All he needs to do is to be a moderate, playing defense
The sudden change in the political winds, followed by an overall excellent lame duck session (yes, I know there are folks bitching over DREAM and the capitulation on the tax cut extension) and the inevitable assessment of the 111th Congress, has got me thinking about what needs can and should be addressed in the 112th.
To me, the crowning glory of the 111th Congress is health care. Was it a very flawed process that produced a somewhat flawed bill? To paraphrase a certain weak minded northerner, "you betcha!" But did it write into law that there is now the national welfare responsibility that there are to be no folks who fall through the cracks with the 4th essential need of humanity (after food, clothing, shelter)? Yes, and as we get into deficit slimming mode over the next few years, the right of everyone to have health care will be as important as the right of the Tea Bagging seniors to not have government interfere with their Medicare. Short of an outright appeal, all discussions moving forward will be how to make health care better and less expensive - and we "Medicare for all" or other single payer proponents will have a simple answer to the latter question.
Aside from health care, what have been Obama's achievements so far? The best one has to be that he has kept us out of new wars (yes, I know Afghanistan was "surged" a bit), something that the moron that he proceeded didn't know how to handle. But another one is simple the better tone that American foreign policy has around the world (which is the real reason for Obama being a Nobel Peace prize recipient.)
What has been the biggest disappointment (aside from a somewhat slow withdrawal from the wars)? Most would probably say immigration reform. As I am a law and order guy on immigration, I definitely don't defer to the common notion concerning this issue in the progressive community (does that make me a John Tester progressive?) The fact is that the Democratic Party is somewhat splintered on the issue, and the only way that any kind of new law on immigration is going to be done is if it is very bipartisan, but with the side benefit that any lack of progress can be used for political gain in the non-Cuban Latino community.
So going forward, aside from the 800 pound gorillas of deficit reduction and jobs, what issues are there that can be addressed with a Republican House? The answer is not many. As for the tax cuts for the rich going forward, Obama can continue to push for a middle class only tax cut, and play chicken with the Republicans in the lame duck session of 2012 - where hopefully, Obama will be reelected and thus entering his 50 month lame duck tenure, and can be more bold with getting a permanent middle class tax cut. I can see that after 2 years of serious wrangling with the deficit, it's going to take a Blagoyevichian level of chutzpah for the (hopefully electorally attenuated in a Presidential year election) Republicans to want to keep the unpopular tax cut or the rich. And of course, the other job for Obama is to guide the health care law, defending it against the Republican onslaught, and stabilizing the public opinion about it.
I guess that what I am saying is that Obama doesn't have to really be progressive anymore. He's already accomplished all the progressive issues that are out there (you could say that the sunset of the tax cuts got accomplished by themselves.) All he needs to do is to play defense on these issues. Are there other issues out there like climate change and alternative energy? Sure, but we all know that the economy has sucked out all the air on these issues. Obama can carefully position himself as a moderate with progressive tendencies (a lot like Bubba in his 2nd term) and just solidify the progressive gains that have been made in the 111th.