( CNN ) -- Anytime James Carville , Paul Begala and David Axelrod hold hands and jump for joy , it 's worth pondering how to turn their joy into tears . They 're jubilant -- just ecstatic -- about Newt Gingrich 's South Carolina victory . On the eve of the South Carolina primary , Carville opined in a CNN.com column addressed to GOP leaders , `` Let me break it to you gently -- you 've got a first-class disaster on your hands . '' Not to be outdone , Begala blustered in the Daily Beast , `` Above it all we can hear the weeping , the wailing , the gnashing of teeth of the Republican establishment as Gingrich 's victory sends them into full-blown panic . '' You know what ? If Newt becomes the GOP nominee , they might be right . But they also might be wrong . Very wrong . I get a kick out of Democrats thinking they know how handicap a GOP race . If Democrats were good at thinking like Republicans , they would see the light and stop being Democrats . But instead , Democrats are so bent on seeing Republicans as a bunch of angry , right wing , intolerant , unreliable extremists that they have a track record of missing the mood of the country , especially the sentiment of people who do n't wake up to The New York Times . Here 's what Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz , D-Florida , said just three months before the November 2010 elections : `` Really it 's hard to know where the Republican Party ends and the tea party begins . ... So it has really caused , I think , a pretty difficult problem for them going into the November elections because they have candidates ... on the extreme right-wing fringe who want to end Medicare as we know it , yank the rug -- the safety net out from under our senior citizens . I mean , Americans really are going to have a very clear choice set up in November between moderate Democrats who are centrists , where the country is , and Republicans who are really off on the right-wing fringe . '' Three months later , the tea party led Republicans to their biggest mid-term election victory in 72 years , winning a remarkable 63 seats in the House , along with six in the Senate . And do n't forget in 1980 , Democrats were cheering for Ronald Reagan to win the GOP presidential nomination , thinking he was too conservative and too much of a cowboy to appeal to mainstream voters . Of course , Reagan went on to a 44-state , 10-point thumping of incumbent Jimmy Carter . Leading Democrats , and the most of the media , similarly dismissed the Contract With America and the possibility that voters could elect the first Republican House in 40 years when that took place in 1994 , led by their favorite right wing , unsteady extremist , Newt Gingrich . Given President Barack Obama 's significant problem winning the support of working class , blue collar Americans , I would n't be so jubilant if I were on the other side . Not only is America being led by a president who thinks blue collar Americans cling to their religion and guns , or that the Cambridge police were `` stupid '' when they did their job , but the economy is bad , unemployment is high and the debt is out of sight . This president , who was elected essentially having the experience of a state senator , is in over his head and is vulnerable to defeat both substantively and personally . As anyone who knows Newt knows , he indeed could blow himself up and the dancing Democrats may have reason for joy . But I would n't be too quick to discount Newt 's ability to strike a chord with working class , upset with Washington , ready-for-change voters who will overlook Newt 's personal problems because they 're drawn to his blunt , direct , tough talk . I also would n't so easily discount the possibility that the anti-Obama sentiment and the desire for deep and meaningful change in Washington might propel Newt to a position none of us , myself included , could have imagined two days ago . Follow CNN Opinion on Twitter . Join the conversation on Facebook . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ari Fleischer .
Democrat James Carville said Republicans have a disaster on their hands . Ari Fleischer says Carville misses the appeal of Newt Gingrich to working class . He says the former speaker can tap into widespread dissatisfaction with Obama . Fleischer : Gingrich could blow up his chances , but it 's possible he could win .