Obama Should Act Like He Won - WSJ.com
The lefties expect BO to DELIVER -- not be trying to get along with anyone else. They knew BOs history, which the MSM tried to hide from everyone, and when he said things that sounded centrist like "I'm not in favor of gay marriage", or "I'm a strong supporter of the 2nd ammendment", etc, they (as did I) assumed that he was lying. Now they are starting to wonder.
I think a major part of the current uncertainly is just that. Who IS the real BO? We elected a buy with minimal history, but all of it that was avaialable would indicate that he would be the furthest left President ever -- anyone willing to listen assumed that the REAL BO, based on his books, positions held, former positions, etc really felt that red-staters were "bitterly clinging to guns and religion", and that he was going to "spread the wealth around" ... at least, and maybe then some.
It seems way too early to tell to me -- I still really suspect that HE wants to look "moderate", but he is willing to let Harry and Nancy drive the far left agenda so he can be re-elected by a wide margin no matter what happens. If some parts of the agenda are a disaster, he can smoothly blame congress, and all the parts that work will have been his all along.
It is interesting how Franks completely fails to realize that Bush was every bit as much a "tri-angulator" as Clinton -- Perscription Drug Benefit, Sarbannes Oxley, McCain-Finegold Campaing Finance (Republican unilateral disarmament) and attempted immigration reform -- all very centrist to left items, all of which he paid a huge political price with his base for.
As I've often argued, for someone of the LEFT, such triangulation is extremely workable -- other than a few really true loonies like Franks, most Democtrats won't even complain because they realize that POWER is what they really want, and if it has to cost them something in "purism", so be it. Republicans on the other hand are suspicious of government power in the first place, so they have a very hard time with any sort of triangulation -- they have generally been in the wilderness since the '30s, so when they get just a whiff of being "in charge" they expect there to be all sorts of movement to their side -- lower taxes, less programs, more freedom, etc right away -- and worse, since they tend to have a lot of principles, if they see any wavering they are immediately ready to "teach their own guys a lesson" as they did in '06.
The lefties expect BO to DELIVER -- not be trying to get along with anyone else. They knew BOs history, which the MSM tried to hide from everyone, and when he said things that sounded centrist like "I'm not in favor of gay marriage", or "I'm a strong supporter of the 2nd ammendment", etc, they (as did I) assumed that he was lying. Now they are starting to wonder.
I think a major part of the current uncertainly is just that. Who IS the real BO? We elected a buy with minimal history, but all of it that was avaialable would indicate that he would be the furthest left President ever -- anyone willing to listen assumed that the REAL BO, based on his books, positions held, former positions, etc really felt that red-staters were "bitterly clinging to guns and religion", and that he was going to "spread the wealth around" ... at least, and maybe then some.
It seems way too early to tell to me -- I still really suspect that HE wants to look "moderate", but he is willing to let Harry and Nancy drive the far left agenda so he can be re-elected by a wide margin no matter what happens. If some parts of the agenda are a disaster, he can smoothly blame congress, and all the parts that work will have been his all along.
It is interesting how Franks completely fails to realize that Bush was every bit as much a "tri-angulator" as Clinton -- Perscription Drug Benefit, Sarbannes Oxley, McCain-Finegold Campaing Finance (Republican unilateral disarmament) and attempted immigration reform -- all very centrist to left items, all of which he paid a huge political price with his base for.
As I've often argued, for someone of the LEFT, such triangulation is extremely workable -- other than a few really true loonies like Franks, most Democtrats won't even complain because they realize that POWER is what they really want, and if it has to cost them something in "purism", so be it. Republicans on the other hand are suspicious of government power in the first place, so they have a very hard time with any sort of triangulation -- they have generally been in the wilderness since the '30s, so when they get just a whiff of being "in charge" they expect there to be all sorts of movement to their side -- lower taxes, less programs, more freedom, etc right away -- and worse, since they tend to have a lot of principles, if they see any wavering they are immediately ready to "teach their own guys a lesson" as they did in '06.
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