For Obama, the center may be too far right

The Take
Dan Balz
WashPost
Saturday, December 18, 2010; A04

A month ago, President Obama was the big loser of 2010, the leader whose party had given up historic losses in the House and who was facing questions about his future. On Friday, with the stroke of his pen on a compromise tax bill, he reminded his adversaries of the essential resilience of the occupant of the Oval Office.

Whether the compromise proves to be a moment of bipartisanship or the beginning of a turnaround in Obama's political fortunes won't be known until well into next year. But if he can find the formula that allows him to deal when he can and fight when he must, his prospects for true revival could greatly improve.

What seems clear is that Obama has begun to position himself back on more comfortable ground in the wake of the self-described shellacking Democrats took in the midterm elections. By instinct and demeanor, he is a politician who prefers finding common ground with his opponents. At a moment of political weakness, the tax package provided him the vehicle to quickly reassert that part of his political personality at a time when he needed the public to take a fresh look at him.

The deal is also a reminder that, despite unrest in his party's base over the agreement, the Obama White House recognizes that the 2012 election will be won or lost with independent voters, who prize results and prefer to see Republicans and Democrats working constructively. Nearly every calculation the president makes in the coming months will be with that compass in hand.

(More here.)