This both resonated with, and depressed me at the same time. A major problem with being a Centrist is that as the right swings further and further right, so do they.

To be slightly fair, it's very difficult to be a Democratic politician these days as there are so many competing goals and agenda linked to the slippery definitions of "progress". Eazy-peazy to be in the GOP - just vote against everything the other side proposes, then claim credit for anything positive that slips through.

I want to believe that if Obama had fully realized how the rules had shifted he might have stopped trying to look for consensus and just do the Republican thing of "win at all costs-damn the rules". (I don't actually believe this - but it helps me sleep better at night)