Politico: "Obama, cable chatter & liberal fury"

Jonathan Martin (Politico):

“It's always been a bit of a conundrum reconciling Obama the campaigner and Obama the president,” said liberal blogger John Aravosis. “The former was a maverick, the latter tries far too hard not to rock the boat.”

“The administration has enabled the Republicans, and all their political opponents, including conservative Democrats. far too often. They didn't pass a big enough stimulus because the Republicans objected. They didn't push for the public option because the Republicans, and conservative Democrats, objected. They didn't go for a full repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell because Republican appointee Secretary [Robert] Gates objected.”

Added Aravosis: “In politics, yes, sometimes you have to cut your losses and dismiss employees who get involved in too-high-profile a scandal, regardless of the merits. But far too often, President Obama seems to cut his losses, on personnel and policy, whenever the Republicans say boo. I have no idea why he doesn't show more backbone, but a lot of Obama supporters, myself included, wish he would.” MORE...

Howie P.S.: JMart has now updated this posting with quotes from Ari Melber, Markos and Peter Daou