by MSNBC's Chris Matthews: "If you had to vote between Toomey, the conservative Republican, or Specter, the ex-Republican, who would you vote for?"

With his refusal, Tom Ridge made clear that he really is through with electoral politics -- because he'll never, ever earn the support of conservative Republicans again.

Sadly, I wish I could say Ridge's refusal to back Toomey is inexplicable.

But it's not.

With former Governor Tom Ridge's announcement that he will not be a candidate for the Republican nomination for the U. S. Senate in Pennsylvania next year, the Keystone State's playing field has shifted again.

About which, some thoughts:

First, props, please, to Pat Toomey's nascent Senate campaign.

Beginning earlier this week, opposition research began to show up in various conservative media outlets, all of which was aimed at making Ridge and his allies understand that a race against Toomey for the GOP nomination wouldn't be the cakewalk some recruiters and/or supporters were no doubt telling him it would be.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom -- and the hopes of former Congressman Pat Toomey -- the defection of Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party last week wasn't the end of the Republican primary contest in Pennsylvania.

In fact, it was only the beginning.

A new poll out today shows why -- and it shows that, more than anything else, what Toomey needs is another poll.

"The federal government is too big, takes too much of our money, and makes too many of our decisions. If Republicans can't agree on that, elections are the least of our problems."

So says South Carolina's junior senator, Jim DeMint, in this Saturday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.

In the wake of last week's defection by Sen. Arlen Specter and the passing of Jack Kemp, DeMint's piece is a good way for conservatives to start the week.

Christine Todd Whitman -- twice elected governor of New Jersey without once winning a majority of the vote -- can always be counted on to show up in The New York Times when the Gray Lady needs someone with an (R) after her name to caterwaul about how the GOP is too conservative.

Tuesday's party-switch by Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter provided a golden opportunity.

So on Thursday, her words once again graced the op-ed pages of The Newspaper of Record.

What's interesting is not that she uses the Specter defection as an excuse to sigh over her party's turn to the Dark Side. What's interesting is the political amnesia she relies on to lay out that case.

According to Public Opinion Strategies partner and Arlen Specter pollster Glen Bolger, once Specter realized he couldn't win a Republican primary in Pennsylvania, there was no chance of keeping him in the GOP.

If Bolger's polls looked anything at all like this March 25 Quinnipiac survey or this April 24 Rasmussen Reports survey, it's difficult to argue with that logic.

Both polls make the case that Specter would have a far easier time getting re-elected as a Democrat than he would as a Republican -- in the Quinnipiac survey, for example, Specter's favorable/unfavorable rating among Republicans is a toxic 29/47 percent, while his favorable/unfavorable among Democrats is a far healthier 60/16 percent.

But at least one powerful element of the Democratic Party -- the Service Employees International Union -- apparently is saying, "Thanks for the party flip, Senator, glad to have you with us -- but hold on just a moment, please."

Should Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison -- who clearly wants to ditch her seat in the U.S. Senate in exchange for the governor's mansion in Austin -- follow Arlen Specter out of the Grand Old Party?

That's the argument raised by Texas Monthly senior executive editor Paul Burka, who yesterday posted this nugget at his BurkaBlog.

Burka's argument, in a nutshell: Hutchison would be welcomed by the state's Democrats as their nominee for governor against incumbent Republican Rick Perry, and -- as a more moderate Republican in a state where conservative Christians dominate her party -- she'd find beating Perry a far-sight easier in a general election than she would in a Republican primary election.