In response to the common call from Democrats for Obama to be more combative, Senior Editor of The New Republic Jonathan Chait offers a reminder:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/magaz ... obama.html
Liberal critics of Obama, just like conservative critics of Republican presidents, generally want both maximal partisan conflict and maximal legislative achievement. In the real world, those two things are often at odds. Hence the allure of magical thinking.
