President Obama is complaining about the heat that he's getting from Democrats over his tax cut compromise and his defense might have made matters even worse, both for himself and progressives. Politico reports that, when taking about his detractors, the President said:

“We finally get health care for all Americans, something that Democrats have been fighting for a hundred years, but because there was a provision in there that they didn't get, that would have affected maybe a couple of million people, even though we got health insurance for 30 million people…that somehow that was a sign of weakness and compromise. If that's the standard by which we are measuring success or core principles, then let's face it: We will never get anything done. People will have the satisfaction of having a purist position and no victories for the American people.

Now I do agree with the President about the fact that the purists are always going to be unhappy in the D.C. because they'll never "win"; they'll either get a watered down version of what they want or just lose outright. However, the problem that most people have with Obama is not just his lack of fight but his willingness to just give up completely.

Take for example this latest quote on the public option. When campaigning, Obama mentioned a public or single-payer plan. Then when the public option was dropped, he deemed that it was "just one sliver" of the overall proposal and wasn't THAT big of a deal to lose. He angered a lot of people when he moved the goal posts on that one and he might have just lost them seeing as his latest comment tore down the goal posts altogether. Suddenly, the issue he campaigned on and once considered at least a part of his health care plan is a mere afterthought.

While Obama probably was just thinking about defending himself, he needed to consider the power of his words. If any progressive ever mentions the public option again, conservatives' first response will be Obama's labeling the public option as "a provision in there that they didn't get, that would have affected maybe a couple of million people". It's tough to defend such an overhaul when one of its proponents diminishes its importance like that.

Another reason why it will be hard to support is because there won't be any money to spend on it. While Obama has been in the spotlight, Republicans are sneaking away without many people questioning how this compromise of cuts, cuts, and more cuts jibes with their campaign promise to get the deficit down. The government already needed to cut spending but this almost makes it seem like they'll have to cut spending altogether for a couple years.

The bottom line is that all of the concerns about Obama's readiness for the big chair seem to coming true. For a guy that is supposed to be a great communicator, he is consistently on the losing side of the PR battles. I mean, he was on the side of the people and the Republicans were defending millionaires from like a 5 percent take hike and he still lost. Even worse, he made the tax cuts last two years so he'll have to fight this battle yet again come the 2012 election.

And in the end, President Obama can't blame anyone but himself for the high expectations. He was the one making the promises when he was running. You can't paint yourself as a progressive and then complain when people aren't happy with pragmatism. While President Obama has had his successes in office, he's never been able to shape the political discussion. Rather than seeming like he was on the offensive when he first took office, he often came off more like he was offended that anyone would dare stand up to him. And now that the Dems have been knocked down a peg, he cries bloody murder when the opposition exerts its power. I'm sorry but you can't tell the Republicans that "I won" and basically thumb your nose at their measly existence a couple years ago and then suddenly start calling them "hostage takers" when they get some power and do the same right back at him.

President Obama needs to start owning his moves and really publicizing them when they are successes. Today, everyone is talking about tax cuts when they should be talking about how Citigroup is now wholly public owned and the much-maligned TARP has turned a 12 billion dollar profit. Of course, the President has spent so much time blaming the need for TARP on the previous administration, I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before the conservative spin the success as a heroic going away present from President Bush.

I know that a lot of people think that the Republican Congress will get the blame if things don't turn around but I can't see how that's going to happen. If things don't turn around, then Obama's long term plan hasn't succeeded and the conservatives will hit and every other Dem candidate over the head with that in 2012 . If things do turn around, the Republicans will take the credit. The Republicans in power isn't going to make the PR battle any easier. If the White House couldn't shape the debate when they were dealing with Michael Steele and Sarah Palin's Twitter account, it's not going to get any better when the Republicans have a national stage to work on.