Conservative commentator Ross Douthat said Tuesday the financial crisis and heightened concerns about the federal budget deficit hampered the Obama administration’s big plans and put Democrats in political trouble ahead of the midterm elections.

“It’s hard to have a big, new liberal era and a liberal resurgence when you don’t have the money to pay for it,” said Douthat, the New York Times columnist who spoke at Kansas University as part of the Humanities Lecture Series by the Hall Center for the Humanities.

Even though he told a Woodruff Auditorium audience of 120 people he expected the GOP to regain the House in November, he criticized Republicans for not having an alternative plan to kick-start economic growth and said gridlock would continue in Washington.

Douthat — at 30 the youngest columnist in Times history — said high unemployment has magnified three mistakes the Obama administration made since the 2008 election.

He said former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s comment about not wasting a good crisis was a political miscalculation.

“If you look back over the history of liberal governance in the United States, liberalism’s biggest policy issues have almost always come not from seizing crises but after a period of economic growth,” Douthat said.

He said Obama will likely gain high marks from liberal historians for the health care reform bill. But that also could prove to be politically costly for the administration because it came at a time when more Americans were worrying about the economy and saving money.

“It was also true that the White House over-promised repeatedly,” Douthat said.

No matter what happens Nov. 2, he doesn’t expect much to get done in Washington before the 2012 presidential election.

He predicted that congressmen will duck difficult votes. If the economy improves, Obama will win re-election.

If not, Republicans have a shot, but they need a “credible” candidate. He didn’t mention any names.

One final prediction: A second Obama term likely won’t give much for liberals to like.

“If and when growth returns,” Douthat said, “the problem of closing the deficit will be this White House’s overarching concern.”