Dem strategists: Move toward center

Dem strategists: Move toward center

Seung Min Kim
Politico.com
Nov. 3, 2010

After bruising Democratic midterm losses, top Democratic strategists are urging President Barack Obama to shift toward the center ahead of 2012.

Just as former President Bill Clinton did in 1995-96 after Republicans swept into congressional power, Obama should forgo a more liberal agenda in the latter half of his term, the strategists argued. If not, they warned, the country’s electoral map could be tinted red indefinitely.

Former Clinton pollster Mark Penn summed up voters’ message with this: They saw a general leftward tack from the administration in Obama’s first two years in office, and they weren’t happy about it.

“Like with President Clinton, [Obama] was elected because voters believed he was from the center, that he would bring bipartisanship or nonpartisanship to Washington,” Penn told POLITICO’s Arena. “If he moves to the center, he is being true to the Obama that they cast votes for.”

“Moving back to the center, on both policy and politics, is crucial for Obama’s reelection, strengthening his party, and most importantly, having a shot at bipartisan progress in the next two years,” added Jonathan Cowan, president of the centrist think tank Third Way.

But while many are advising Obama to take a middle-of-the-road approach in the latter half of his term, others insisted that the president stay firm and not shift to the center.

“Obama will look inauthentic if he looks like he’s maneuvering in a political way to satisfy political concerns,” longtime Democratic consultant Robert Shrum told Arena.

Democratic consultant and former Clinton aide Paul Begala said in the next two years, Obama must challenge congressional Republicans on how to jolt the stagnant economy — arguing that until the economy clears up, neither will the Democrats’ political forecasts.

“It is wrong to simply say Americans don’t understand all the great work the administration has done on the economy,” Begala told Arena. “The voters are saying — hell, they’re shrieking — that they want their government to do more to create jobs.”

And some experts argued that Tuesday’s results did not hand a mandate to Republicans to pursue a more conservative agenda in Congress.

“Many Republicans have misinterpreted the election as a vindication of their conservative philosophy,” said Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute. “In fact, they won because lots of Obama voters stayed home … voters want things that are not dreamt of in the Republicans’ rigidly libertarian philosophy.”

After bruising Democratic midterm losses, top Democratic strategists are urging President Barack Obama to shift toward the center ahead of 2012.

Seems he has no choice if he wants a second term. He's going to have to compromise.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:

After bruising Democratic midterm losses, top Democratic strategists are urging President Barack Obama to shift toward the center ahead of 2012.

Seems he has no choice if he wants a second term. He's going to have to compromise.

This is true. But he caused a lot of people to not trust him to start with. He may have caused irreparable damage. If he would've backed off during that HC debate and actually allowed true compromise, his party might not have suffered so badly this week. You can bet that the GOP will use this against him during the reelection campaign.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:

After bruising Democratic midterm losses, top Democratic strategists are urging President Barack Obama to shift toward the center ahead of 2012.

Seems he has no choice if he wants a second term. He's going to have to compromise.

This is true, but somehow I don't see Obama backing off of his agenda. Of course it took Clinton almost a year to back down from his when his party suffered a similar loss in his first term in office.

I guess time will tell.

dblboggie wrote:

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:

After bruising Democratic midterm losses, top Democratic strategists are urging President Barack Obama to shift toward the center ahead of 2012.

Seems he has no choice if he wants a second term. He's going to have to compromise.

This is true, but somehow I don't see Obama backing off of his agenda. Of course it took Clinton almost a year to back down from his when his party suffered a similar loss in his first term in office.

I guess time will tell.

If he doesn't back down and compromise, he'll be a private citizen by January of 2013.

That's been one of my gripes about him is his lack of wanting (or willing) to compromise.