Many of us have questioned Obama's strength, his ability to negotiate, his willingness to stand up for principals he espoused on the campaign trail, etc. I think that an interview Cenk Yuger did with Mark Halperin while standing in for Ed Schultz clarified the Obama strategy for me. Obama's strategy, fundamentally, is Rahm's strategy: we have to protect the Conservadems at all costs. The deal with Conservadems appears to be this: be Democrats, vote for Pelosi for speaker, and the party machinery will do everything in its power to protect you form uncomfortable votes and primaries from the left. In other words, it's a naked sellout for power in name but nothing to show for it in practice. That's why he didn't force the Conservadems to negotiate publicly over the public option. That's why he's failed to close Guantanamo. That's why he defended Blanche Lincoln, Joe Lieberman, Arlen Spector, and so many others who are essentially worthless present votes in the caucus.
I'm not entirely certain how I feel about this strategy. On the one hand it is blatantly craven and obstructs our ability to move the Overton Window across the country. On the other hand it can be seen as the only realistic way to govern in the face of the propaganda machine of talk radio and Fox News.
So what is our best strategy going forward? We have a long row to hoe here: we need to get rid of the Rahm Emmanuels in the power structure of the party, but we need to make sure that it is safe to do so by moving the country as a whole to the left. Fundamentally, we need to find a way to discredit the propagandists in the eyes of their followers.
It sure would be nice if we had help from the Democratic power structure in this effort.