Obama faces problem on left, not right

By: Roger Simon
Politico.com
April 12, 2011 04:39 AM EDT

I don’t think Barack Obama will have a hard time defeating his Republican opponent in 2012, barring a financial meltdown or a major foreign crisis. It’s a Democratic opponent he should worry about.

Obama continues to anger progressives in his party and has created a huge amount of running room to his left: He abandoned a single-payer health care option, he agreed to extend tax cuts to the rich, he has expanded the war in Afghanistan and, instead of keeping his campaign promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, he is going to resume military trials there.

Is there no Democrat who is going to seek to exploit the gulf between Obama and his own progressive wing in 2012? The White House thinks not. But let’s put aside that question for a few paragraphs and look at the Republican field.

In a celebrity- and media-driven culture such as ours, being a political celebrity is a huge advantage. Campaign 2008 featured three: John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

(More here.)