Soon we will learn what Barack Obama is made of. Is he mostly politician? Or is he mostly ideologist, one who clings to an ideology through gravy and gruel.
He lost more in Massachusetts than candidate Coakley did. He lost ground in the Senate. He lost credence. He lost face. He lost the perception – in people’s eyes – that he carries clout. His short hair is perfect, for he now seems a Samson shorn.
If he is mostly politician, he will counter-attack by moving toward the center. If he is mostly ideologist, he will double-down on the policies that trimmed his locks.
Politicians do believe in something. They do cherish some ideals. But they will jettison them in order to survive. Don’t be caught in a lifeboat with them when the food and water run out.
Ideologists believe so much in something, they refuse to compromise. “I would rather be right than be President” serves as a good motto for them.
Bill Clinton is mostly a politician. (My guess is 45 percent lover, 55 percent politician.) After two years of his policies voters handed him his head. They voted in a Republican Congress, the first in 40 years.
Clinton counter-attacked by moving toward the center. That is, toward where the voters pointed. Twice he vetoed welfare reform from that Congress. When a top advisor told him he would not be re-elected if he vetoed it a third time, he signed it.
The same choice hovers over President Obama today. He can play politician by canning a few advisors and by sending some czars a-packing.
He can call off Obamacare – now bribed and extorted into a monstrosity. He can retreat on the cap and trade tax. He can truly slash some government spending and cut some taxes. He can stop berating our wealthy, our oil companies, drug companies, doctors, banks, investment houses and insurance companies.
Or he can cling to the far-left ideology that got him into this mess. The two most frequent visitors to the White House have been top union guys. They clearly have influenced Obama policies.
After Martha Coakley’s trouncing, one of them blamed the loss on Congress’s failure to vote-in what Obama had asked for. Such blindness and tone-deafness comes from drinking, bathing and scuba diving in the Kool-Aid of an ideology. We will see if the President heeds the advice of the union guys and other extreme leftists now.
If he is not blind and tone-deaf the President should be able to see that where he is leading, people ain’t following. The politician in him – if it is a strong enough influence – will cause him to change his parade route.
If the ideologist in him wins out, he will find himself as deserted as Jimmy Carter became.
Politician/diplomat Otto von Bismarck said “Politics is the art of the possible.” 
Politics is. Not ideology.
From Tom ... as in Morgan.                  
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