Today House Democrats finally broke ranks with President Barack Obama, disgusted by the compromise he struck with Republican leaders.<\/p>\n
That deal extends tax breaks for the nation’s wealthiest earners, and expands exemptions for people inheriting money from relatives.<\/p>\n
On the Republican side, meanwhile, GOP leaders are wrestling with a similar rebellion, with the Club for Growth and some tea party leaders blasting the deal as too liberal.<\/p>\n
In theory, this whole mess puts Mr. Obama in the very middle of the political debate.\u00a0 This seems to be a position he’s coveted since inauguration day — the role of bipartisan deal-maker and referee.<\/p>\n
Even during the healthcare debate, he signaled early to liberals that one of their prize goals, a public option or better yet a single-payer insurance system, was off the table.<\/p>\n
The White House approach to climate change has also been so centrist that activists (and many scientists) view the approach as a sell-out.<\/p>\n
The cap-and-trade strategy he adopted is a market-based approach which was first developed by Republican and conservative politicians.<\/p>\n
Polls suggest that many rank-and-file Democrats are pretty comfortable with his tone.\u00a0 Mr. Obama’s poll numbers remain very, very high among Democratic voters, despite the lousy economy.<\/p>\n
And it’s possible that this middle-of-the-road, focused-like-a-laser-on-jobs strategy will win back some of the independents who have abandoned the President since election day.<\/p>\n
But the last twenty years, Republicans have managed to dominate the political scene by focusing very narrowly on their base — and liberals were expecting this administration to do the same.<\/p>\n
Even though Mr. Obama telegraphed his moderate approach during the campaign, the backlash from the left looks to be very severe indeed.<\/p>\n
Already the left-of-center media are savaging the President more aggressively than the right.\u00a0 It’s a lonely road when you’re being tarred by the Huffington Post and feathered by Fox News.<\/p>\n
It’s also very, very\u00a0 unlikely that this approach will win many Republicans or conservatives.\u00a0 Mr. Obama is viewed by the tea party crowd as beyond redemption, a socialist, a closet Muslim, you name it.<\/p>\n
I wonder, given the vitriolic climate, whether this President has the deal-making and negotiating skills to play the middle-man and the power broker successfully?<\/p>\n
And finally, one has to ask whether this is really the role that the world’s most powerful man is supposed to play.<\/p>\n
Not to pile on the metaphors, but did we elect Mr. Obama to play referee or quarterback?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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