If the GOP wins Congress in 2010, is Obama more or less likely to be re-elected?

[nhmagic]

Well, it depends.  If Obama pulls a Clinton and moves to the center, then he'll probably win re-election.  I just don't see that - not with his inner circle of Valerie Jarrett and the Chicago cabal.  There are only two people who can move him to the center.  One is Rahm Emmanuel and other dems are wanting his head right now.  The other is Robert Gates, and I imagine if you see any big move, it will be with him on national security.  I don't think that the GOP will take the senate, which helps the GOP more because he can't really argue that the GOP is in control.  The public knows that the senate is the more powerful body.

He can make some big steps to help him:
1) Fire Eric Holder and replace him with an attorney general more in line with the opinion of the public.  This is a must.
2) Send Biden on some assignment where he has little impact and is globetrotting or replace him with Clinton.
3) Stop the conflicting economic messages.  If he wants to re-sell the usefulness of his first stimulus package should the economy improve, he needs to get the advisors to have one unitary message.  You can't have Roemer and Jarrett out there saying the stimulus has already had its effect and the other saying that it hasn't taken effect yet.
4) Imaging - he needs to stop looking arrogant and out of touch with the middle.  No more arugula, no more secretly flipping off oponents when he's angry, no more secret messages to his campaign donors like the bitter comment that always get out into the media.  He needs to stop saying that he can do things because he's the president - its a touch Nixonian, people notice it and don't like it.

[nhmagic]

Well, it depends.  If Obama pulls a Clinton and moves to the center, then he'll probably win re-election.  I just don't see that - not with his inner circle of Valerie Jarrett and the Chicago cabal.  There are only two people who can move him to the center.  One is Rahm Emmanuel and other dems are wanting his head right now.  The other is Robert Gates, and I imagine if you see any big move, it will be with him on national security.  I don't think that the GOP will take the senate, which helps the GOP more because he can't really argue that the GOP is in control.  The public knows that the senate is the more powerful body.

He can make some big steps to help him:
1) Fire Eric Holder and replace him with an attorney general more in line with the opinion of the public.  This is a must.
2) Send Biden on some assignment where he has little impact and is globetrotting or replace him with Clinton.
3) Stop the conflicting economic messages.  If he wants to re-sell the usefulness of his first stimulus package should the economy improve, he needs to get the advisors to have one unitary message.  You can't have Roemer and Jarrett out there saying the stimulus has already had its effect and the other saying that it hasn't taken effect yet.
4) Imaging - he needs to stop looking arrogant and out of touch with the middle.  No more arugula, no more secretly flipping off oponents when he's angry, no more secret messages to his campaign donors like the bitter comment that always get out into the media.  He needs to stop saying that he can do things because he's the president - its a touch Nixonian, people notice it and don't like it.

Rahm Emanuel will be dumped if the midterm elections go very poorly.  He is part of the reason why Obama is in this bind.  If Obama filips off the left anymore, he will draw a primary challenge so fast his head will spin.  His only hope would be to pull a Harry Truman and use the kind of in your face confrentational style with Republicans that would likely re-energized the core Democratic base.  If Obama cooperates with Republicans, the liberal base will almost certainly either primary him or support a third party candidate in the general election.  They saw what happened with Bill Clinton in the 1990's and dont want to fall into that trap again.

He already has a more confrontational style than any president in history.  One of the rules for radicals is to get in people's faces and Obama is a student of Alinsky.    He has a rapid response team for any criticism, flips off oponents, demonizes them, etc.  If he moves farther left, he will lose in a great landslide.

[nhmagic]

More annoying is that the American people have been denied a Calvin Coolidge type president for so long.