Ross Douthat “argues”:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/opinion/04douthat.html that Obama has managed to disappoint both the liberal and centrist or moderate wings of the Democratic Party:
bq. Once campaigning gave way to governing, it was inevitable that one faction or the other would be disappointed. But lately, Obama has managed the more difficult feat of alienating both of them at once…The party’s centrists, from Blue Dog Democrats to Wall Street, insist that he’s turned out to be far more liberal than they expected…On the left, meanwhile, Obama is deemed a disappointment for all the things he hasn’t done…Both these arguments are self-serving, of course…But the widespread appeal of these dueling critiques has left Obama increasingly isolated. And the White House’s attempts to preserve his above-the-fray mystique have backfired: they’ve made the president seem like an ideological enigma, and created the impression that he’s a bystander to his own achievements…
bq. …As a result, what was once Obama’s great strength has been transformed into a weakness: neither the center nor the left really trusts him, and neither is prepared to stand by him at a time of crisis.
I don’t know who Douthat means when he is referring to “center” and “left.” Democratic leaders? Interest groups? Activists? Voters? All of the above?
If it’s voters, at least in part, let’s get something straight: Barack Obama is popular with Democrats of all stripes. Scroll down these “Gallup tabulations”:http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presidential-Approval-Center.aspx and you will see that in the most recent polling 79% of moderate Democrats approve of the job Obama is doing, as do 84% of liberal Democrats. Heck, so do 68% of conservative Democrats.
In short, Obama is popular among rank-and-file Democrats, _especially_ among the two “factions” of the party that he has “disappointed.”