The Road Ahead to 2012

John Judis on what the White House apparently thinks it needs to do to win in 2012:

The White House thinks that Democrats got drubbed in the election because they lost the support of “independent” voters. Obama’s advisers, the Washington Post reported, “are deeply concerned about winning back political independents, who supported Obama two years ago by an eight-point margin but backed Republicans for the House this year by 19 points. To do so, they think he must forge partnerships with Republicans on key issues and make noticeable progress on his oft-repeated campaign pledge to change the ways of Washington.”

In the president’s interview with "60 Minutes," only part of which was broadcast, but which CBS later put on the Web in full, Obama blamed his party's loss on Republicans being “able to paint my governing philosophy as a classic, traditional, big government liberal. And that's not something that the American people want. I mean, you know, particularly independents in this country.” He promised to adopt “Main Street, common sense values about the size of government,” to do something about “debts and deficits,” and to end the “partisan bickering” in Washington by getting Republicans and Democrats “to work together to change things in Washington.”

In other words, the White House blamed Democrats' 2010 defeat on the loss of independents, and to win them back, it will try to slow the growth of government, encourage a bipartisan spirit in Washington, and reform the government process by eliminating things like earmarks.

I don't think this is going to work for Obama, politically speaking. Republicans aren't really going to work with him. His Democratic base is going to be increasingly alienated from his policies, leading to lukewarm support at best and to a possible intra-party challenge from the left, and/or an independent third party challenge (Bloomberg).  Obviously, a lot hinges on how unified the Republicans are, and that is a big question mark, given the quarreling beginning between the Republican Establishment, the libertarian wing of the Tea Party, and the social conservatives.

All of this is going to make for a very messy but interesting two years until the election of 2012.