Uber progressives and ultra liberals criticize Obama for not following their favored agendas.
At the same time, all kinds of righties call him a socialist, the reincarnation of Marx, a leftist leading our country to the dung heap.
But, Obama got health care through, which is legislation that still hasn't received favor with over 50% of the public. He's introduced another moratorium for deep water drilling, much to the chagrin of Republicans and Gulf Coast residents who depend on oil drilling for income. He's filed a lawsuit against Arizona and it's draconian immigration law. And oh, financial reform legislation will be passed later this week.
They're all unpopular stands in an atmosphere that bodes doom in the November elections. At this point, why not "in for a penny, in for pound". He might as well take on the rest:
Stand up for another stimulus package and come down hard in favor of Keynesian economics under these circumstances. In the process, he would be defying the deficit hawks who won't understand the proper role for government during a deep recession as well as the G20 who have become jittery about red ink.
Push hard for comprehensive immigration reform. Not only is it the right thing to do, it sends a clear signal to our most important ethnic group that Democrats intend to be on their side, come hell or high water.
Go for an energy bill that substantially reduces greenhouse gases and fuels a green revolution. Jimmy Carter had the right energy policy during his term, but it was rejected in favor of medieval Ronald Reagan. Now, years later, we see how right Carter was and can only wonder where we'd be if we had heeded his leadership.
Absolutely insist on ending "don't ask, don't tell", which is on its way, and strongly favor the states adopting gay marriage legislation. Even heavily Catholic Argentina has taken up gay marriage. No sense dragging our feet on this issue.
If the Democrats go down in flames in November, I'll bet it'll only be short lived. The Republicans got nothing. They'll probably only run us deeper in the ditch. Better to be on record with the best ideas than hold onto power by mamby-pamby policies.