Insightful and almost on point analysis from Jonathan Zasloff :
Perhaps one way to explain President Obama’s inability to stake out more strongly progressive positions on — well, just about anything, from tax cuts, to health care reform, to foreign policy (think Afghanistan) — is that he essentially is not a progressive Democrat but rather that extinct breed, the Rockefeller Republican. It is not quite the same thing as modern-day moderate Republicanism, because it is slightly to the left. But the more I think about it, the more that I have to conclude that all those who for the last two years have been calling Obama a moderate Republican have some justice on their side.
Obama has more in common with Lincoln Chafee and Olympia Snowe than with Dennis Kucinich and even Bernie Sander. However, I think that the fact that he was elected by pretending to be something/someone else is a problem because it makes unable to stand for something rather than to stand against something or rather someone. Obama needs enemies and that's disconcerting, so Sarkozy and thus not good for America. It means that the political battles aren't going to settle anything for they will solely be about power and identity politics.
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