Tax cut deal Obama’s 2012 political posturing?

There is much chatter around the media regarding whether President Obama was eying the 2012 election cycle when he made the recent tax deal with members of his own party and Republicans in Congress. The liberal base has been screaming about it while some think this is President Obama’s version of “moderating” to govern as some kind of centrist up to the 2012 cycle.

Some thoughts from Harry Smith of CBS News:

The 2012 presidential election campaign began in earnest yesterday when Barack Obama explained why making a deal with the Republicans on tax cuts while maybe not his first choice was in the end the best thing for the country. By cutting the deal, the president sided with the middle. Liberals among Democrats were none too pleased. The president called them sanctimonious. And he had harsh words for conservatives as well. He said Republicans unwilling to bend on tax cuts were like hostage takers. There is a strategy at play here. Think Bill Clinton 1994. The White House will become the home of common sense…Of reason. It will be the White House that is seen as the ballast that will keep the government on an even keel, even as it is prone to list to the starboard side with all the Tea Party Folk coming aboard in January.

Seems that President Obama will be working to shed the progressive image he’s built up in the first two years of his presidency. I find it hard to believe voters will view this tax deal in lieu of ObamaCare, cap and trade and other liberal causes the President has championed since his inauguration.