Some of Obama's most significant critics from the left (and although I'm more of a centrist, I tend to agree) is that Obama spent way too much valuable political capital, in his first two years in office, 'pre-bating' concessions to Republicans... presumably, in the name of bipartisanship.

The evidence of this is clear, in the incredible concessions made to Republican interests during the crafting of the incredible amount of legislation that got done in the past two years.

Of course, all it earned him was endless criticism from the right for 'not being bi-partisan enough'. Evidently, the Republican definition of 'bipartisanship' is 'give us what we want, to start.... and then we'll talk'.

If anyone here doesn't find this convincing, consider just the past couple of weeks:
* The White House told Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) the administration would agree to his demands on the pending arms control treaty, New START. Kyl soon after announced he would block ratification anyway.

* The White House invited GOP leaders over for a presidential chat on possible areas of common ground. They initially balked and said they were too busy.

* The White House announced a pay freeze for civilian federal workers, only to find an op-ed from Republican leaders the next day, vowing not to compromise on anything on their priorities.

* The White House set up a working group to try to strike a compromise on the debate over tax policy. Senate Republicans responded by announcing they would hold the entire lame-duck session hostage until they got what they wanted.

* There was bipartisan support for a food-safety bill in the Senate, but exploiting a procedural glitch, Republican leaders intend to kill the legislation anyway.

* Looking ahead to next year, congressional Republicans haven't budged at all on any issue.
My biggest wonder is this: when will Obama catch on, and take a freakin STAND, fer chrissakes?