This New York Times piece by Jeff Zeleny on the budget deal was actually headlined:
President Adopts a Measured Course to Recapture the Middle
Zeleny explained:
President Obama opened the week by calling on Democrats to embrace his re-election campaign. He closed it by praising Republicans for forging a compromise to cut spending this year and avert a government shutdown.
The juxtaposition made clearer than ever the more centrist governing style Mr. Obama has adopted since his party’s big losses in November and his recapture-the-middle strategy for winning a second term.
If “centrism” is defined as mostly cedingthe budget argument to the right (cuts,cuts andmore cuts)and giving the Republican leadership most of what they say they wanted, then this article’s point of view makes perfect sense.
It’s a reminder that when the corporate media talk about the “center” or the “middle,” they’re referring to something that is well to the right of the center.
If the center lines on our roads were where Obama, the Democratic “leadership”, and the corpress place it politically, the death toll would be unimaginable.
Of course, that outcome applies in the real world, doesn’t it?