The glories of Centrism (with a capital "c"), or, the ecstasies of High Broderism

Paul Krugman sees an ominous sign for the future of Obama's Presidency: "Uh-oh. David Broder says the tax deal marks the beginning of Obama’s recovery. The president is doomed." (The Doom of Broder Conscience 12/12/2010)

The article to which he refers by The Dean Of All The Pundits is Centrist on the riseWashington Post 12/09/2010. To the Grand Master of the cult of High Broderism, Obama's collapse to the Republicans on the tax deal without any fight on his part visible enough that anyone noticed is the height of Democratic statesmanship and political wisdom:

In these past few days, he has regained the economic initiative from the victorious Republicans, separated himself from the left of his own party and staked a strong claim to the territory where national elections are fought and won: the independent center.

The key virtue here in the world of High Broderism is that Obama "separated himself from the left of his own party". Always a praiseworthy act on the part of Democrats in the value-system of the Beltway Village.

Obama now has a shot at winning over some Tea Party voters, the Dean pronounces. And, as Digby predicted, Obama's Tuesday press conference attacking the "sanctimonious" Democratic base was an orgasmic moment for the Dean:

Obama used his news conference Tuesday to define himself, more clearly than ever before, as a raging moderate - a man who recognizes that compromise is the key to serving a broad and diverse set of constituencies, rather than fit some ideological standard of intellectual purity.

This was the best showing for Obama in many months.

Broder does remind us what passes for Seriousness in the Village:

Also, the $900 billion this deal will add to the national debt increases the pressure on Obama and Congress to undertake the kind of tough-love budgetary changes outlined by the presidential commission on deficits.

You see, a deficit-increasing tax subsidy for billionaires is a good thing because it increase pressure to cut spending. Especially for Social Security, which does not contribute to the deficit at all.

Krugman also catches the Post's Dana Milbank rewriting the history of the health care reform debate to blame them thar libruls for delaying its passage, as Krugman explain in Orwellian Centrism Conscience 12/12/2010.

To add another groaner to the Post's record these last few days, we have Kathleen Parker in Can we become an America WikiLeaks can't assail? 12/12/2010, displaying her deep knowledge of the digital world, loosely basing her ramblings on the Wikileaks story:

It is convenient to blame poor little Julian Assange, the cyberkind who published the leaks that someone stole.

He is now a martyr to the brat brigades who occupy basements and attics, keeping the company of others similarly occupied with virtual life.

Assange is the king brat, but only du jour. He will be displaced soon enough by more ambitious hacks whose delinquent and, worse, sinister inclinations are enabled by technology. Alas, we are at the mercy of giddy, power-hungry nerds operating beyond the burden of responsibility or accountability.

Poor Kathleen is just struggling to her her mind around this here Internet thingy, it seems.

But the real problem in, well, whatever it is she's trying to talk about, is that Obama is a wimp making Amurica weak:

With the exception of our military, we are a flabby lot, and I'm not just talking about girth. We are merely disgusting in that department. I'm talking about our self-discipline, our individual will, our self-respect, our voluntary order.

Note the operative words: self, individual and voluntary. ...

It's still a jungle out there, however, and the weak lose every time. [my emphasis]

In more democratic-minded times, we might have called Parker's idolatry of the military just plain militarism. These days, it's stock Republican-friendly Village conventional wisdom, hardly meriting notice in respectable commentary.

Tags: bipartisanship, david broder, militarism