Maybe the SOTU was in fact a turning point. Maybe he has in fact pivoted to fight off the hyenas:
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UPDATE: One of the most interesting things about Obama's comments was his calling out Republicans on their "the president won't work with us" trope. He made it clear that he knows, as they do, that Republicans can't compromise with the president because they cannot be seen to compromise, even if they want to.
Republican politics is dominated by a purist right which brooks no compromise, and most Republicans' futures in politics depend on their not compromising. So Obama's message today to Republicans (and to everybody watching): 'Please, stop with this we-want-to-work-with-you b.s. You know you can't work with me, or that the only way you can is if you get 100% of what you want. That's not how democracy works."
I don't know if any of this makes a difference, but it's what I've been waiting for. I do think taking on his opponents like this affords him his best chance of becoming the president so many of us hoped he would be. He needs to show that he's reasonable, but that he simply won't be pushed around by bullies.
He's shown he can do that these last three days. It's such a breath of fresh air. It's been ridiculous that these Republicans have been able to get away with as much as they have, and it's just so nice to watch them get schooled. I hope he keeps pushing. Every sane American will rally behind him--even lots of Republicans.
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UPDATE 2 : Digby's take is that it's a sign of weakness for Obama to go to the Republicans rather than insisting that the Republicans come to him. Maybe. Maybe that's the way they think in governmental and corporate corridors of power. But is that the way the typical American sees it? The politics is that it was televised confrontation with one man against several who frequently took cheap shots, and he made them look ridiculous when they were ridiculous and smart and decent when they were smart and decent. He came across as sane, down to earth, and reality based, compared to a bunch of rigid ideologues married to their talking points.
Again, I don't know if this single event will have much of an impact. It only matters if it's more evidence of a changed approach by the White House toward its Republican opposition. In another post Digby correctly describes what bi-partisanship means to the average voter:
[The Democrats] need to recognize that nobody really cares about bipartisanship per se. Voters just think that the reason that nothing gets done is because bipartisanship is required. If the Democrats can get something done without it there is absolutely no reason for them not to do it. Results are what matters, not process.
Unfortunately, I suspect the only reason the Democrats are so insistent on perpetuating the bipartisanship trope is because they lack the courage of their convictions and want to be able to share the blame if their plan doesn't work. And I would guess that weakness is something that average people just sense in their bones.
We saw yesterday a guy who was not looking for cover, but someone who came into a very hostile environment and took on all comers and walked away unscratched. That's more important than whatever the power protocol requires. It's just so encouraging. He's defining bi-partisanship on his terms. He's putting it to these people that if they want to be taken seriously as responsible grownups, they need to act like grownups. He knows they can't or won't, so in effect he's calling them out for what they are--a pack of middle school bullies.
With great relief I take back my comment from a couple of days ago that he's running scared. He's not. And at this point I don't think it's all that important what he's fighting for. The only important thing is that he's pushing back against the right. If nothing else, we're getting a break from the conventional wisdom that the Left is his real problem.
P.S. A lot of people have commented on how in the U.K. the prime minister routinely appears before parliament to field and rebut questions from members. Why shouldn't the American president do the same. In this case Obama responded to an invitation from the Republicans, but why shouldn't he work with Congressional leaders to begin a new tradition of appearing before Congress to field questions from both sides of the aisle. It would be far more interesting than a press conference--presidents would get challenged by the left as well as the right. He'd get asked questions that get beyond the the parochial interests of media editors and others among the media courtier class.