President Obama must be feeling the squeeze. On the one side are his usual detractors: Republicans, Conservatives, Free Marketers, the opinion guys at Fox, etc. On the other side are a far more dangerous group: The Ultra Left. There are increasing signs (a protest rally here, a brief news item on CNN there) that the Left is ready to step up their criticism of Obama. The laundry list of grievances ranges from the merely misguided to the truly nut job (he hasn't surrendered in Iraq and Afghanistan and brought the troops home, he hasn't prosecuted the insurance industry, he hasn't thrown Dick Cheney in jail, etc.) There is no wrath like the wrath of the Left toward one of their own. RedStateVT recalls political commentator Juan Williams - a Democrat, but an entirely reasonable guy - making this point several months back.
So how did Obama get into this bind? He has said something to the effect that everyone sees him and his presidency through their own prism. That's a bit self-aggrandizing for us. We look at it this way. Obama is in reality an Ultra Left guy. He surrounds himself with Reverend (God damn America!) Wright, Bill (the Weathermen didn't do enough) Ayers, Van (Bush blew up the Towers) Jones, Kevin (Practice safe sex with minors) Jennings, Anita (Long live Mao!) Dunn, etc. Yet he cannot let Middle America know just how radical he really is. And so he variously claims not to know or not to have heard or not to have seen and instead he talks about there being no Red States or Blue States. On policy issues, he is finding that he cannot do what the Ultra Left wants him to do and - in reality - what he wants to do. He can't simply mandate that all Dems back him on government run health care. He can't pull all the troops out of Afghanistan (let alone add 40,000 more!) and risk the consequences. And so he dithers, and studies, and holds more meetings and plays for time trying to figure out how to enact a radical agenda in a country that increasingly appears to want nothing to do with it. Mid-term elections may restore some balance to the political equation, but Obama will soon face a much bigger threat from his radical base. If they turn on him there will be nowhere to hide.
Excellent post RedState! You nailed it. Obama is trapped by his radical, far left comrades and he couldn't moderate even if he wanted to. The only thing I'm not clear on is whether or not he'd ever want to. He strikes me as perfectly happy to go down with the ship as long as he gets a chunk of his radical agenda enacted.
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