The New Compromise
by digby
It just doesn't get any more obvious than this. From today's Hardball:
Matthews: Here it is. A new CNN poll shows President Obama approval rating among moderates rose five points since last month and it dropped eight points [among liberals.] Fair enough. It looks like the moderates were watching and the liberals were watching. He moved to the center.
Chris Cilizza: Chris I would say the best political thing that happened to President Obama during this lame duck --- House liberal Democrats expressing their displeasure with the tax cut compromise. He looked big, he looked kind of like the level headed voice who's looking at the big picture, let's do what good for America. I don't know if they did this on purpose, my guess is they probably didn't, but that worked, it accrued to the president's benefit. Again the bigger a President can look, I mean bigger and magnanimous and nonpartisan, the better for your poll numbers.
That amazing analysis was based on the fact that Obama lost 8% of liberals and only gained 5% of moderates. How that adds up to a big win I don't know. I guess liberals are only worth three fifths of a moderate in American politics. (Update: I apologize for the very bad analogy.) I guess liberals aren't worth as much as moderates.
Whether or not it made Obama look "bigger" to the country is unknown. But hitting the left where it hurts certainly made him look like a big, big hero to the Villagers. And I feel quite confident that the White House knew that would happen. After all, it's not like it's an original tactic.
Update: more from the Village gasbags on CNN
Candy Crowley: Overall, he's got a 48% approval rating, not great but not horrible. Look what's happened since November. Liberals, support fell since November 79% to 72%, conservatives it's a wash, same thing. But look at the moderates, he's picking up with moderates. If you were looking at this from a political point of view, moderates decide elections and this was a good move for him.
John King: It is a stepping stone to a more stable political situation. He was ending the year in pretty bad shape. Now can he sustain having liberals mad at him? Having seven in ten liberals mad at him, that's pretty good over all, when it comes to turning out the vote he doesn't have to worry about that until 2012. He's got some repair work to do with his liberal base but iff the republicans just got from 40 to 60 because of the allegiance of independent voters, that's what president Obama has to worry about. How do you get the independent, the middle, back. That's the first bandaid he has to fix, then he'll worry about his base.
Gloria Borger: Can I just say something about the liberals? I bet the total will go up after he signs "Don't Ask Don't Tell." But when you have 72 percent support among any group, why are you worrying about them so much?
Crowley: .. it's not like the rest of them are going to go out and vote for Mitt Romeny or Sarah Palin...
Borger: Exactly. And we hear all of this "Oh my God, the base, the base, the base.."
King: But, but, but ... this is important though. After the census when the seats move around, the electoral votes move around, the map is going to change in a way not to the president's liking. If the 2012 election were tomorrow, he would need that base and he would need a much higher than 70% approval rating.
Crowley: And it isn't just voting either right? it's about "la la", licking envelopes ...
Borger: Getting out the vote. But as opposed to what? Are they still going to support Barack Obama as opposed to say ... Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Haley Barbour? I would say he's doing fairly well with liberals so stop worrying so much.
I'd say he'd better worry just a teensy bit about liberals in the congress even if he agrees that liberals in the country can be taken for granted since "everyone" knows they have no choice but to vote for him anyway. Congresspeople have to be responsive to their constituents. And many of them represent that same liberal base. They might want very much to support the presidents long march to the right so that he can get all those moderates out there who allegedly want tax cuts for millionaires, but they may just start feeling the same kind of pressure from their liberal constituents that the conservatives face from the their Tea partiers (who for some reason, these gasbags never seem to think can be safely ignored.)
The Tea Party has shown that successful primaries against stalwart conservatives gives them power. Do the Villagers think the left didn't notice that? Do they think that the liberals in congress didn't notice it either?
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