The President's Chronic Capitulation Syndrome II

The link below goes to an incisive L.A. Times article from December about how the President's penchant for appeasement is driving some of the largest Democratic donors away from the party.
Or. as one of them said, "He's got many great qualities, but he is not a fighter. I've met with many donors, and the level of disappointment is extreme."
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/09/nation/la-na-dem-donors-20101210

Or, to quote Jim Hightower, "President Obama suffers from a debilitating disease: Chronic Capitulation Syndrome." And, quoting George Soros: "I don't mind losing a fight. But I do mind losing without a fight."

I know that President Obama regards himself as the Second Coming of Ronald Reagan (which might well be a significant part of the problem in and of itself) in that he thinks he's capable of forging alliances with even the most strident forces on the other side of the aisle. But he forgets two primary differences between now and then:

(1) When the extremely conservative Reagan "compromised" with the Democrats of his day, he was dealing with an essentially reasonable opposition party. By contrast, there is nothing "reasonable" about today's incarnation of the Republican Party. Mitch McConnell said it all when he essentially described his understanding of "compromise" as getting everything he wants while relinquishing nothing. Doesn't quite sound like a penultimate "negotiating partner" to me.

(2) If President Obama were writing on a clean slate, compromise might not be such a bad thing. But he's not. His presidency was preceded by eight years of unimpeded, unvarnished far right wing policies and enactments. So, by seeking and achieving only "compromise" legislation, all Obama is doing is holding serve. He is not making any effort to overcome the lead his opponent previously amassed, which is, as a result, becoming insurmountable.

Even worse, when it comes to civil liberties, Obama has not only failed to abolish George W. Bush's abhorrent, medieval policies, but, in most instances, he has enthusiastically followed them and, in some, he has actually made them worse!

But that will be the subject of a later post(s).