Obama vs. the left

OBAMA VS. THE LEFT: Jonathan Chait, in a column for the Times, argues that the left's persistent criticism of Obama (particularly regarding his fiscal policy) is misguided, overstated, and counterhistorical. Money quote: "President Obama underestimated the depth of the crisis in 2009 and left himself with bad options in the event the economy failed to recover as quickly as he hoped. And yet the wave of criticism from the left over the stimulus is fundamentally flawed: it ignores the real choices Obama faced (and the progressive decisions he made) and wishes away any constraints upon his power." I remain sympathetic to Obama and his cause, though I often find myself cringing at some of his political decisions. In more realistic terms, the left is really the only side of the political spectrum from which the president can hope to garner any support; he needs to cultivate that support, now more than ever. Particularly in the lead-up to his re-election challenge, the true test will not be in whether he can unite both Republicans and Democrats (as some might argue he did in 2008) but whether he can unite Democrats alone. Perhaps pleasingly, much of the scrutiny from GOP candidates seems to have shifted away from him as they focus more of their criticism on each other – but, it should be noted, even that won't stop the non-candidate.