LAT: Postelection White House meeting underscored Obama's diminished sway

[steve2470]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-struggles-20101113,0,6992945.story

Three days after the midterm elections, senior Obama aides suggested to a gathering of liberal groups at the White House that they might need to scale back their expectations. In the wake of the big Republican win, there would be no new major legislative pushes from President Obama in 2011.

The mood, according to some participants at the meeting, was dour. Although the White House advisors said job creation would be a central goal, they did not lay out a concrete plan for putting more people to work. "There was an undercurrent of, 'Hey, folks. We're going to have to play some defense,'" said one attendee.

Since then, the sense of a president in a crouch has only deepened. Obama was unable to seal a long-anticipated free trade agreement with South Korea during his trip to Asia and was the odd man out at the Group of 20 summit over global economic strategy, where preferences for belt-tightening policies predominate.

When he returns to Washington, he faces an energized Republican opposition. The first issue will be whether to extend George W. Bush-era tax cuts, and Obama is already showing a willingness to compromise on his long-held position that the cuts should expire for families making more than $250,000 a year.

At a news conference Friday in Seoul, Obama bristled at reports that he was caving in to Republican pressure.

[somone]

1. You act and talk like a wimp, people think you're a wimp

even when you insist you're not

[readmoreoften]

2. +1

[moondust]

3. "LA Times creates narrative of Obama's diminished sway."

And gets money for it!

[deacon]

4. Hit piece after hit piece after hit piece, it's trendy. Yet the GOP is perfect. n/t

[TexasObserver]

5. If he doesn't stand up and fight them, the GOP will walk all over him.

We have the senate. He has the veto pen. The House can either work with the White House and the Senate, or it can content itself to posture. If the economy gets worse, all their wins of 2010 will reverse in 2012.