Obama abandons the center

Six months into his presidency and it's abundantly clear that Obama has no intention of governing from the center. While he often campaigned as a moderate -- talking tax cuts, fiscal restraint, and transparency -- his first six months in office have shown him to be the most radically liberal president in our history. Every day it seems his team is devising creative new ways to restrict liberty, tax productivity, regulate behavior, redistribute wealth, accumulate debt and weaken our national security. The good news for Republicans is that Obama has abandoned the center completely. Perhaps he feels this will protect him from a primary challenge from the left in 2012 -- but my guess is that it won't. Just as Jimmy Carter was challenged by Teddy Kennedy in 1980, Obama will certainly face revolt from within in 2012 -- and of course, the challenger will be none other than Hillary Clinton. It would be an unbelievably risky thing for her to do -- with the very real possibility of fracturing the party and leaving many voters resentful. But if Hillary concludes that Obama's inept, reckless and radical ways make him vulnerable, she will run. She's an opportunist first, a democrat second. It'll be interesting to watch how she positions herself to take down her boss in the next three years. Could there also be a challenger from the center of the democratic party? I doubt it - the Blue Dogs, while they've been showing their strength as of late, don't stand much of a chance in the far-left-dominated democrat primaries.