You do have to wonder about the guy and what goes on in his brain. He appears to be trapped within a bubble and a prisoner of his Republican advisors. The G&M had, last night, the best headline regarding his most recent collapse and surrender:
Obama turns back on his party to extend Bush-era tax cuts .
I haven't bothered to look around this morning to see what others are saying but late last night Bernard Finel had posted one despairing comment: That’s It, He’s Lost Me
So I think, for what it's worth, Obama is betting that the job numbers are going to turn around by next election time in 698 days from the date of this post, and that he can get his act together sufficiently to have a plausible narrative for voters. I suspect he is also betting the Republicans maybe likely nominate an unacceptable candidate to run against him, if he can hold onto the Democratic nomination.
If this is his bet the flaws, given his track record in office, are gaping.
First it isn't at all clear that the job numbers will significantly improve during the run up to the next election. Trumpeting that the economy has turned around and pointing to the GDP growth rate, maybe great for the business sections of newspapers, and the many cluttered screens of the market TV entertainments, but not so, if you look out your window and see no personal evidence of improvement.
People actually staring into a black hole tend to brush off good news as propaganda. They, also, then think the deliverer, of the said message of glad tidings, is full of it and not to be trusted.
If the job numbers actually do start to turn around Obama will be stuck trying to ward off Republicans claiming that giving millions to the rich actually is a workable answer to saving the drooling masses. This leaves me really wondering what the Obama narrative is going to be starting soon. He was been remarkably unimpressive in actually telling a coherent story, while in office, when one has been staring him right in the face. So potentially having to change stories in the middle of a campaign should be hilarious to watch.[Maybe he should simply come clean and suggest that giving all current US income to Bill Gates and Warren Buffet will mean a new glorious day for the USA. The streets will be paved with gold and there will be a chicken in every pot. I suspect not even Obama is this dumb, but who knows what madness lurks in the heart of the POTUS.]
If the Republicans nominate a nutty candidate, as seen from the point of view of a rational non-delusional voter, then Obama's bet will depend on his getting out the vote and demonstrating he isn't a lying, hypocritical turncoat. In this regard, and given his performance in office, he has a massive rock to roll up the re-election hill. In other words, no matter who Obama has to run against, he now has to run against his own flip-flop, confused record. It's not looking good.
To conclude, Mr. Obama seems to have have decided to enter battle on yet another front, he now is in conflict with Republicans, his base, and now his own Party.