Can Obama Pull a 'Clinton' on the GOP?

Professor Reich is the most outspoken, highest profile liberal in American politics today. He is unabashedly liberal. Thank goodness.

It's no accident that President Obama appears to be following the Clinton script. After all, it worked. Despite a 1994 midterm election that delivered Congress to the GOP and was widely seen as a repudiation of his presidency, President Clinton went on to win re-election.

Clinton triangulated, pitting himself  in the middle of the liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.


Republicans have obligingly been playing their parts this time. In the fall of 1995, Speaker Newt Gingrich was the firebrand, making budget demands that the public interpreted as causing two government shutdowns—while President Clinton appeared to be the great compromiser. This time it's House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and his Republican allies who appear unwilling to bend and risk defaulting on the nation's bills—while President Obama offers to cut Social Security and reduce $3 of spending for every dollar of tax increase.

And the Newt is still convinced he can win the presidency.