Timesman Crystallizes 'Central Theme of Mr. Obama's Presidency'

As Ann Althouse writes, “Matt Bai identifies ‘the central theme of Mr. Obama’s presidency: America’s faltering confidence in the ability of government to make things work:'”

Bai notes that during the Reagan and Clinton years, America turned away from “the era of big government,” but then:

[T]he unraveling of the second Bush administration and the 2008 election… persuaded a lot of long-dispirited liberals that their philosophy, and not simply their party, had been restored.

What a delusion!

And speaking of delusions, Nancy Pelosi has similarly crystallized the central theme of her next two years in office. As AP reports, “Pelosi’s new mission: Limit Obama deals with GOP:”

Hers was the face on the grainy negative TV ads that helped defeat scores of Democrats. His agenda, re-election chances and legacy are on the line. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, chosen after a messy family feud among Democrats to remain as their leader in the new Congress, and President Barack Obama share a keen interest in repairing their injured party after this month’s staggering losses.But Pelosi’s mandate is diverging from the president’s at a critical time, with potentially damaging consequences for Obama’s ability to cut deals with Republicans in the new Congress.

Their partnership is strained after an election in which Pelosi and many Democrats feel the White House failed them by muddling the party’s message and being too slow to provide cover for incumbents who cast tough votes for Obama’s marquee initiatives.

Pelosi will lead Democrats “in pulling on the president’s shirttails to make sure that he doesn’t move from center-right to far-right,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., a co-chair of the liberal Progressive Caucus in the House. “We think if he’d done less compromising in the last two years, there’s a good chance we’d have had a jobs bill that would have created real jobs, and then we wouldn’t even be worrying about having lost elections.”

Because the man who famously uttered “I won” and “The election’s over, John” has been all about bipartisanship for the last two years — and prior to that, his entire brief Washington career.