I don't disagree with Oliver on this.
If President Obama is doing what is within his power to depress his base vote and give the Republican party a new lease on power, well he’s doing a great job at it. If his goal is to be a strong leader and a great Democrat, he’s failing miserably at it. 2010 was a repeat of 1994 and 2002, when all the force of moral good on the side of liberalism can’t overcome a Democratic party that simply will not fight. If he continues on this path, and nothing – absolutely nothing – has shown me otherwise, he’s setting himself up to replicate the Democratic losses of 1980 and 1984 no matter who the Republican nominee is.
We sent him to Washington to stand up and fight. Instead he’s cowering and retreating.
I sincerely hope all of this acquiescing to the Republicans leads someplace good. I'm just not seeing it, though. And that's depressing and infuriating.