Peggy Noonan: The Off-Center President - WSJ.com
She does an excellent job articulating just how tone deaf this president really is. I don't think we are allowed to act surprised though. Even though he campaigned about a new bipartisan path, he never ever voted against his party once. And not once did the administration reach out to Republicans in his first year of rule. Democrats who are looking to be re-elected in November 2010 are very very nervous about where this president has brought them.
the president had a stunning and revealing exchange with Sen. Blanche Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat likely to lose her 2010 re-election campaign. He was meeting with Senate Democrats to urge them to continue with his legislative agenda. Mrs. Lincoln took the opportunity to beseech him to change it. She urged him to distance his administration from "people who want extremes," and to find "common ground" with Republicans in producing legislation that would give those in business the "certainty" they need to create jobs.
While answering, Mr. Obama raised his voice slightly and quickened his cadence. "If the price of certainty is essentially for us to adopt the exact same proposals that were in place leading up to the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression . . . the result is going to be the same. I don't know why we would expect a different outcome pursuing the exact same policy that got us in this fix in the first place." He continued: "If our response ends up being, you know . . . we don't want to stir things up here," then "I don't know why people would say, 'Boy, we really want to make sure those Democrats are in Washington fighting for us.'"
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!". Easy for you to say Kemosabi! The president isn't up for re-election until 2012. All 256 House democrats are running for re-election and they all just witnessed a stunning upset in what was thought to be a sure thing in Massachusetts. Sen. Blanch Lincoln was right to beg for the president to move a little more towards the center. Her seat is one of the seats that is at risk.
The Washington Post's Charles Lane, one of the few journalists to note the exchange, said he found it revealing in two ways: First, the president equates becoming more centrist with becoming more like George W. Bush, and second, he apparently sees movement to the center as a political loser.The president is stuck in left field, and he is apparently on a suicide mission.
"I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president," he said. "And I—and I believe that."So it's no wonder that the rats are starting to jump off of the ship. Even Rep. Patrick Kennedy, son of the "Liberal Lion" has given up the ship. Although he's always been more of a drinker that a fighter anyways.
House retirements pile up - CNN.com
[Rep. Pete] Sessions said that many of the House Democratic retirements were occurring in some tough political territory, adding that "the fact of the matter is, Democrats in swing districts are retiring because they know what November has in store for them."If the president is going to saty in deep left field he should turn around and face home plate so that he might see that line drive coming.
