No Tacking to Starboard

Much has been made of Bill Clinton's political savvy by virtue of his tactical navigation following the Newt Gingrich-led capture of Congress in 1994, Clinton's first mid-term election of his first term as president. As Gingrich engineered his place as Speaker of the House, Clinton had the sense to recognize the mood of the people, and corrected his course by tacking back toward the center, and away from the far left destination he originally sought.

Hillary was not happy at "the captain's" decision, but being the good first mate, she obeyed the orders out of a sense of duty, no matter the bitter after taste. There was a brief brush with mutiny with her health care fiasco, but nothing that agitated the crew to the point of disaster, and the administration chugged along, actually benefiting from the grounding sense of it's opposition. President Clinton's acceptance of parts of his foe's ideas helped to cement his perceived greatness. He was a political prodigy.

Now we have Liberal commentators desperately trying to convince the electorate that - despite our own perceptive experience - Obama will follow the same trajectory in order to remain politically viable. Regardless of Obama's increasingly defiant rhetoric, we're expected to believe that he may suddenly succumb to some sort of epiphany that will miraculously transform him into a moderate who will heed the admonitions of the masses.

Sorry, I'm not buying, and I suspect there will be many who did who will soon be on the long returns line seeking credit or exchange.

The primary reason for my prognostication lies in Obama's stubborn refusal to accept his own inadequacies, or even the possibility that he may be on the wrong path. He paints his opposition as either having nefarious intent, or as mentally deficient and incapable of comprehending his magnificence. He is utterly convinced that his vision for America, regardless of its incredible divergence from the Founders' intent, is correct, and if he can't convince you, he will mandate you.

Rather than realize that his agenda is viewed by the people as not only unacceptable, but infuriating, Obama instead maintains that we're not thinking clearly, and that our information sources are lying to us. He will stop at nothing to discredit critics, going so far as to make baseless accusations and false statements. Pretty strange behavior for an alleged lawyer.

Someone capable of such arrogance is certainly unlikely to yield to pressure. It will be extremely interesting to see how Obama deals with the distinct probability that he will no longer have the measure of support from Congress that he currently enjoys. It appears almost certain that for the second half of his singular term he will face a hostile crowd in the Capitol.

This should be fun.

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