“Sure, House Republicans have been intransigent, but Obama could have isolated them, building a governing center-left majority with an unorthodox agenda.”
David Brooks, “The Final Reckoning,” NYT
What? How could Obama have “isolated” the House Republicans? The GOP didn’t just win the House in 2010, they won it with far-right Tea Party candidates. And the blunt message was that any GOP member who didn’t support the nut jobs, who tried to follow a more reasonable, moderate path, would be primaried in 2012.
Where was this “center-left majority” going to come from? The left didn’t have a majority and the center no longer existed.
Embattled Farmers 