Echoes in the echo chamber

As political blogs go, Talking Points Memo is one of the better ones (at least when its publisher Josh Marshall is doing the blogging). But TPM is also a charter member of the so-called "professional left." It's also hermetically sealed inside the DC "media distortion field." It explains how TPM can conclude that Obama is in a dire "No-Win Situation" because of the role he played as the adult budget referee. A snippet from the article: "Now that the budget hijinks have come to a close and Washington has oh-so-narrowly averted a government shutdown, let the blame game begin ... President Obama, who launched his re-election campaign earlier this week, will face some serous fallout [from the left which will] inevitably say he gave up too much ground in reaching a deal and kept his hands too clean in the process -- wanting to appear as the grown-up." The upshot: Obama has endangered his 2012 re-election chances. The facts tell a different story: Obama is tacking to the center to pick up the crucial Independent vote (and the polls suggest it's working). Poll after poll say Americans want Congress to work together in getting get the nation's business done (the real message of last year's midterms). Most like the calm "referee" role Obama is playing. Though "serious fallout" from the left symbolically (and helpfully) holds Obama's feet to the fire, it is meaningless in practical terms. Moreover, the left can whine until the cows come home but, in the end, they'll vote to re-elect Obama in 2012. Anyone living outside the DC bubble would call that a win-win situation.