President Obama frustrated many of us with several preemptive compromises leading up to the creation of the "Super Congress". He called for putting "country before party" in his weekly address, as if both sides equally deserved chastising.
I hope Obama is engaged in a rope-a-dope strategy, waiting for the Republicans to lock in on a nominee before coming out swinging in the 2012 election. The end game could be to swing right along with the Republicans during the primary, in hopes that they choose an extremist, and then pummel the crap out of him/her in the general election. I'm not sure I objectively believe that, but that's what I hope.
A rope-a-dope strategy provides a charitable explanation to Robert Reich's observations of White House calculations. The story goes that White House has calculated that they won't get credit for a jobs program, so they're redirecting all efforts toward balancing the budget. If it is a rope-a-dope strategy, the point of capitulating this year is to let the Republicans get the blame for the crappy economy (since a good jobs program won't get passed anyway), and then make the 2012 election be a referendum about whether we need a jobs program.
Of course, even if this is the strategy, it could backfire, and we'll end up with President Bachmann. If she gets the nomination, she should get crushed in the general. Then again, Gore should have crushed Bush. Even without President Bachmann, it's hard to endure the Overton Window sliding further right for another year.