Obama has flirted with the idea of forsaking his base and going for the Independents for some time but it looks like now he is taking the leap.
The far left just isn't delivering the campaign cash anymore and Obama is not the FDR he thought he was who can increase socialism for a decade or more.
Of course, like Clinton Obama will now take credit for any recovery which results when in actuality he makes this move purely for political survival.
Exactly right. In the end, there is no other ultra-liberal kook who could peel off much of the disaffected leftist vote. He’s secure with that cohort. Now he can play up fantasy-land to win the great unwashed wishy-washy middle.
The difference between the 1996 Clinton model and the 2012 Obama model is 5% unemployment vs 9% unemployment.Clinton was able to move temporarily to the center in 1996 because independents did not view him as an ideologue but a political opportunist doing what he had to get their vote.Obama, on the other hand, is indeed a left wing ideologue who was able to fool enough independents and some dumber Republicans in 2008 that he was not an leftist ideologue. However, since his election,that train has left the station and any efforts to Clintonize his campaign by feinting towards the middle may not be credible to independents who will be muttering fool me once, etc... when they go to the polls.