Eugene (OR) Register-Guard Endorses President Obama this morning...
In his first term, President Obama has served as a national Rorschach test. People on the left projected upon him their dreams of social justice and economic equality, and have inevitably been disappointed. People on the right made Obama the vessel of their fears of an intrusive and confiscatory government, and remain on guard. Perhaps after four years Americans can begin to see Barack Obama for what he really is: a cautious and conciliatory man who is by nature inclined to provide centrist leadership.
Election 2012
Obama advertised his penchant for the middle path long before he was elected president. In his 2006 book “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama displays his approach to public policy in his analysis of issue after issue: Stake out the liberal position, acknowledge the strongest points of the conservative stance, and then synthesize the two. The audacious part is the attempt to reach beyond stale arguments in search of common ground.
Obama hasn’t been able to govern that way. If his frustrations are blamed on a failure to lead, they must also be blamed on others’ refusal to follow.
A distinctive feature of Obama’s first term has been the ferocity of the opposition — expressed initially through the unprecedented deployment of the filibuster in the Senate, and after 2010 by a hell-no Republican majority in the House.
The pattern is visible on every major issue, from the stimulus bill to health care to tax policy: No matter how many GOP ingredients Obama adds to the stew, congressional Republicans won’t take a bite. The Republicans demand not compromise, but capitulation — and then criticize Obama for not working with them. Obama has carried the heavy burden of an opposition that rejects his legitimacy, one whose Senate leader declared that his party’s top legislative priority is denying the president a second term...
Obama has neither the wings of an angel nor the horns of a demon. He’s been a fair president, and could be a better one if Americans would get their expectations and fears under control. But Obama can’t move the country forward alone — he needs more cooperative partners. Americans should vote for Barack Obama, and hope that his re-election begins a more productive period in the nation’s politics.
http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/28915511-47/obama-romney-president-term-americans.html.csp
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I love that town. 
Thanks for the post. I am glad to hear it.
