The Associated Press is reporting that Democrats are tiring of President Obama's concessions to the GOP on matters large (tax cut for the wealthy) and small (timing of jobs talk). President Obama has yielded to House Speaker John Boehner in a string of concessions that have unnerved Democrats and emboldened Republicans. A chorus of Democratic voices is now demanding that the president abandon his attempts at being a compromiser and instead lay out an ideological vision that distinguishes him from Republicans and becomes a template for his re-election.
Obama must create a clear contrast between what he wants and what the Republicans want, Simon Rosenberg, president of the liberal-leaning think tank NDN, wrote this week. "If the president is to win the election next year, he will have to first win the economic debate with the Republicans, something, to date, he has not done."
Democratic strategist James Carville was even sharper, decrying the spectacle of the president being forced to change the day of his address to a joint session of Congress after Boehner took issue with Obama's initial request.
"The last thing that the White House needed was to appear to cave in to the speaker, and that's what happened," he said Thursday on ABC.
The pointed advice comes as Democrats are becoming increasingly anxious that joblessness and a weak economy are defining Obama's presidency and imperiling his re-election. His attempts to compromise with Republicans, they argue, have resulted in policies that have hurt him and the economy.
Well, President Obama has an approach and he's sticking to it: attempting to work with the GOP regardless of whether they oppose him every step of the way. There's something to be said for not allowing the opposition to define your strategy; there's also something to be said for adjusting said strategy when it obviously isn't working.
Democrats elected President Obama because they wanted something different, not the same outcomes because of an inclination for compromise. President Obama's advisers may want to think about the fact that Democratic voters felt absolutely ignored during the Bush administration. A Democratic president appearing to do the same in the interest of "compromise" with a group that refuses to compromise on anything is not a good look. Perhaps the president needs to worry less about GOP claims of partisanship and more about the real needs of Democratic voters?
Read more at News One.
In other news: Charges Dropped Against Nigerian Separatist Movement.